No comments about A Practical Introduction to Software Design with C++.

3 comments about The C++ Graphics Programming Handbook.

1. This book is out-dated, and irrelevant to modern-day graphics programming techniques. Furthermore, the title is mis-leading as the contents are primarily C-based rather than C++. The reader is extremely disappointed with this selection, and would urge programmers to look elsewhere for graphics programming information.



2. This book is out of date because it deals with VESA cards not PCI cards.Also, It uses a very slow method in programming the high resolution modes. There is no explanation for the code written in the book. The programs in the CD involved doesn't work well.



3. I found this book to be slightly less than useful when I began graphics programming. Some of the programming techniques employed are not very good. for instance, instead of scan-line converting a polygon (fast) to fill in polygons, he uses a flood fill (SLOW)

   However, as I moved into higher resolution modes I found the tables dealing with VESA modes and DOS subroutines, etc. to be an invaluable resource.

   For the excellent reference material on VESA, it deserves 3 stars. However, if you are a beginner I recommend a book by Andre LaMothe for graphics.

No comments about Mastering C++: From C to C++ in 2 Weeks.

5 comments about Using C++ (Using).

1. With a first glance I could capture atleast 3 errors from the pg #312 to #314 in the chapter Beyond the basic. But I found very simple explainations of concepts like template and namespaces. Good book to understand concepts, may need little tweak in for the example code.



2. Very easy to read. Easy to understand explanations of difficult concepts in most situations. Quite comprehensive. Nice big margin to scribble notes in. Useful codes samples. Good price. A good starting text or support text.



3. This book is a good one for people who has never before programmed in C++. For those who has done that, I would not recommend this book. Then you should read C++: The Complete Reference instead! The explanations of templates, namespaces, exception handling and operator overloading are a little too simple for me. Also, the last part of the book, The Standard C++ Library, breaks the tutorial form of the book into a pure reference form!!! One of the programs has a very nast bug in it that should have been checked. It completely crashed my system, and I spent the rest of the day figuring out what went wrong!



4. Lots of typos and code errors make this book more difficult to follow than it should be. If you've got some programming background, then you'll catch them easily, so they'll be a nuisance rather than a serious source of frustration. The code examples are also rather trivial. It's not so helpful to see a fully coded and commented example of assigning a pointer, when it's already been presented in the text. Better to see a program that does something useful. The book could have been shortened by 200 pages by omitting excess whitespace and useless code examples. Straightfoward prose explanation seemed to suffer in places. Overall, a pretty good intro to OOP; not a terrible book, but you could probably find a better one.



5. It's hard to find a good c++ book for beginner programmers. Most C++ books assume that you are fimilar with c but this book doesn't required you to know c, it guide to step by step from gound up. I'm teaching myself VC++ using this book. Recommended to all beginner C++ programmers! Ivor Horton's "Beginning Visual C++ 6" is all highly recommended.

5 comments about C++ Program Design.

1. I rate this book 1 out of five stars ONLY because i cannot rate it lower than 1 out of five.
   I bought this book because it was the required text we were using for a c++ class in college. Honestly, this has got the be the worst computer-related book I've ever laid hands on. I don't know how this book can sell, let alone have any good reviews.
   For the people who rated this book good, claiming it isnt for newbies, and teaches you how to design c++ program properly. Dont listen to them. I consider myself fairly computer literate. Ive had experience with several languages, and I am an active Linux user, in which i write perl and bash scripts often. This book is still confusing as ever. And I thought some of the Linux HOWTO's were written poorly. Not compared to this book. The author writes in an extremely technical, bland way. He uses functions in his source and doesnt explain them until 3 chapters later. He constantly uses poor coding techniques, by declaring variables in the middle of the program.

   If you don't beleive what everyone else said, listen to this.

   If you buy this book, you will be wishing you hadnt. Don't waste your time. There are many better books out there that not only claim to show you c++ program design, but actually do in a real manner. At this point im not sure if cohoon was actually serious about writing a book, or wanted to torture and scare people away from learning c++.
   (hes probably a java developer)

   I suggest buying "The C++ Programming Language" Its much better written, and is written by the creator of the C++ language himself.




