5 comments about CGI Programming in C and Perl.

1. Those of us who participate in the CGI programming newsgroups know Thomas' reputation and it's steller. When this book was first released, it was the best book available, and it some ways it still is. But the current edition is showing its age. It doesn't cover many new CGI topics or concepts. I still use this book as a reference now and again, but I wouldn't buy it today.



2. With many years of experience under my belt, i found this book to be easy. I'd written many complex cgi scripts using perl and c previous to this book, for many fortune 500 companies. They are much more complex than the ones "Dennis Chang" clamis to have written. The conepts in the book are sound but a little outdated. One major complaint is that there aren't enough code examples to look at while you are reading along. The bottom line, its a easy book to read that teaches sound principles for programming cgi in c, but remember you pay for what you get. So i recommend getting a more advanced book for when you master this one.



3. An EXCELLENT buy -- you don't have to be a "Pro" to use the programs here -- but you can't be a rookie either... Get it "New" or "Used"--the price difference is insignificant--compared to what's inside the book....I bought this book a few months ago--here on AMAZON--and was delighted to find this book contained entire (web)-C-programs that ACTUALLY WORKED! If your web-server(CGI-scripts) are runnning at a crawl...it's probably because you are running a "convenient-scripting-language" -- instead of a C-program!! This book is NOT long-winded, but very practical. I have seen (repackaged???-or-similar)-versions of this code running on a few of the "higher-profile" web-sites. Over the years, I have acquired a STACK of other C-Programming Books--and I am afraid to buy any more of them--because I am tired of EXPERIMENTING to see which ones are PRACTICAL to READ, and I'm tired of reading GOBS of POINTLESS-and/or-BLOATED text--I am very happy with this book. I am a self-taught (Linux) C Programmer, and the C-and-PERL-programs from this book run well on Linux(kernels 2.2 thru 2.4)... This book is a great start in getting you up and running--but the rest is up to you--since you'll REALLY NEED to UNDERSTAND MODERN WEB SERVERS !!! ...and... ONE LAST NOTE-- this code may be considered "old" (written in 1996?) --it's NOT obsolete--but it still runs perfectly-and-flawlessly "as is" --on a modern-day Apache Web Server(Linux). This code has stood it's test of time. After you use these programs--it may become more obvious as to the "updates-additions-or-deletions" you'll want to make. Be sure to get Boutell's UPDATED CODE (from his web-site).



4. I bought this book around 1998. It was the only book that cover
   CGI and C, the rest talked about PERL which I hadnt learned yet.
   
   Once the reader learns the basics (assuming they already know 1 of the 2 languages and have a webserver to play with), they should be able to construct any CGI program in almost any language.



5. I tried for a long time to get a handle on C. My background is PERL, and then later PHP, so i figured it might make sense for me to come at this from a web-based perspective. By chapter 4 I knew enough to start writing simple programs on my own (not using samples in the book). By the end of chapter 7 I was well versed enough to start more complex programs using PATH_INFO variables. Extremely good book. If you write web-based apps, and are thinking about learning C this is *the* book.
   
   One reviewer mentioned something about screenshots looking old, which is true, they are obviously Netscape 1, running on Unix's now ancient Motif window manager, but the concepts are all still exactly the same. The cgi's you write will look the same on Netscape 1, as they do on Seamonkey, or IE, or Safari so that's no big deal.
   
   I gave it a 5 because the concepts contained inside are very well written easy to understand and this is the only book that has given me a decent base on which to learn C.
   
   If I could change my rating now, I'd give it a 3 or 4. I wrote some more complex CGI's based on some of the ones in this book that didn't work. So for kicks I copied the source from the cd and tried to just compile those...gcc refused saying I hadn't declared strcmp(). :-/
   
   Indeed, I did a 'gcc *' in the SOURCE/C dir and didn't end up with a single a.out file. They all gave errors either on strcmp, feof, fgets, fprintf, in, isspace, fclose, and numerous others.
   
   Still an excellent book but things have changed a lot since it was written.
   
   Hey Thomas! How 'bout a Second Edition? :-)

5 comments about Macromedia Flash MX ActionScript for Fun and Games.

1. The examples in the book are not updated and show an older method of writing action script. While it still works, it's not the best way to learn the current methods.



