5 comments about Sams Teach Yourself Borland C++ Builder in 21 Days.

1. Isn't it amazing how great books stand the test of time? With the way technology is always changing, you might not expect computer books to last very long, but this one has real staying power.

   I've read some of Henderson's other books and this one lives up to the tradition of excellence. He's a born writer and his gift for explaining the complex in terms anyone could understand is evident throughout this book.

   What I like most about Henderson's work is that you get the impression that he put himself in your shoes for a bit and wrote the book from the perspective of what you'd want to know. Honestly, just about the time I'm ready to ask a question, he answers it!

   This book is a great jumping off point if you're wanting to dive into C++Builder.




2. I wish I could give this book ten stars, because I would - it's that good. The best part of the book is the level it's written at. Not too high, not too low - it's just right. The book is to the point - it doesn't mess around with flowery language or other nonsense. And it's so thorough - particularly the database stuff - that you never get lost. Well-written and loaded with valuable info, ever C++Builder developer ought to read this book.



3. I've found the compiler documentation to be inadiquate, so I got this book to hopefully help out. It's well written and covers a lot of useful information, however this book is best suited for newbies. It is not at all suited for advanced programmers, but is more than adequate for those just beginning.



4. Like most Teach Yourself books, this book is intended for the beginner-to-intermediate developer. I have to say, it fully delivers. It is not for the C++Builder wizard....

   What I like most about the book is the obvious command of C++ the authors have. To get to read two C++ experts teach us how to use one of the best C++ tools out there is a real treat. Thank you for taking the time to do this.




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2 comments about Taligent's Guide to Designing Programs: Well-Mannered Object-Oriented Design in C++.

1. This book provides clear and concise guidelines for developing C++ applications. If you are beginning a new C++ project, I can't emphasize how important it is to read through this book and adopt what you can from it.

   Understand that experience in object oriented development is still a rare thing and that the authors share what they have learned over the years. This is precious information, ranging from class naming conventions to classic class design mistakes.

   I'm a proponent of this book. The easiest thing that you could do, rather than wasting time developing your own in-house style and rule book, is buy a bunch of Taligent's books and pass them out. It will be a big money saver for your team in the long (perhaps even short) run.




2. This book is an excellent choice to aid in the development of a consistent C++ coding and design style for your corporate C++ engineers. The book is compact, offers consistent naming and coding guidelines and has the authority to motivate your engineers to adopt their design and coding style.

   I would also suggest this book for any C++ programmer working on a smaller project. This book can be compared to Scott Meyers Effective C++, but it will require a higher level of understanding of the language. Although it is already a few years old, it does mention namespaces and e.g. the dynamic_cast language construct, so it is certainly not outdated.

   I recommend this book to any professional C++ programmer.

5 comments about Algorithms and Data Structures in C++.

1. I used this book for my Data Structures course and found it very difficult to decifer. The text is hard to understand and if you haven't had much practice in figuring out C++ code, you definitely will have difficulty with Leendert's examples. However, with a little effort and a lot of work (as well as some help by someone more experienced) the code is deciferable. In fact, if you can figure out these examples, you're well on your way to becoming an expert C++ programmer.

   I'd recommend this book for the advanced programmer or the programmer that has a great deal of drive and assistance. All in all, definitely worth taking a close look at.




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3. I've been hunting around for a while now for a book which teaches data structures using C++ as the implementation language. I think I've finaly found it in this book. All other books I've looked at have just been poor rewrites of previous C algorithm books.

   The material is clearly explained most of the time, always with an example to show the algorithm at work. The book focuses on algorithms and data structures that you might actually use one day, unlike some other books which have all these wierd and wonderful algorithms but which you will probably never need to use.

   This is the book to have when you start forgeting all that data structure stuff you did in college and you need a review.

   The best thing about this book is that it's only ~350 pages so it wont take you years to get through.




4. I've been researching on C++ algorithms to handle large integers for a Visual C++ Calculator I'm currently writing. This book provided me not only with a full and clear explanation of the methodology involved, but also with a complete listing of the class required to handle these operations. Among other techniques, it also showed me clear guidelines to convert recursive algorithms into non-recursive procedures, which I have found very useful for the work I'm doing. This book will indeed be one of my main sources of information in this area. The source code described in the book is also well supported at the Web site which address is provided in the book.



