5 comments about DATA STRUCTURES, ALGORITHMS, AND APPLICATIONS IN C++.

1. This book was a huge waste of money for me. I found that everything in the course could be found on the internet just by typing in the topic. The explanations in the book are very poor and the code is abominable (Sahni has obviously NOT worked in industry for a LONG time). Buy the Korrano (or however you spell it) book if you can, maybe just look in your old "Learning C++" (etc.) textbook-it may have more Data Structures than you think.



2. I found this book useless. I never used it during my (second quarter) data structures class (in which I received an A+). The first half of the book is decent as a reference but the chapters on greedy methods, divide and conquere, dynamic programming, and backtracking/branch and bound do not supply the user with proper examples to follow what the author is talking about. It is often hard to tell to which example he is refering and he tends to only give final results to a problem rather than step-by-step solutions. Often the author's code is bad (full of memory leaks) and some of his methods to speed up the code are wrong. Many data structures professors at universities have great on-line notes, and I found these infinitely more useful.



3. I'm a CS student from India, and I'd like to warn you not to buy this book. This is a 'recommended' book in our syllabus, but till now I can't understand why. The programs do their best to confuse you, and still can't get the picture after hours of stepping through the code. I don't know how Mr.Sahni intended students to understand this utterly foxing book. Stay away from this.



4. The book Sahni wrote with Horowitz was, and remains, a classic for anyone who wants to grapple with DS. Even the original text was never intended for starters and this book more or less carries on the same tradition (although a little more verbosely).
   The beauty of the original Horowitz and Sahni text was not the (terse) text, but the amazing exercises. The new one by Sahni also has some very challenging exercises suitable for advanced undergraduates.
   Students NEW to the subject are better of with simpler texts(I read the one by Kruse in my day, but there are PLENTY of new ones around) but students with more than one year of programming experince will find this book more challenging and satisfying. As for graduate students - Knuth awaits you with open arms. :-)



5. I'm actually amazed by the absolute mediocrity of this book. After having read a few books on *good* style (try Stroustroup, Effective C++ by Meyers), the code in here is crap by comparison. In addition (at least in the 1998 edition), there are all sorts of programming blunders - case in point: on pg 140/program3.20 there is a function to search for data in a circular list which ends up putting the data in the head-node for the list and leaves it there. Thankfully this garbage piece of code won't compile due to typos! Did anyone bother proof-reading this book? How did the author get a PhD? Only buy this book if you already know C++ and want a good laugh.

5 comments about Special Edition Using Visual C++.NET (Special Edition Using).

1. Although the book focuses mostly on MFC, I still found it an excellent source and an effective learning aid.



2. The book, at first surprised me with the title. I first thought that is is a book on VC++.NET 2003, I was surprised to find out that it focuses on MFC. However, I don't take that away from the book. The book starts off with MFC, while I don't agree, it has its reasons. Managed code abstracts a lot of the low-level COM programming for you, to really build Win32 apps, you need to know MFC/COM first. Managed code is built-up from MFC/COM, and in Visual C++.NET, you're going to need to use both MFC/COM and .NET.

   Good things? Unlike the Osborne book, it doesn't spend 2/3 of the book explaining C++ concepts. The bad thing? It's more of a "How to" on VC++.NET usage rather than writing managed code. Would I recommend it? Depends. If you're looking for just managed code, no. But if you want to learn MFC fundamentals and then move up to managed code, then I'd say yes. Even though I bought the book mistakening the title for something it's not, it will remain in my library because of its value in unmanaged and managed coding.




3. Save your money. It's mostly about MFC and there are much, much better books out there about MFC. The references to the .NET platform are too casual to be of much value.



4. I used this for a course recently.
   
   Its was written for VS 2003 (not VS 2005). It does have a nice mix of MFC and some of the newer .NET. Judging by job ads, its time to get more .net, this is more of an introduction. I'm told finding a V C++ book on .net is a problem, as more people are moving to C#.
   
   The author has a newer book for VS 2005, which I might check out...



5. Its an Excellent Master piece for Professionals who are Upgrading the Knowledge from VC6 to VC++.Net infact People who are interested in learning VC++ they can blindly go for this without VC6 knowledge.......