2. The five stars are only for the price and quality of transaction for the distributor. The book, however, deserves 3 max. If you want to know how to create these specific games, then look no further. If you want to learn the theory behind the games so you can easily go on to create your own, buy another book. This is a good tool if you are interested in Rosenzweig's style of programming, but only that. If you wish to expand your knowledge of ActionScript on a more modular and appliable level, I would suggest Flash MX 2004 Savvy or an ActionScript Bible (for the more advanced topics).



3. This book is not very well suited for beginner actionscript programmers.The author gives two or three brush off chapters on actionscript.Then bombardes you with math.random()* this that and the other.And starts using object type programming with little explanation of whats going on behind the code.He does comment the lines but the comments faintly explain what he is doing.I would have given this book 2 stars,but because you can take these games change them around graphics,little script or whatever and "make them your own" I am giving it 3 stars.I've owned this book for over a year and after reading other books it's making more sense what he's doing now.But for someone with little experience, be prepared to get lost very quickly.



4. If you have even a little background in Actionscript or programming in general, you will find this book worthwhile. The author gives a few beginner's tips, but for the most part this is for the intermediate user looking to take the next step into Flash gaming. There are a variety of games covered and each game is included on the companion CD. The CD is probably the biggest selling point when compared to other Actionscript books as it's a huge help to see what the author is talking about on screen.



5. Even though this book was written for Actionscript 1.0, it still has plenty of life left in it. A reasonably capable Flash designer should be able to convert the script to AS 2, and probably even convert it to AS 3. If you're already a guru you may not find it as useful, but intermediate level Flashers should find plenty of inspiration. The game theory is light - just the basics - but I was more interested in the script, which it is full of. Well worth the money.

5 comments about Introduction to 3D Game Programming with DirectX 9 (Wordware Game and Graphics Library).

1. I started DirectX programming recently. This book brings you upto speed very fast. It is well organized, written well, and is kept very simple. It's objective is to teach concepts and how to program specific concepts is C++. The examples and straightforward and illustrate whats in the text very well.
   
   Like all other reviewers, I should agree that the title of this book is misleading. There is very little, if any "Game development". The book is all about the basics of 3D drawing using drect X
   
   If you want to start programming DirectX over the weekend with some nice 3D graphics including textures, lights and terrains and even fireworks, this is the book for you. I highly recommend it.



2. I guess this book delivers what it promises, more or less. It effectively introduces you to directx. It devotes 20 or so pages to each of 20 or so topics (the dimensions of the book are real small though, so the page counts are somewhat misleading). By the end of the book you'll understand what directx is and what directx can do, but what I found is that there just isn't enough "meat" there to learn any part of directx well enough to do anything useful with this knowledge.



3. This review covers the first 13 chapters. It is a book that you will definitely learn from; however, beware that it is not written for users of C#. C# samples can be downloaded from the book's web site and I talk extensively about that in this review. This review is more a How-To than anything else - it documents my experience with the book and using the sample code from the book's web site. I am new to 3D game programming so I started out with giving myself a crash course in Linear Algebra (for this I studied the book, "3D Math Primer for Graphics and Game Development").
   
   In Part 1 the author could do a better job of explaining how a vector cross product is calculated. He refers to "formula (4)" which is a formula in final form (i.e. it does not show the steps). Furthermore, "formula (4)" comes seven pages after the first three formulas, so when you come to "(4)" (on page 13) you may have already forgotten about (1), (2) and (3) (which are on page 6) -- it is awkward. It should be highlighted and labeled as "FORMULA 4:" or something like that.
   
   In Part II, Chapter 1 (Direct3D Initialization), section 1.4.1 describes initializing a pointer to an IDirect3D9 interface as...
   IDirect3D9* _d3d9;
   however, in section 1.4.2 the code for checking the capabilities of the primary display adapter shows this code...
   d3d9->GetDeviceCaps...
   The underscore character is missing from the IDirect3D9 object. It should read...
   _d3d9->GetDeviceCaps
   
   The source code can be downloaded from http://www.moon-labs.com/ml_book_samples.htm. C# versions of the sample programs are available. The download instructions include a username/password but I was able to download the files without having to provide them. Should you be prompted for a username/password the author's instructions state, "The user name is exactly the second word on page 212 in the first paragraph of Chapter 13. The password is exactly the fourth word on page 213 in the first paragraph of section 13.1." Let's cut to the chase, its "terrain/heightmap" (without the quotation marks or forward slash).
   
