No comments about Developing C Language Portable System Call Libraries/Book and Disk.

No comments about More C Tools for Scientists and Engineers (Computing That Works).

5 comments about Essential Visual C++4 (Essential Series).

1. i bought this book because this was the cheapest, but what a mistake! it's not a book to learn about C++. it's a one to learn how to use a particular software called visual C++ assuming you are well-versed in C++ language.



2. Unless like other books , this book book contains the essentials and what is needed to learn with respect to practicing programmers.I am a professional C-programmer and know C++ in general. I learnt quickly vc++ after reading this book. Now I can able to work in VC++ projects.



3. I think that the book should have explained more in detail. The book is for people who is advanced with C and knows a little about C++. Not for absolute beginners! The MFC tutorials are ok, it gives you only the basics though. I think the author could have done a lot better job, I think I could even explain it better.



4. Big on descriptions, but low on examples, and even lower on linking together the different parts of MFC you have to hook together to get an application of any complexity runnng. Find something else



5. If you know a bit about MFC developement and Visual C++, but need a handy reference on how to use a particular control or feature, this is the book to have. Small, concentrated chapters that cover independent topics concisely. Excellent book, IMHO. (Wish he'd update for v6.0 of the compiler!)

5 comments about C# for Web Programming (Microsoft Technologies Series).

1. If this book is suppose to be an introductory book on C$# fundamentals - they guys got it right.

   I was hoping for some windows programming but I just learned they have another C# book for that.

   I found it to be useful, accurate and to the point. A good book.




2. I didn't give this book 5 stars because nothing is perfect. However, these authors have done a pretty impressive job on their book.

   Let me tell you what I liked: I liked the introduction where they gave you all of the important C# syntax BEFORE launching into the WEB material. Then they showed me how to get started with simple WEB projects. This included the use of important controls, properties and more.

   Then they even did some work on GDI graphics (and I couldn't find this material in ANY other book on the WEB that I looked at in the book store). The book ends with a couple of good WEB service examples, but I haven't gotten to writing them yet.

   Well, the book is about 500 pages... Pretty good deal for what I got out of it.




3. I enjoyed the early part of the book. The examples worked beautifully every time. I felt I was learning about C# and ASP.NET at the same time.

   As I progressed through the book I wondered when they were going to get to databases. They never did. What about Cookies? They are not mentioned either! OK, no book can cover everything, and who'd want it to. But this one simply doesn't go far enough even for a c#/.net novice like me.

   In summary, a good starting point but you'll soon need other books beside this one.




4. How can you do web programming without database programming? I mean thats the main reason we learn C#, or for that matter Java. For web programming a database is a MUST. I could use PERL or PHP or even Javascript to do scripting stuff.

   This book leaves out ADO.NET which is crucial to Web Programming. I advise to skip this book and to try something else.




5. Well, lets start?
   
   Chapter 1. The journej to C#.
   Well, we are talking about Web Programming, right? Why do authors write about Algol, B, C, C++ then? Ok, 16 pages is not too much, but they are useless. Moreover, they say that C# was derived from C++ while it is obvious that it was patterned over Java. But Java is completely forgotten. Umm... You will encounter some very useful stuff like
   "Hypertext - An online document that has words or graphics containing links to other documents. Usually, selecting the link area onscreen (with a mouse or keyboard command) activates these links". Cool!!!
   
   Chapter 2. C# essentials.
   From page 16 till page 70 you will find a lot of information, such as why C# is great. "Essentials" are not essential though. Say, classes and structures occupy just one page. Even for such a newbie in .NET as I am, this chapter was completely useless.
   
   Chapter 3. C# and VS.NET
   "Finally I will learn ASP" - that was my thoght when i finished boring chapters 1 and 2. But I was wrong. Basically, this chapter teaches you how to resize web forms. All the stuff from this chapter you can learn by yourself by just playing with VS.NET in 10 minutes. Do you know how to select a control? "Place the mouse pointer over any control and click once. Move the mouse pointer to the form..." Yeah.
   And you also notice that authors use a LOT of screenshots. All screenshots are half-page sized. Say, picture with textbox, and below the same pic but textbox is resized.
   