5. The C++ implementations in the book are simple but very effective and well-organized.

3 comments about Nonlinear Workbook: Chaos, Fractals, Cellular Automata, Neural Networks, Genetic Algorithms, Gene Expression Programming, Wavelets, Fuzzy Logic - With C++, Java and SymbolicC++ Programs.

1. The information was useful & approprate to the topic. I'd rank it as an average quality refence but a very poor text book.

   The text is poorly written. The code is simple and easy to understand, but not very object oriented. There is not enough explanation of the code. The code is not electronically available.

   The treatment was very mathematical but lacking in explanation & application examples. There were plenty of deffinitions, but not enough examples.




2. The topics covered in this book are all important from the standpoint of applications in physics, engineering, computer science, financial engineering, and computational biology. It is written for the person just getting started in these topics, and the author does a fairly good job of discussing them. Readers should not expect, and they will not get, in-depth discussions on these topics, as this would swell the book to 10 times the size. They will however get preparation for moving on to more advanced and complete treatments.

   Nonlinear and chaotic maps are considered in chapter 1, with elementary definitions given and six different examples of maps discussed. In discussing the calculation of numerical trajectories of maps, the author deals with the problem of large initial values for the maps and how to implement these in SymbolicC++ and Java. He also shows how to write/read data to a file using C, C++, and JAVA. The exception handling capability of JAVA comes out nicely, but no performance comparison between the three languages for simulating the maps is given by the author. The language REDUCE is used to discuss the stability of the fixed points of the logistic equation, but the code would be useless to the reader who did not have REDUCE since some of the function calls are hidden from the reader. Useful programs are given for calculating the Lyapunov and autocorrelation functions. In addition, C++ programs are given for evaluating the correlation integral for the Henon map. The programs he develops in this chapter can serve as a quick benchmark for one's own programs that calculate the same quantities.

   In chapter 2, the author discusses methods for studying time series, including the Lyapunov and Hurst exponents. These two quantities are of enormous importance in the study of dynamical systems, financial data, and network performance. The C++ program that the author gives for calculating the Hurst exponent will not work for arbitrary time intervals. This is followed in the next chapter by a consideration of autonomous systems of ordinary differential equations. The classification of fixed points is considered, and the important concept of a homoclinic orbit. The author gives a nice JAVA program that finds the homoclinic orbit of an anharmonic differential equation using the Lie series technique. The phase portrait of the Van der Pol oscillator is calculated using the Runge-Kutta technique in a C++ program, along with the Lotka-Volterra system from mathematical biology.

   Hamiltonian mechanics is discussed in chapter 4, with the important Henon-Heiles model from astrophysics is discussed and JAVA programs given for studying its behavior using the Poincare section technique. Newcomers to this technique will appreciate seeing it done here explicitly. Integrability of Hamiltonian systems using the Lax representation and Floquet theory are also treated, but only at a very rudimentary level. Dissipation is included in the next chapter, and the author discusses the classification of fixed points according to their stability. Lyapunov exponents are again brought into the picture, and the phenomenon of hyperchaos is discussed. Some bifurcation theory is introduced with an example of the Hopf bifurcation. Chapter 6 studies nonlinear driven systems, with the Duffing oscillator treated, and the author gives a useful program for calculating the autocorrelation function of this system. The controlling of chaos with feedback and non-feedback controls is the subject of the next chapter, mostly in the context of difference maps. Fractals finally get introduced in chapter 8, with iterated function systems defined but proofs of their properties omitted. The author gives programs for calculating various popular fractals, such as the dragon, Sierpinski gasket, Koch curve, the Mandelbrot set, and the Julia set. The main disappointment in this chapter is that the author does not give programs for calculating the Hausdorff dimension or capacity, quantities that are notoriously difficult to get a meaningful computational handle on.

   The author switches gears in the next chapter and discusses cellular automata, which have recently made a comeback, especially in research on quantum computation. The discussion is too brief however, and does not allow the reader to gain an appreciation of the properties of these important objects. Chapter 10 gives a brief overview of some techniques for solving differential equations, such as the Euler method and the Lie series technique. The latter is not commonly treated in beginning books so its inclusion here is helpful. Symplectic integration is also discussed briefly, but the author does not discuss how to check the integrators using backward integration, which is commonly used in conservative systems modeled by symplectic maps.