   The code in the book is meant to be used in a C++ development environment. I use C# 2005 Express Edition therefore there wasn't anything I could do with the code in the book. When you open a sample code project (one from the C# versions available at the web site) in the C# 2005 Express Edition, a "Visual Studio Conversion Wizard" will prompt you to convert the project to the current edition's format. Just go ahead and click on "Finish." As I mentioned in a previous paragraph, there is a C# version of the sample programs provided on the web site.
   
   Beginning with Chapter 3's sample and in all of the samples I could not understand why the 'Window' parameter would not work the way I understood it to work. In Form1.cs, when a d3d object is instantiated with a 'true' instead of 'false' for the Window parameter (the 3rd parameter), nothing worked. This works...
   d3d = new D3DInit.D3DInit(800, 600, false, DeviceType.Hardware, ref device);
   but this does not...
   d3d = new D3DInit.D3DInit(800, 600, true, DeviceType.Hardware, ref device);
   
   I had trouble with the sample for Chapter 6 (Texturing). The problem was due to the sample program's inability to find the texture image. To fix it, all I had to do was change the source code to reflect the FULL path to the image file. I'll clarify... this is the original line 136 in D3DInit.cs...
   
   tex = Microsoft.DirectX.Direct3D.TextureLoader.FromFile(device, "dx5_logo.bmp");
   
   I modified it to...
   
   tex = Microsoft.DirectX.Direct3D.TextureLoader.FromFile(device, "D:\\david.emmith\\Books\\Intro to 3D Game Programming\\Part II CS\\Chapter6\\dx5_logo.bmp");
   (Note: Remember to escape backslashes in path names by making double-backslashes, otherwise you'll get an error.)
   
   The same problem occurred again in Chapter 7's sample.
   
   In Chapter 11's sample you may find a similar problem to the ones I described above for Chapter's 6 and 7. In Chapter 11 there is a line in D3DInit.cs (line #55) that reads...
   
   private string shipFilename = "bigship1.x";
   
   You may need to modify it to reflect the full path name.
   
   If you are writing your own app and using the .NET samples as a guide you may run into a few problems when you build the solution. You may see a "... has more than one entry point defined" error. This will happen if you have the following code in your Form1.cs file...
   
   [STAThread]
   static void Main()
   {
   Application.Run(new Form1());
   }
   
   There is no need to have those lines in your Form1.cs (or whatever filename you are using in place of Form1.cs). A Program.cs file should have automatically been created in your project (click on the 'Show All Files' icon in Solution Explorer). You can do one of two things to rectify this problem:
   (1) Comment out or delete the code shown above in your Form1.cs (or its equivalent) file.
   *** OR ***
   (2) Exclude Program.cs from your project (right click the Program.cs icon and select 'Exclude From Project').
   
   There is a similar situation in the D3DInit.cs file. There is no need to include the Dispose() method - it will already be in the D3DInit.Designer.cs file (this file, like Program.cs, is automatically created by the Visual C# IDE).
   
   Another problem you may encounter if you are trying to use the Esc key to terminate your DirectX app is the Esc key not working. To solve this problem open your Form1.Designer.cs file and add the following line at the end of the InitializeComponent() method...
   this.KeyUp += new System.Windows.Forms.KeyEventHandler(this.Form1_KeyUp);
   Then make sure you have this method in your Form1.cs file...
   
   private void Form1_KeyUp(object sender, System.Windows.Forms.KeyEventArgs e)
   {
   d3d.CloseD3DInit();
   Close();
   }
   
   And of course your D3DInit.cs file should have the CloseD3DInit() method defined. If not it should look like this...
   
   public void CloseD3DInit()
   {
   displayThread.Abort();
   Close();
   }
   
   In Chapter 11, as I mentioned earlier, there is a reference to a file named bigship1.x which is provided in the sample project. This is a mesh file which is nothing more than a geometric description of an object - in this case, a spaceship. If you're like me and you want to workout your own example you would like to create your own mesh file and test it in your own application. To create a mesh of your own design you will need the aid of a program. DirectX uses the .x file format for its mesh files. Some of the more popular 3D design programs do not readily provide a method for turning their meshes into the .x format. I will describe as briefly as possible the steps I took to create a simple mesh, convert it to a .x file and use it in my own program. There is probably a better way but this is the way I did it.
   