2. Would not suggest the book to a C++ novice, I found it very useful being a full time C++ programmer.



3. I am a self taught programmer. When I first read some of the reviewes I was initially discouraged to buy it. Now that I have bought this book, I have no regrets. It is a well thought out book with plenty of examples to try out. As regards EzWindows, though I haven't yet laid my hands on it but by reading through the texts I do not find it that bad.Some reviewer have complained of declaring variables in the middle of the program! but by hind sight that is not only perfectly valid but I believe it is a good method in coding. Instead of going back thousand of lines to the begining of the prog to find a variable, it is far more easier to locate it where it is declared provided it is well commented there! I like the history bits in the book to be pretty smart. Not a bad book either for the beginner or for the experienced.



4. Avoid adding this book to your collection. I found it lacks a consistent logical structure, is dry and makes relatively easy concepts seem impossibly complex.



5. This is a shocking example of how not to teach programming - numerous listings of boring code explaining HOW to do things, but no mention of WHY they are the way they are. If you are required to buy this as a textbook for a course, please complain loudly. There are some far better alternatives out there - for example Bruce Eckel's two-volume Thinking in C++ which is also available for free download.

No comments about Practical XView Programming.

5 comments about Beginning C.

1. Ivor Horton is a great writer. A friend of mine who is a guru in Unix suggested this book to me. If you are like me, learning best by studying examples, this book is a must!

   I had no idea what C language was all about. After finishing with chapter 1 I had a clear idea what the structure of C language is and what I should expect to see in the rest of the book.

   The examples are great if you work them out (can not learn otherwise). What I like the best is that the examples are in bold letters so that they stand out from the rest of the text. It is easier for the reader to visually keep things in order. Do I make sense?

   This book makes you want to read more and more!!!




2. 
   I have read several beginners� books on C, including K&R's "The C Programming Language", and found Beginning C to be the best!
   Beginning C is very easy to read, well organized and contains clear examples. If you really want to learn C without too much fuss, this is the book.



3. This book was pretty well organized, as well as having good excersies and a nice program to do at the end of each chapter. I still go back to this book for reference on topics that I can't quiet remember. Also this book is a great thing to have around if you don't want to study C but just want to know how C works and how to make structs and all/



4. This is an excelent introduction to C. It covers all of the basics of C without any long confusing code. It is very beginner friendly and has tons of easy to understand examples. Also makes a very good reference book. If you want to learn C, this is the place to start.



5. I teach C programming to new programmers and recommend this to the students. It's a bit dated (16 bit int's, for instance) but the presentation is outstanding. Easy to read and many examples are the reasons I suggest it - but the students love it because they can get old copies for much less than a new book (Thanks, Amazon!)
   
   The fonts and layout of this edition are in my opinion superior to the 3rd edition, making this a better book from which to learn. Ivor, if you're reading this -- go back to WROX!

5 comments about Sams' Teach Yourself Advanced C in 21 Days (Sams Teach Yourself).

1. This is a great book for learning some advanced C programming. Highly recommended. I can't believe someone would give this book 1 star because they didn't grasp the concepts. That this book is ADVANCED enough to thwart the learning efforts of a beginner makes it worthy of its name. In my mind, this is a praisworthy trait for a book to have (truth in the title).



2. Gone are the days of DOS console programming. You dont see the types of interfaces that are used in this book anymore. So why is it so good? It teaches some advanced concepts and libraries used in C. Also, you never know when that legacy app will need fixing I found the subject material facinating and learned alot about putting together a database program without a fancy RDMS system. Something that can carry over to my JAVA programming world.



3. The C in 21 days is really a good programming book which provides example, coding, explaination and many more useful exercise. Then, the Advanced C is my next programming book, I'll more expert in C and many more. Explore it today !

   Remember, C IS FUN!




4. This book is fantastic! Previously, I had difficulty with concepts such as pointers, arrays and structures. This book clearly explains the differences, provides excellent examples and also includes good programming advice. I have compiled many of the example programs and they are highly instructional. Each example includes an analysis section that explains the examples by line number which is also extremely helpful. The book is well laid out and each section begins with a checklist that tells you what to expect to learn for that section. I highly recommend this book! Compile the examples and you too can learn C!



5. I started reading this book and the topics didn't seem to me that advanced. Also, I had to debug every code example in the book so far just to get them to run which I guess is a learning experience in itself. I guess I just wasn't that impressed.

5 comments about Teach Yourself Turbo C++ 4.5 for Windows in 21 Days (Sams Teach Yourself).

1. This is a good book, but I don't recommend it if you are a new comer with no previous programming experience. The concepts taught and the example code are quite good. The main problems with this book is that there are many small errors here and there that would drive a beginner crazy. The book moves quite fast expecting you to know and pick up certain things quickly. I recommend this book if you have some previous basic knowlegde of C++ and are ready to move onto some basic Windows programming.