   Chapter 4 -5. Static control properties / Dynamic control properties.
   Here authors teach you how to change properties (ya know, in that properties window). Be prepared for long tables of properties with explanations which you can find in VS.NET on status bar. Serious coding starts from chapter 5, you learn how to use events and how to add 1-2 lines of code.
   All examples totally suck, I mean you will learn how to change properties of almost all controls and nothing else. In the end you will write a calculator which will multiply 2 numbers. 4 lines of code. Coooooool!
   
   Chapter 6. Events. From 193 till 221 pp you will find events and their short descriptions, obviously borrowed from VS.NET help. You will not find any example; just empty event handlers and VERY USEFUL comment to EACH of them : "The return type of method is void". Thanks guys! What would i do without you!
   
   Chapter 7. Processing web form input. 48 pages will teach you how, clicking on something, to change something. Be sure, that if your program will change image depending on selected radio button (3 buttons) you will find 3 screenshots which will differ from each other by picture and button selected. This is very useful.
   Authors also will include all code, even that one generated by VS, also it is almost always identical. Be sure, the event handler code will be repeated on the same page.
   
   Chapter 8. Procesing form output. The same stuff as in 7, but here you will show something somewhere... PP. 294 -295 are the best illustration:
   they ontain autogenerated code, screenshot wwith browser, showing microsoft.com and empty event handler method. COOOL!
   Well, this chapter also deals with DataGrid, DataList, Repeater and Table, with 1 example for each control... Just type the code; forget about any explanations or description of properties. Enough.
   
   Chapter 9. GDI Graphics Fundamentals. Chapter 10. Presentation graphics.
   70 useless pages which list classes in Drawing namespace, methods in Graphics and using WINDOWS Forms. Huh?????
   
   Chapter 11. Numeric Applications and Conversions.
   Very useful programs on how to calculate prime numbers, build trygonometric table or use bubble sort.
   
   Chapter 12. Web services. LOTS LOTS LOTS of screenshots. Nothing else.
   
   Well, im bored. These guys just wanted to earn some money, and they did that. The good news is that tthey did not place any screenshots on how to move mouse or close VS. Good idea!
   authors just wanted to fill the pages with something, screenshots and autogenerated code was a solution.
   This book says nothing on
   1. HTML controls. They are just mentioned.
   2. Web application life cycle events. Why there is on_load event handler? Whats that? Who knows.
   3. Whats about session tracking? Cookies?
   4. DataGrid et. al.
   5. ADO.NET is not even mentioned.
   6. Forget about security, etc.
   All eamples are so lame, I cant find words. There are NO real wold examples, even simple login page is not written.
   This book is junk.

2 comments about Programming for Graphics Files in C and C++.

1. This book explains clearly how to read and write many forms of graphics file and has extensive source code examples. Absolutely wonderful.



2. This book, although old, looked to be one I could put to use. It promises details on the manipulation of MacPaint, PCX, IMG, IFF/ILBM, BMP, Targa, GIF, TIFF and JPEG files. The book consists largely of source code, which is OK, since the book's text should probably just consist of comments on the code's content. Unfortunately, the code itself is not commented well at all and the only way to figure out what is going on is to read and decipher the source code given. There is no instruction on how to put all of the various subroutines together into something cohesive that can encode and decode graphics files. Worst of all, most of the code for working with TIFF and JPEG files is contained in a library resident on a companion disk that didn't come with the book even in 1994. The original cost of the disk was twenty dollars back then, and who knows if you can even get it now, and if so, how.
   
   This could have been a useful book, and given its subject matter, it would still be useful today if it had been done correctly originally. Unfortunately, the author's methodology is not explained, the program structure is nowhere to be found, and lots of the code is on a disk that you may not even be able to obtain at this point. A better alternative to this book is Compressed Image File Formats: JPEG, PNG, GIF, XBM, BMP (ACM Press). I still find it useful although it is almost ten years old.

1 comments about Introduction to Compiling Techniques: A First Course Using ANSI C, Lex, and Yacc (The Mcgraw-Hill International Series in Software Engineering).

1. This book is much easier to read and understand than the Dragon book. The Dragon book goes into more depth, but then this book here is supposed to be an introductory text. If you are looking for one get this book before the Dragon book.