   (1) Find a FREE 3D design program. I downloaded and installed two programs:
   
   (a) Maya 7.0 Personal Learning Edition
   
   (a.1) Can be found at the Autodesk web site.
   
   (b) Autodesk 3DS Max 9 (30-day trial)
   
   (b.1) Can be found at the Autodesk web site.
   I was more interested in 3DS Max because I have my eyes on some aircraft models I want to use and they were created in the .max file format. So this is the program I used to create a very simple model.
   
   (2) Create a model. I created a sphere with a green texture in 3DS Max. I won't go into the details of how I did that because it is not that difficult to figure out on your own. You may want to create something a little more 'elaborate' than a green sphere. Have at it.
   
   (3) Convert the model into an x-file. This sounds simple enough but try doing it on the cheap, i.e. $0.00.
   
   (a) If you want to pay for a conversion utility up front then check out two products from Okino Computer Graphics:
   
   (a.1) NuGraf
   
   (a.2) Polytrans (a simpler version of NuGraf)
   It should be noted that Robert Lansdale (lansd[at]okino.com) offered to do a one-time conversion for me. I emailed him my .max file and he sent me back a .x file. I had already done the conversion by the time he sent the file back but I certainly appreciated his kind gesture.
   
   (b) If your cheap like me you want to do this for free because afterall, you're just trying to learn how all this works. I contacted a 3D guru by the name of Chad Vernon. Chad was very helpful in pointing out a couple of free conversion tools:
   
   (b.1) kiloWatt X file Exporter
   
   (b.2) Pandasoft's Panda Xporter Tool
   
   (c) I used Panda Xporter. After you unzip the .zip file you have a file named PandaDirectXMaxExporter.dle. This is a 'plugin'. So what you need to do next is to make this file known to 3DS Max and the way you do that is place the file in 3DS Max's plugin folder. On my machine this folder is located at D:\Program Files\Autodesk\3ds Max 9\plugins. Now you are ready to convert your model to the .x file format.
   
   (d) Launch 3DS Max (close the Welcome Screen if it appears) and open your model file (File | Open Recent). The first time I did this with the Panda Xporter in place 3DS Max crashed. I removed the Xporter from the plugin folder and re-launched 3DS Max. It crashed again. I eventually got it to work and put the Xporter back in the plugin folder. 3DS Max did not crash after that. This remains a mystery. The problem appeared to have fixed itself.
   
   (e) Select File | Export. Click on the down arrow for 'Save as type' and choose Panda DirectX (*.X). Click in the 'File name' textbox and enter a file name without a file extension. Note where the file is being saved to. You will need to know the full path to your .x file when you create your own 3D app. Click on 'Save'.
   
   (f) In the 'PandaSoft DirectX Exporter' dialog, '3DS Max Objects' tab, uncheck 'Include Animation' if your object is not animated. In the 'XFile Settings' tab, the 'DX File Type' of either 'Text' or 'Binary' worked for me. I believe the default is text. Click 'OK'.
   
   (4) Create your own 3D app. Again, I am using Visual C# 2005 Express Edition. Use the C# samples provided at the book's web site to guide you. Remember, as I have pointed above, that there are some differences that come into play between the samples and what you create in a Visual Studio 2005 environment. Read through my earlier comments.
   
   I hope this helps. Now on to the review.
   
   In Chapter 12's sample, line #138 of D3DInit.cs needs the full path to dx5_logo.bmp. I described this same problem in earlier chapter reviews.
   
   In Chapter 13's sample, line #601 of D3DInit.cs refers to a temp.raw file. This file, as far as I can tell, is not included in the managed (.NET) sample files. So I came up with my own work around which I describe below...
   
   (1) Download Terragen which is a free terrain generation tool. Look for the link labeled, "Install Terragen v0.9.43 (1.6Mb)" in the download page. Now install Terragen.
   
   The following steps are for once you have launched Terragen.
   
   (2) Click on the 'Landscape' icon in Terragen and then click on the 'Generate Terrain' button.
   
   (3) Click on the 'Export' button.
   
   (4) In the 'Terrain Export' dialog click on the 'Export Method' dropdown listbox and choose 'Raw 8 bits'.
   
