5 comments about Mastering Microsoft Visual C++ 4.

1. This book provides an excellent introduction to both C++, Visual C++ and MFC. The sections on C++ give sufficient detail to enable the reader to progress further into the real subject matter without becoming bogged down in subtleties which need only be addressed when programming in anger. Several Win95 applications are developed through the text, including simple drawing and text editing samples and with reasonable explanations of the methodologies employed. The book is well laid out and easily followed. Although all sample code is included on the accompanying CD, full listings are contained within the text. Whereas some readers may find this of use, it might be argued that the space could have been better utilised in covering additional topics such as DAO and ActiveX. By the end of the book, the reader has a reasonable introductory knowledge of the subject. I would recommend it to anyone at the setting out on the arduous path towards Visual C++ proficiency. Inevitably, however, having been well weaned, the infant developer soon requires more solid nourishment in the form of more in-depth texts.



2. The sheer size and impersonal nature of this book can be intimidating for beginners. But, like the book says--if you know some C or C++ it will teach you Visual C, it does. Just be prepared to have some bookmarks or paperclips handy, because you will flip back and forth quite a bit!!! Overall, a great book, it just requires a bit of time to get through, and when it's done you can heat your house through the winter with it! It is excessively thick, spending maybe hundreds of pages (I didn't count them) of just source code, which is pretty nice, I don't like to get that stuff off the CD--if I type it, I have to pay more attention to what it is putting in front of me!



3. I don't know how is it possible to put a 200 pages material in a book that counts more than 1200 pages, but people from a Sybex did it :( Plus, one of the worst thing that author could do is to print complete listings that VC++ generates and really BIG screen dumps...

   One of the worst books about Visual C++ :((((




4. I picked up the book, because I had the Visual C++ program from my workplace. I have had no prior experience with Visual C++. This book, quite literally, walks the reader through the basic programming tools of Visual C++. I look forward to trying out all the examples in the book. A definate must have for those with little or no Visual C++ background. (Works best if you have the Visual C++ program while you read the book.)



5. This book was too genera

4 comments about C++ for Professional Programming With PC and Unix Applications.

1. Too many C++ books are overly verbose, poorly organized, and really don't give you a strong foundation in the language. This book does not suffer from any of these weaknesses.

   Dr. Blaha does a great job explaining how ANSI-C is extended to create ANSI-C++, then describes key object oriented design principles and techniques. Then he spends the remainder (some 80% of the book) giving the best training in the C++ language I have seen anywhere.

   You get a good feel for how your programming techniques in C++ will effect performance and efficiency. The author also discusses how to port C code to compile under C++ compilers, and how to mix legacy C code along with C++. He also has a chapter introducing the Standard Template Library.

   If you really want to understand C++ and learn how to program in it well - then I highly recommend Dr. Blaha's book.




2. Stephen Blaha is an excellent writer and this makes for one of the clearest, most complete, high quality C++ books I have ever come across. It really is a shame this book is out of print. I suggest you hunt for it if clarity of presentation and quality of examples and thoroughness is important to you.



3. I own several C++ texts and (call it an odd hobby) have expended several bookstore days probably, in my quest for the best texts for my library. This book has become the benchmark against which I measure any computer science text. It's meaty, precise, comprehensive and clean. It's a great reference as well as a terrific C++ boostrapper for someone with C experience. It's a mystery to me why this is out of print - but probably has to do with the fact that it does presume C skills. I sometimes peruse this book just to experience the pleasure of his crystal clear expositions and highly recommend it.



4. I bought this book 5 years ago, and it's still the best C++ I use all the time. This book is well written and organized. It illustrates many important and complex issues clearly. I 've read it many times. Especially very helpful when your 're looking for a C++ job, you can find answers to almost all C++ interview questions.

5 comments about Visual C++ 6 Bible.