4 comments about Wireless Game Development in C/C++ with BREW (Wordware Game Developer's Library).

1. I just got this book, having pre-ordered it awhile ago. As a BREW games developer, I am finding Mr. Barbagello's explanation of some of the finer points of BREW very useful. I've already had a few "Doh! So *that's* how that works!" moments, and I would recommend this book to anyone who is interested in coding applications for BREW. BREW has a definite learning curve to it, but this book could make that much easier. You should have a good grounding in C/C++ before diving in, though, so be warned. The book has an extra section on how to construct BMPs in memory for use in BREW, which sounds easy enough, but if you know anything about BREW, isn't. Overall, a wonderful book I wish I'd had when I was learning BREW.



2. It's amazing that so little has been written on BREW, but with this book the above author is at the forefront of the upcoming tidal wave announcing and providing us an insightful and indepth how to manual on how to develop and publish BREW applications.



3. This book (Wireless game development in c/c++ with brew) was pretty good. It is the best info I can find on the subject. There were only two books that I found about brew the other being Qualcomm Brew platform by Ray Rischpater, but If you are going to become a brew developer it might be in your best interest to drop the 80$ and get both books.
   
   This one was the best out of the two I did get.
   
   Also, even though the book has the words 'game development' in the title, it is a great book for non game dev people. My applications have nothing to do with games.



4. This book is a great gift for BREW developers, Out of two books available for the Qualcomm's BREW this one has definitely more advantages, Even it doesn't matter that you are a Game Developer or not this will help you if you want to a become a BREW developer.
   Amarjeet Singh
   Bangalore India

No comments about C++ Para Dummies.

5 comments about Programming Abstractions in C: A Second Course in Computer Science.

1. I found this book extremely valuable for developing basic programming skills. The concepts are neccesary for any programmer. This book goes beyond the first book by showing you how to use the language and starts to make you think like a programmer, getting you into problem solving. Roberts has an easy-to-follow writing style and presents many different algorithms for solving the same problem. He clearly shows the positives and negatives of each. A very well-written book.



2. I have read through many books on data structures and algorithms (including the famous one from O'Reiley publishers), however I have no doubt that this is probably the best book on this subject. The author has put tremendous effort to generate amazing libraries for all the basic Data Structures. The exercise questions are very good as well. Also there is plenty of REAL programing examples, like implementation of editors, etc.. I just wish that Eric Roberts decides to write a similar book for java.



3. Having taken the 106 series, I don't find Roberts' book particularly engaging. While very precise, the book isn't written in a very clear way.



4. Haven't worked through the whole book yet, but I will say that I have other C or imperative-paradigm data structures book.
   The topics are very meaningful: thorough emphasis on recursion (usually misunderstood by C programmers), backtracking (in games - yes, fun!), graphs, trees, that is, the standard gammut of topics, but all written amidst a very interesting text that makes a person who loves programming to never let the book down, because of all the /usefull/ stuff that's in it. For instance, he uses an editor as the common thread to discuss buffers, then implents it using arrays, stack, and linked lists. You end up having a /practical/ introduction to those issues and the implications therein. This is not "practical" in the sense that it's "dumb". This is "real" as in "real GOOD, USEFUL, WELL WRITTEN, WELL DESIGNED" code. C hacking as it should be done.
   The code is written in crystal clear style (which is amazing for a C book), the author is keen on abstraction and library reuse. The excercises are great, and not dumb and mechanic.
   There isn't any book like this one for C out of the several that I've seen.
   If you want to learn C, after you learn the basics, this is THE book. I guess the other reviewer is right when he says that this must be the "SICP for C." And if you know anything about programming, you know that this is a big compliment.
   The author is an Applied Mathematics graduate from Harvard and a professor at Stanford.
   An excellent, excellent text! Addictive reading!



5. This is the best book I can recommend on abstract data types to beginners and refreshers alike. Written from somewhat academic perspective, it does a great job in instilling the concepts of abstraction and encapsulation. These are the basic principles behind Object Oriented programming. The author uses C, its a remarkable text on how to write "Object Oriented" like programs in C, but without relying on OO features of C++. Unless you know the underlying principles as explained in this book, it is just as "easy" to write bad OO programs in C++ as it is in C. Personally, I found the chapter on recursion the best. Explanations on recursion are simply the best I have yet seen. Now, I can do magic myself with recursion! Great job. I wish I could sit in his class. Is he planning to write more books for us ordinary mortals?