   (5) Click on the 'Select File and Save' button and choose the name for your .raw file and its location.
   
   Now that you have your own raw file you can insert the file's full pathname into the Chapter 13 sample.
   
   If you have found or already have Terragen .ter files you can convert them to .raw files with a little free utility named 'Terrify'.
   
   The book's web site has some additional information pertaining to Chapter 13. You can go to the Resources page and scroll down to 'Basic Terrain Rendering Part II'. The 'Download Code' link will give you a file named 'TexBlendTerrain.zip' which, according to my WinZip utility, is not a recognized Zip file. The links in 'Remark 2' do not work (they take you to some useless page).
   
   This is the extent of my review. This is a very good book but I wish it were geared towards .NET developers.



4. This is the best intro to Direct3d book I have. For the game programming aspect, it sucks, but there are so many books that tell you how to make a certain type of game (Premier Press come to mind).
   
   The first section is purely math! This surprised me since it's the only Direct3d book I have found that covered that much math.
   
   The reasons why I gave it 4 out of 5: could be better. It needs more complete sample code. I mean, there's sample code on his web page, but the sample code starts at chapter 9! However, the (incomplete) code before chapter 9 is pretty easy to follow. Whenever he omits a piece of information, it's minor details like
   
   int stuff[10] = { ... }; // fill stuff in with stuff
   
   The book provides a very detailed explanation on how Direct3d works. Sure, there are times where he puts "see the MSDN for this struct", but that's usually when there's not much explaining he could do that's not in the MSDN already. I like that it feels like the author took a good deal of time to figure out how to explain every topic. The information is incredibly clear.
   
   If you are like me and look at a bunch of DirectX books and just have no idea what the author(s) is talking about, you should try this book, especially if you have a good math background. And if this dude releases a book on DirectX 10, I'll definitely get it. If you know DirectX and are looking for a book on game programming, look for another book.



5. Recently i decided to get a little into Direct3D Programming. I had absolutely no background on 3D Programming, because i am developing Business Software on a daily basis. I reviewed a few other Books on the Thematic but stayed with this one - and it was a good decision, basically because of:
   
   *) It explains the Mathematics necessary for understanding the inner workings in a simple and easy understandable way. The last time i did Vector and Matrix Algebra was over ten years ago in school and i had no problems following.
   
   *) It explains the necessary Terms (like Vertices, Transformations) very detailed and also understandable.
   
   *) It does not use a Framework throughout the Book like others do. You are doing all the Stuff by yourself (ok, there is a little framework: The one which initializes a Win32 Window DirectX draws into...)
   
   *) It's not written in a Kiddy Beginner Style. You have to know the Language and how to use your Tools to follow.
   
   If you have a good understanding of C++ and want to join the Microsoft side of doing 3D Graphics this Book is for you.

No comments about Object-Oriented Programming featuring Graphical Applications in Java.

5 comments about Programming Flash Communication Server.

1. If you're a developer looking into real-time server communication using Adobe Flash, this book is a must-have. It guides you thru various levels of application development in an easy to understand format, and provides well documented pieces of code to assist you in the learning process of putting together your project:
   
   Topics covered include:
   
   - learning about components and how to use them
   - establishing and managing client connections
   - publishing live and recorded streams
   - local communication with clients
   - remote communication with outside applications
   
   The book also shows how to build and integrate your own custom components, and how to scale your application using the components that you've created. Other highlights include information on how to use shared objects and server management API, as well as ways to improve both design and performance.



2. Excellent book, stuffed of examples very well explained, easy to read and to understand, essential for who desires initiate or even though to profound itself studies on FlashCom.
   Obligator reference in projects involving FlashCom, either for fast consultations and advanced tasks.
   Excellent approach of subjects as Design patterns and security, yonder a perfect demonstration about audio, video and much more.



3. This book is all about the design of applications using Macromedia's Flash Communication Server MX. FCS MX enables the building of media-rich web applications by taking care of the basic tasks required in the networking of the applications. Thus, you can focus on the application itself rather than worrying about low-level communication details.
   
   Since this book is concerned with situations where multiple Flash applications will be executing on the same server simultaneously, there is going to be considerable effort involved in coordinating events, which is addressed by this book. You should already have FCS installed and running on your server and you should also have Flash MX available on the client. The following is description of the book by chapter:
   
   Chapter 1, Introducing the Flash Communication Server - Acts as an introduction to FCS and an overview of the whole book.
   