1. This book is extremely confusing and is definately not for beginners. It seems the author had lots to say, but had no clue about how to present it to make it easy to read, or for that matter, for it to even make sense. In the section on MFC alone there were far too many times when the author simply said "do this" but never gave any instructions on exactly how to do so! Instead I was left paging through the text aimlessly trying to find the information I was looking for. Infact my favorite quote(paraphrased) out of the book is from chapter 13: "Therefore it is assumed the reader, as a prerequisite for this section, has already read chapter 19." I'm sorry, but any book that requires me to jump around between chapters to try and make sense of it is simply a waste of my time.



2. Not a good book. Not a book for beginner. The authors cover many topics, but most of them are talked in poor details. For example, they give you a small portion of code, but they don't tell you which header file you should include in. The result is that you can't even try it in your own program to.



3. This book doesn't present topics in logical order for learning. The chapters aren't connected, and they don't explain functions sufficiently. Sucks for learning.

   Bad for refence too. I.e., looked up CRect, two pages listed. Both are off-hand references to CRect, with no examples of how to implement the CRect class.




4. Here's a list of why you should NOT buy this book:
   * there are a *lot* of errors. Not typos. Errors.
   * there are pages and pages of code _already included on the CDROM_, which makes the book undeservingly fat
   * there are countless tables ripped straight from msdn
   * the chapters don't follow _any kind_ of logical order, and sometimes the authors refer to things they wrote in later chapters!
   * the text is many times too vague, and makes the assumption that you're already a good MFC programmer and just want to confuse yourself.
   I've just recently tried to read this book again (probably the third time I've tried) and I'm giving up. It's futile. This is the *worst* computer book I've ever bought, but it has taught me to be more careful with my money.
   ...

   There are better MFC books on Amazon.

   BUYER BEWARE




5. There is no "a good book" for everybody. This book contains original and clear information.

5 comments about Professional C# (2nd Edition).

1. I have to agree with the previous reviewers who say this book is not up to Wrox standards. This book is "all over the place", meaning there's little cohesion between chapters. This is probably because of all of the authors involved. It makes reading it very confusing.

   Here's a specific example. When discussing struct's vs. classes, the book starts talking about how memory allocation is different for each, and they referred to an earlier discussion of memory. I didn't recall them discussing memory earlier in the book, so I looked it up in the index. They had given it a sentence or two - obviously written by another author, and not intended to provide the depth later assumed.

   Unfortunately, I have purchased 3 C# books, and they're all weak. This, though, is the weakest. I gave "C# Bible" 2 stars as well, but I actually think that's a better book.




2. The book is a great book for new comers to the C# language and to the .NET platform itself as well. It is kind of scattered about, not very much flow to it. Overall the I would highly recommend it to any one wanting to learn to language.



3. Hi,

   There's a lot of mixed reviews about this book . The table contents promises to give a lot of information which it does but not efficiently . I am C++ programmer ,the intial chapters are easy to understand since they are basic oops that I already know .. and the intial chapters on windows and asp was good I felt becoz I had worked on my own before I went thro this . After that it was tooo much of information not written well .In the sense you just keep reading without undestanding half of it becoz the author's expect you to know all the concepts and they confuse what you know by puttting it in words that are so confusing . The flow of thought if missing ...

   ralph.




4. This book is fine,, though I won't say its a great book..
   the really good C# book I found was Inside C#,
   some chapters stand out but in some places this bok just loses flow.
   The best book for C# is C#:Primer Plus.



5. This is the only technology book I've seen written well enough to keep me reading it. I'd have to guess that most of us, when presented a book like this, find ourselves in the index and TOC more than anywhere else, looking for specific concepts that we are interested in.
   
   This book works well in that model, but also has a flavor about it that let's you read a chapter of it at a time, as though it were a magazine article. Perhaps it's because different segments are by different authors (some are much more talented than others in regards to their ability to relate concepts to the reader), but overall the book does not suffer from the numerous voices it holds.
   
   When I teach C#, I recommend this book. It has something for everyone. The examples are often concise, but not at the expense of relaying the necessary information. There is far more in this book than any one person might want on C# at one time.
   