2. First - this book has many typographical errors. If you have some prior experience in programming then this book is highly recommended otherwise you will take more time as you will have to go slowly but nevertheless it contains all the details you need to have for going ahead if you have no prior experience of programming. Expecting an exhaustive coverage of all topics is an impossible task with modern computers & I consider this book worth all the time I devoted, even the bugs in the code seems to consolidate your understanding in the end.



3. Borland endorses this book as the official tome to use for learning Turbo C++. Unfortunately, for an absolute beginner it is a difficult book.



4. I gave up after day 6. The book has too many typographical errors, and some of the code is hard to follow. If you need a good start on programming in C++, purchase C++ Primer Plus by Stephen Prata.



5. This is awfully bad book to learn C++. Sheer waste of money. The code is awful. Horrendous typos. Most of the code is buggy.

5 comments about Professional Software Development with Visual C++ 6.0 & MFC (With CD-ROM) (Programming Series).

1. If you are new to MFC and Visual C++, this book will help you. When you want to start learning why some things are done a certain way, you are out of luck.

   This book will walk you through the basics of using the MFC in Visual C++. You will learn the steps you take in VC to do basic component manipulation in MFC but only on the surface. The examples are not really that good. Sure they convey the principle but that's about it. I found myself with more questions to ask and no answers to be found.

   If you have never done any MFC programming before, this is a good place to start. Otherwise, my advise is to keep looking.

   -=} Randall {=-




2. This is a terribly organized book.

   1. There are lots of errors and inconsistency, which cause lots of confusion. I've only reached chapter 5 and already noticed these errors:
   1) Page 57: the book shows you how to create a "CDataDlg" class, however, on Page 60, inside the code: "CDlgData dlg(this)" - the class name becomes "CDlgData" and this error repeats on Page 61 too;
   2) Page 68: "1. From ClassView, select CDlgData" - well, the figure actually shows "CDlgNew", not "CDlgData" and this discrepancy repeats several times in the chapter;
   3) Page 69, in the code "m_csLastname = "Jones";
   m_edtLastnaem.SetWindowText("Jones");" - the first line is totally unnecessary, besides, variable m_csLastname is not declared so if you follow his code closely, the program won't work.

   2. Looks like the author isn't very sure what type of readers he is addressing:

   Page 57: "6. At the end of this line press [Enter]...The cursor will be placed immediately below this line..."

   Looks like he thinks his readers are bunch of [people] knowing nothing about how to use a text editor, not to mention C++ and we need to follow strictly his explanation. Well, if we really follow his book so closely, we will definitely be frustrated by these errors mentioned above.




3. First things first, if you are a beginner my advise is to read books for beginners then move on to MFC books for the advanced. I noticed in a lot of reviews people seem to think that one book is all they need and expect one book to do it, but the sad thing is they end up using the book as a paper weight or they stop study the language because they got the wrong book, or they get confused. If you study and learn any language in the right order with the right books its hard not to enjoy! Read C++ in 21 days, second edition, by Jesse Liberty. Get through Jesse's book on the C++ language first then move on to learning Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC). Then read C++ 6.0 in 21 days by Davis Chapman to get some of the MFC learning. Then read everything on advanced Visual C++ 6.0 to enhance you MFC understanding. Now you will have to add all these books to your library reference because it seems one book on C++ 6.0 will not tell you everything you need to know because when you start your own programming you're always do something different than what these books seem to cover and guess what? That's right, you will have to figure this out yourself by referencing more than just one book. Example: I needed more info on property sheets and finally found it in MFC Advanced, which is now discontinued for now on Amazon. This book Visual C++ 6.0 & MFC has some good info in it but it's short on detail but I will have to say it's a good book to help build your library on this subject. I had a problem with property sheets and this book did not cover enough to help me with my problem. It uses a control button you click on a menu to pull up a tabbed property sheet and I wanted to convert my main dialog class to a property sheet class to build my application instead of having the property sheet added to my application in a menu control. But I learned from its CTime class on how to display clock time in a better format. Did find some errors but that seems to happen in most book anyway. So, I give this book 3 stars because it doesn't cover enough in-depth information to be a professional software development book.



4. I think that this is a grate book for beginers. It gives you examples of almost everything you need.



5. This is a very poorly written book. If you follow the instructions, none of your programs will work. If I could give it a ZERO stars I would. I wasted my money on this book.