No comments about C Programming and Quick Reference.

5 comments about C Programming (Visual QuickStart Guide).

1. I love the Visual QuickStart Guides (of which this is one). Their format of text on one side, screenshots on the other side works well for most applications.
   
   But it doesn't work well for programming languages.
   
   The QuickStart approach is show-and-see. To learn a programming language, the approach has to be show-and-do.
   
   The author could have supplied problem sets at the end of each chapter. He supplied no problem sets. Without problem sets, the book provides no opportunity for readers to actually program. And you just can't learn to program without programming.
   
   If you want to read about C, or if you're looking for a well-written reference about C, this book does the job.
   
   If you want to program in C, you will not learn to do it here.



2. The author did a fine job introducing key C programming concepts and illustrate them using simple well-explained code samples.
   
   However, the book just doesn't cover enough depth and breadth about useful C topics for this book to be a keeper. I am not sure about the intended audience. Computer Science students should definitely get more serious books like C Primer to learn in-depth about the C programming language, whereas developers from other languages should get more advanced books like Expert C Programming, Pointers on C to start 'Thinking in C' and get more bang for the buck.
   
   I think this book is a good buy only for those looking for a job interview that requires C knowledge and you have only a weekend to prepare for it ;)



3. If you wanted to get up to speed with C without having to read thousands of pages in order to understand one concept then this book does a fantastic job. Good book to start on and i would recommend it to anyone!!



4. I own two other books by Larry Ullman and am nothing but pleased with them; however, this one was rather disappointing. The coverage is overly simplistic, shallow and lacks substance. The authors also "stroke out" in the pointers section --which is a bastion of C programming. I suppose it's "fine" as a dumbed-down introductory text, but for anyone with even a little programming background this book is useless or even laughable. Definitely not one of his better ones.



5. It is a wonderful Introduction to C!!!
   I have seen many other books dealing with programming, but this is definitely the best.
   Even for an almost absolute beginner like me this book presented a format, a style and a quality to get understand pretty easy. For PC and Mac users alike; and the given examples work - what in most books it is not the case!
   I wish the authors would write a book about Objective - C in the same style!
   Amazing that there so few books about programming and programming languages which deal the subject in a didactically and thorough method without the need having learned three languages before and without having a 10 years programmers experience
   - a be on a mac-
   
   thanks so much to the authors!!!

1 comments about Object-Oriented Design in C++ Using the Standard Template Library.

1. hi guys
   at last i found a book which i 'm happily suggesting all of you to follow , if u really want to exploit the powers of STL for building robust , object oriented software components.
   the author approaches the subject of STL in a brilliant fashion , moreover i 'd suggest u to go through the example questions at the end of each chapter to grasp this subject .
   shuaib (Pakistan)

4 comments about C Quick Reference (Que quick reference series).

1. This is not a tutorial, it is a reference. It is the handiest C reference book I have ever owned, and I have a LOT of C books. This book is small, concise, and indispensable. It does not try to teach you the language; rather it is a book to keep at your side when coding, so you don't have to remember the order of all those arguments or the return values from all those functions. Too bad it is out of print...



2. I have been using this book since it came out. I ran across it now on Amazon as looked for a quick reference on C++ and felt obligate to write a review. This book contains the shortest, clearest, and most concise defination of the C programming language I have ever seen. After 14 year, I still have it within arm's reach 70% of the time. It is a shame it is out of print... even worse, I can't find a similar reference for C++.



3. Haven't you always wanted a C pocket reference without all the hoop-de-la explanations that make it impossible to locate something quickly? Well, this one does it. I rarely go back to my C textbook with this little book. I have seen other mini-books in the same category that do not come close to this one. All native functions are listed with their header files, too. It's great for any and all who can never remember where they put their car keys !



4. I first found this book when I was searching for a small reference, it had already gone out of print. After owning it for several years, I can't believe that this book ever went out of print -- every C developer should have a copy. Concise, terse, and highly informative -- it's everything you would want in a small reference book. Even in the age of easily-accessable and searchable documentation, from sources such as the internet, this book remains a gem.