   Chapter 11, covering neural networks, is the most well-written in the book, and the newcomer to the field will get a fairly decent introduction to the subject. The supplied programs serve to illustrate some of the important concepts in neural networks, such as the Hopfield model, the Kohonen network, the perceptron learning algorithm, and the back-propagation algorithm.

   Chapter 12 is an introduction to genetic algorithms, and I find this one particularly nice also, as it does give a rudimentary introduction to what evolutionary algorithms are all about, and gives some elementary genetic programs that find the maximum of one- and two-dimensional maps. He also discusses simulated annealing, and gives a useful program that allows the reader to see clearly how this technique works.

   The last chapter covers fuzzy sets and fuzzy logic, which has also taken on importance in recent years, especially in data mining and financial engineering. The programs given to illustrate the concepts are particularly interesting from the standpoint of coding in C++, as the author uses friend functions and operating overloading in some of them. The reader gets a good overview of fuzzy reasoning and fuzzy rule-based systems.




3. This book is an overview of all of the components of nonlinear dynamics. Nonlinear dynamics is a field of study that enables well-constructed predictive modeling of systems that might be difficult to solve otherwise. Such continuous systems were first widely modeled by ordinary and differential equations, but with the passage of time there are now tools and mathematical models at our disposal that make for a much more concise model of many systems. This workbook tries to touch on all of those mathematical tools. The first six chapters of the book has to do with modeling such complex systems in general, and the rest of the book is a survey of the tools needed to perform complex modeling. The book's format is that of briefly explaining a concept in a few pages, and then presenting a computer program that demonstrates the concept just explained. The explanations are very clear and concise, there are plenty of equations shown, and the accompanying code is well commented. If you want to really drill deeply into any of the concepts then you are going to need some other books. I suggest that for further reading for the mathematically inclined that you pick up "Chaos: An Introduction to Dynamical Systems" by Kathleen Alligood. For scientists that want to see specific problems that can be solved by dynamical systems I suggest the excellent "Nonlinear Dynamics and Chaos: With Applications in Physics, Biology, Chemistry, and Engineering" by Strogatz. The only real complaint I have against this book is that there is uneven coverage of different tools. For example, the author has a great deal to say about neural networks and fuzzy logic, but has very short chapters covering discrete wavelets and cellular automata. More material would have been great, since it is hard to find good books on discrete wavelets and cellular automata in particular. Some readers may also be annoyed that much of the book are code listings of the various demonstration programs. Overall, I would highly recommend it as one of several books that anyone interested in dynamical systems should definitely own. In particular, those individuals interested in the techniques of algorithmic composition of music might find this book a good jumping off point for studying the tools and techniques that make such compositions possible.

No comments about C is for Control: A Laboratory Text for Hardware Interfacing with C and C++.

5 comments about C# Black Book.

1. Has anyone else that's read the section on ADO.NET noticed that the objects are no longer SQLConnection or OLEDBConnection, and instead ADOConnection....???

   Given that this guy works at MS, I'm thinking that there is a major change within ADO.NET in the final release of VS.NET that is going to be different than how it currently is with ADO.NET in the Beta 2 or Release Candidate.

   Anyhow, good book, I've found it very informative and up-to-date (trust me...that's valuble) as a C# reference.




2. This book may be a great C# book, but in the first five pages I found so many inaccuracies, this author has lost all credibility with me. I am returning this book as soon as possible.

   To illustrate either the author's utter lack of knowledge or his talent in Microsoft marketing tactics, I offer the following:

   On page four, the author writes,

   Int x = 3;
   If( x ) {
   }
   ...
   int x = 3;
   if( x != 3)
   {
   }

   "These two code snippets are functionally equivalent in C++ and Java but do not behave the same (if fact, the first does not compile) in C#. This difference between C# and the other two languages is important and is one that avoids problems noticed in the past by programmers."

   First of all, why don't we try for some consistency in the code samples? Secondly, the first example won't compile in any of the 3 languages since they are all case sensitive and therefore "If" is invalid. Lastly, and most importantly, Java does NOT behave the way he claims. It behaves exactly as C# does (Microsoft copied this behavior from Java) for the same reason C# does, meaning the first example will not compile in Java either.