No comments about C: How to Program.

3 comments about Scientific C++: Building Numerical Libraries the Object-Oriented Way.

1. This text introduces C and C++ to a person experienced in procedural langagues. Do not turn to it if you have never programmed nor if you want to create games or typical business based windows applications. But if you are looking to learn how to use this "new" language for mathematical manipulation of numerical data, this book was made for you. Clear descriptions of syntax and recommendations of stylistic approaches to programming. Thoughtful warnings on dangerous paths that a beginner might stray down. Good reading, it will stay by my side as a guide to good clear style.



2. This text provides clear and useful information regarding the uses and advantages of C++ for floating-point-centered, computationally intensive work. It is not a replacement for a basic C++ text, but it is the best reference I have read for developing engineering calculations in C++. Unlike many C++ books (written in computer-science-ese by people who think it makes sense to index the first element of an array with 0 rather than 1 :) ), this book presents material in a language to which engineers and scientists can relate. Perhaps its greatest fault is that there is little or no discussion of templates and the standard template library (both fairly recent additions to C++). These topics are of great importance to techncal work



3. The book of Buzzi, " Scientific c++... ", is an excellent book for those which is interested in mathematic handling in c++ (i.e.) especially the matrices and vectors). It can be used as a solid basis for a training of the c++. This book is very well written, it is clear, the author gives a lot of example which helps to include/understand the subjacent theory. For example, it describes the comprehension of the pointers and their significance as for example the expression doubles ** A; ,which is more type C. The book of buzzi covers the c++(8 chapter mainly are devoted to the c++ and 4 to the installation of a directed bookshop object). Moreover, Buzzi in its book takes stock between FORTRAN and the c++. Chapter 2 compares the c++ and FORTRAN, it makes a certain negative criticism of FORTRAN (with you to judge) compared to the c++. The great force of this book lies in its many examples very relevant. I recommend this book to all those which wishes to be initiated with the c++ in a scientific way. For those which wishes more information I to them recommend Barton and Nackman

2 comments about Microsoft Visual C++ .NET Professional Projects.

1. I'm up to chapter 8 in this book, after nearly three months of plodding through the examples. Conceptually this would have been a great book, but there are critical typos, erros and mistakes in almost every example. Be prepared, when doing the examples, to be debugging not only your own mistakes but also those of the Author, and there are a lot of them. This can be very daunting for the beginner as you are never sure exactly how to fix some of these mistakes without research, trial and error and a lot of luck.



2. While the principle behind the book is good, I find myself wasting most of my time debugging the author's examples and deciphering omissions. I believe your money would be better spent on a different book.

1 comments about The C Standard: Incorporating Technical Corrigendum 1.

1. I want to own a paper copy of this book; I have been programming in C for over fifteen years, and also reading and correcting other programmers' code. While I've got some good references on hand, sometimes when I come across some bizarre abuse of the language, there is just no substitute for the ANSI standard to help me understand why something is wrong.
   
   Unfortunately, this is the content I want, but, like the C++ Standard book which also recently became available, the binding is one of the poorest I've ever seen in a hardback book. The cover is thin, there is no cloth in the binding, and the gluing is very flimsly. Just flipping through some pages in the bookstore, I was afraid they were going to start falling out. A sturdy well-bound paperback edition would be much more welcome than this flimsy hardcover.
   
   This is inexcusable for a book that lists at $65 and for one that is designed as a reference. The standard is available for download for $18, although you won't get the extra introductions. You'd be better off downloading it, then taking it to a Kinko's or other print shop to have it printed on sturdy paper and bound with a coil. It won't be as pretty, and it might cost you just about as much, but it will certainly last longer.
   
   I just can't bear paying so much for such a poorly made book. The C standard should be in the hands of every serious C programmer, and this is the only authorized edition, but I'm sure no one involved with the standardization effort "authorized" Wiley to rip off buyers with this flimsy, overpriced effort.

1 comments about Objective-C: Object-Oriented Programming Techniques.

1. A good book is one that can teach novices well. Shop, read, pay no further. This book is it.