   That isn't to say it is a complete compendium. It does not often dive deeply into the why's of concepts, even if there are how's present. Some higher-end concepts are missing, or understated (encryption, for instance).

5 comments about Database Developer's Guide With Visual C++ 4.0 (Sams Developer's Guide).

1. There are very few books in Visual C++ which writes about Visual C++ Database environment. This book has specialized and concentrated on Databases in particular



2. I agree wholeheartedly with the majority of the comments I just read here. This is a very poorly organized piece of work. The subject matter is not only in total disarray but is also rather incomplete for a book with this many pages. For example, don't expect this book to give you any kind of a tutorial on the fundamentals of relational databases and SQL, not even a short one! If the terms "foreign key", "aggregate function" and "outer join" mean absolutely nothing to you at this time, DO NOT ORDER THIS BOOK in the expectation that such concepts will be clearly explained to you along the way. Even if you do have a solid foundation in relational database fundamentals, you'll find that the order and manner in which this book presents information make it virtually impossible to use what it is telling you to extend your existing knowledge usefully. I guess the authors might argue that, just as the book isn't supposed to teach you about Visual C++ / MFC programming, so it isn't supposed to teach you about relational database fundamentals either. Well, fair enough. But even if that was their "design prerequisite", they've done a pretty poor job of combining these disciplines together in a manner that is easy to follow or useful. Needless to say, if you aren't very familiar with C++ programming, Windows programming and the Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC), this book isn't for you either. To summarize, I give it three thumbs down. Go pick another book on the subject. I fail to see how it could be any worse!



3. A casual glance at the back of this volume reveals a "User Level" indicator: accomplished to expert -- definitely not for the casual or inexperienced programmer. The buyer is given fair warning. This is a good reference for the experienced C++ programmer who knows some SQL/Windows/VC++IDE and wants to put them all together to create PROFESSIONAL, industrial-strength programs for a living. The author makes no bones about targeting the most financially profitable areas of database programming. The format of this book is not geared to the dive-in-and-get-your-hands-dirty approach (which is what I prefer.) A "Hello, world!" tutorial mindset, like mine, is bored and confused by not having written anything by the end of the first few pages. Chapter 1 is a (very objective) evaluation of the available tools to do the job and why VC++ is the best. If I had been sufficiently warned, I would have skipped that one. From there on out, it is a well-organized reference and tutorial (in my opinion). This is definitely a get-the-job-done tools book for a professional writing professional programs in a real-world environment. If you want to get the skills for those six-figure jobs, this is the book to buy. (Make sure you know something about SQL/VC++ Windows development first, though.)



4. This book is supposed to be designed for an advance developer. Well, my opinion is that this is not designed for a developer but for somebody who has a management and non-technical background who just want to read something about Visual C++ Development. Most of the code in this book were created by just using the appwizard of the Visual C++ package. Anybody can do that! If you know Visual C++ software development and read this book, you will probably doubt if the authors really know Visual C++ and MFC programming. Perhaps the authors are expert in their own field but this book is poorly organized and I guess haphazardly written. I do not recommend this book unless you have nothing else to do.



5. There is no concrete example in this book! Only a few which is either generated by AppWizard or copied from the samples come with Visual C++ 5.0. You cannot get any idea how to develop robust DB front-end applications after reading it. Maybe you can use it for reference for some ODBC and DAO classes.

5 comments about Borland C++Builder Programming EXplorer: The Hands-On Guide to Mastering the Power of Borland's C++Builder.