   This is not the only time the author does this. He also claims that Java and C++ do arrays the same. The then bashes the way those languages do arrays and claims that Microsoft, in its infinite wisdom, made arrays better. Wrong!!! Microsoft once again copied the functionality of Java arrays when creating C#.

   This author would have you believe that C# is new and intuitive. He suggests that Java programmers will find a better language in C#, and tries to prove this by suggesting that Java works in one way and C# works a better way, when in fact, they both work the same, only Java has worked that way for more than six years.

   This author ...should not be making such retarded statements, or he is pulling another Microsoft on us by making false statements about one technology in order to make their technology look better. Either way, I can't trust my learning to his myriad inaccuracies and must return this book.

   I recommend avoiding this title.




3. WHERE I'M COMING FROM: Computer science grad student with academic experience in C++. 2 years professional ColdFusion and SQL. 1 year professional Java and PHP.

   WHAT I HAVE TO SAY: Eh. This book definitely doesn't talk down to developers with a medium level of experience, but it doesn't really spend all that much time on any one topic. Maybe I'm dense, but I still haven't caught on to its explanation of Delegates. This might be better for an Advanced Beginner than an Intermediate Programmer. This being my first C# book, I'm guessing it is middle of the road. I'm moving on to Petzold's Programming Windows with C#.




4. An earlier reviewer said he had trouble with delegates. I agree, he explains complicated things on a high level, then the simpler things that should already be known by programmers, he grinds into you. I went to a web-site and learned what I needed to about Delegates in one paragraph. Matt forgets to tell us (no pun intended) what delegates are... This is a decent reference, but as for learning the language, I would look to something else.



5. While the author seems to cover the topics well, including good useable code examples, much of the information is already obsolete. He obviously wrote this while the C# language was still in Beta 1, because many of the classes and methods he uses were removed, replaced, or renamed as of Beta 2. I can't believe they published a book written about a language before the language was officially finalized and released. It's very difficult to search the Internet, MSDN, etc. for all of the "equivalent" classes for the outdated ones the author uses... I recommend you find a newer and more accurate book.

5 comments about Professional Mfc With Visual C++5.

1. Having a descent knowledge of Windows OO programing from Visual Foxpro, this book was the best I've found on MFC. It is NOT for pure novices, Mike expects reader to have a good amount of programming skills, but is not overly expectant of the reader. His style and detail make the book a joy to read. I especially liked the absense of pages and pages of sample code that many other books contain. It seems to be applicable to MS VC++ version 6, with very few discrepencies in the difference of versions.



2. This is a great book for experienced MFC programmers. The author explained many important topics that other books did not explain at all. However, the examples of the book are not discussed by author. Thus, it is not good for beginning and intermediate level MFC programmers.



3. I am sorry I gave this book one star. It is the lowest rating I can give. The book is full of inaccurate information and does not state the most obvious things. I wanted to use a check list box and the author talked for pages on sub-classing and doing lots of nonsense. I finally found out that all you have to do is change the list box declaration from CListBox to CCheckListBox making sure you have the styles set to Fixed /Owner Draw/ Has strings. That is it. MFC takes care of the rest. When I tried to have a drag list box, the author did not mention the most important piece of information, which is to make sure the list box, is not sorted. I do not know about people giving 5 stars. I personally will burn it tonight while dancing around the fire.



4. This book is one of the most helpful and informative books on MFC there is, no you don't have to be a expert to read it but you do need some good foundation knowledge of MFC to understand it. as for the dips that give it 1 star, if you notice they complain about the most basic elements such as working with check boxes, placing checks in checkboxes, sorry people but that's beginning MFC not PROFESSIONAL



5. Mike knows his topic. I know this from other dealings but the book does meander. As a resource the index is useless...less than useless. There are numerous places where he addresses a particular topic but only sights one page in the index. "Professional" ? I leave that to someone else. He does state that the book is for the professional developer. And I was not looking for a text book. But an idex is a tool. In this case used very pourly.

No comments about Borland C++ 4.X Tips, Tricks, and Traps/Book and Disk.

No comments about Killer Borland C++ 4/Book and Disk.

No comments about Borland C++ 4.5 Object-Oriented Programming.