1. I picked this book up shortly after it came out. After a weeks of working with I can say that it is an excellent book. The examples are complete and clear, the prose is light but not too light. I found the examples to be accurate and have found very few mistakes in them. This a well rounded, and very useful text on programming in Borland's C++ Builder



2. If you really want to learn, you must have this book. From simple examples to complex ones with full explanation of everything. Tips are available about what to do, and how to do it better. All explanations are done in simple English without too much complexity. I recommend it if you want to learn quickly+



3. This book should be read while one is on a vacation. There are too much narrations that seem to be off topic. It does not cover enough topics for either beginning programmers or professional ones. There are many errors. The main one is the mortgage example codes. Try running it with mort amt of 100000, int 8.05% and periods of 180 and you get a junk row at the end of the string grid. The destructor call delete Mortgage w/o freeing the individual pointers, in this case, Items. One call to GetStringForm() passes parameters using commas instead of an array. The common dialog example forgets to show the code to execute the printer setup dialog. You'll have to peek at the CDROM source to follow along in some of the chapters. Type conversion or casting did not get proper treatment. It should note dynamic_cast and reinterpret_cast are C++ casting style for polymorphic behavior and should explain the difference between the two. The first illustration for the first chapter is WRONG! (What a way to start a chapter.) The mortgage chapter is peppered with Pascal-style comments. It even asks you to include SysUtils unit in your interface section, ha! On the plus side, the book is fun to read. The explanation is clear making it very readable. It will get you started, but you cannot live with this book alone--by far.



4. It's obvious that one of the coauthors, Jeff Duntemann, is not familiar with the C++ programming language. Examples: (1) The sprintf function he twice claims is part of the C++ library. ( It's in the C library ) (2) Use of the static modifier to hide functions instead of using private member access specifier. ( Static functions are used to access static data members. Static variables are contained in classes only, and not duplicated in the class's object ). Both authors use terminology before they define the terms, e.g. using the name of a saved file before they instruct to save the file. There's more but space does not allow. This book is better than nothing but other texts will take you further, faster.



5. I am not a professional programmer; I'm just a guy who liked programming as a hobby. I have more books on C++ than I care to own. Most the books were way too difficult for me to understand and are just sitting on the shelf. I own many books on Borland C++ Builder 3 & 4. This is the only book that explains how to create a simple database and tables. It's very easy to understand and it was this book more than any other book I own that got me going with C++ Builder 3 & 4. I am selling most of my programming books on Amazon right now because I don't do much programming anymore but this is the one book I'm keeping just in case I start playing around with Builder again. Hope this helps all you hobbyist out there who don't know what to buy and like me have spent way too much money on books you can't understand.

No comments about C/C++ Reference Card.

3 comments about Master C++ for Windows: Let the PC Teach You Object-Oriented Programming.

1. This is excellent way to learn object oriented programming. It covers beginning, intermediate and advance programming concepts.

   It is one of the only true interactive tutorials. I use it to teach at the university and college levels.




2. This is one of the best programming books I have used. It teaches you C++ in a truly interactive way. I used it to teach myself C++ about 10 years back. Most books that are supposed to teach programming do a terrible job. The best way to teach programming is the way this book does it. It makes the teaching truly interactive thus reinforces whatever you learn at each step. You don't simply get bombarded with information. The program keeps asking you to respond to make sure that you understood the topic. You learn C++ in an interactive hands-on style, as opposed to the dry and passive style in which most people are taught.



3. I am convinced CBI (Computer Based Instruction) is the best way to learn a new Programming Language, so when The WAITE GROUP put out Master C++, I purchased one immediately based on my previous success with learning C from the WAITE GROUP's MasterC.
   
   They both will take you a very long way towards programming in their respective Language, and in the case of Master C++, you do not need to worry about using DOS Real Mode and NANSI.SYS anymore. Also, the software comes on 1.44MB Floppys, so it should not be a problem for most newer PC's.
   
   Go for it!! I did, and have earned back the cost of the book thousands of times over.

No comments about Expert Systems Programming in Turbo C.

1 comments about 80251 Microcontroller, The.

1. A friend of mine lent this great book. I have plenty of experience with the 8051 and needed to learn about the 80251. Great tips and examples enabled a smooth transition from one processor to the other. It's very clearly written. I would recommend it to anyone. It could have some good examples in "C" though.