   Chapter 2, Communication Components - How the FlashCom communication components encapsulate commonly needed features such as chat, video recording and playback, bandwidth control,and user configuration. These components implement many basic building blocks for your application.
   
   Chapter 3, Managing Connections - This chapter covers connections in more depth past the SimpleConnect component, including how to write custom code to handle various changes in the connection status as well as different errors.
   
   Chapter 4, Applications, Instances, and Server-Side ActionScript - This chapter describes how to write Server-Side ActionScript and work with the objects that control application instances and the Flash movies that connect to them.
   
   Chapter 5, Managing Streams - Offers a somewhat oversimplified but complete example that shows the basic steps in publishing one live stream and subscribing to a second.
   
   Chapter 6, Camera and Microphone - This chapter explains how to use both the Microphone and Camera classes to record live streams. These classes are at the heart of most communication applications involving multimedia.
   
   Chapter 7, Media Preparation and Delivery - This chapter covers many details for compressing and streaming audio and video.
   
   Chapter 8, Shared Objects - This chapter starts an entirely new subject - shared objects, which provide a mechanism for the transmission of data between client and server.
   
   Chapter 9, Remote Methods - This chapter also shows how to broadcast method calls to every movie and application instance connected to a shared object or stream, or send them to and from individual movies using RMI.
   
   Chapter 10, Server Management API - Discusses the Server Management API and its applications, including monitoring a FlashCom Server, gathering statistics on application instances, and managing the log streams.
   
   Chapter 11, Flash Remoting - Demonstrates how Flash Remoting can be used to add data connectivity to FlashCom applications. Flash Remoting can access web services, server-side scripts, CGI applications, XML files, or the local filesystem with the help of an application server such as ColdFusion.
   
   Chapter 12, ColdFusion MX and FlashCom - Teaches some specifics involved in using Flash Remoting with ColdFusion MX and FlashCom. There are some practical working examples shown that demonstrate how you can leverage the benefits of Flash Remoting in conjunction with FlashCom.
   
   Chapter 13, Building Communication Components - This is the first step in building complete applications, and is demonstrated through an extensive example.
   
   Chapter 14, Understanding the Macromedia Component Framework - How to modify an existing component and how to create a new one. Also discusses server-side framework code and its core features and data structures.
   
   Chapter 15, Application Design Patterns and Best Practices - Describes some of the best practices available to application developers. This chapter provides some useful design options, patterns, and best practices that will help you build better applications.
   
   Chapter 16, Building Scalable Applications - Deals with building multi-instance and multiserver applications that don't bog down as the number of client connections increases.
   
   Chapter 17, Network Performance, Latency, Concurrency - Traditional network design issues affect FCS also.
   
   Chapter 18, Securing Applications - Specifically this chapter examines the three A's of security - Authentication, Authorization, and Accounting.



4. Although I'm using Flash Media Server 2, this book is still highly relevant as not much has changed. The core objects and language is the same so I would not hesitate to recommend it for anyone looking to use FMS.



5. If you want to understand programming the Flash Communication Server and it's capabilities this is a good place to start.

2 comments about Game Development Essentials: Game Simulation Development.

1. This is a poor book. Written to explain someone who has live for years inside a hidden jungle what game simulations ARE. It doesn't address at any moment how you should face development of such kind of titles, it just show you the many types of titles that could match simulation games.
   
   If you expected to learn something from this book, just move on to another one.



2. This books' structure does a great job at making you think actively about game and simulation, what makes them tick, which simulation strategies are successful or a turndown and why so, etc. It offers an indepht view of the genre through a thorough classification, experts comments and quotes, tips and useful case studies. Finally, it describes nicely past, present and future trends along with technology bottlenecks.
   A must have for training managers and learning system developper...

5 comments about UnrealScript Game Programming All in One.

1. This is pretty much designed as if you wanted to look at UnrealScript as a base programming language for learning basic programming skills off of. This is definitely not useful at all for practical modding or general game making. It just goes into very basic programming abilities that unreal script. To be honest, I bought this for a class that bases the language in unreal script. I thought this book may be useful since it is ALL IN ONE (yeah right!). I was already adept in basic programming and this book was absolutely useless for practical gaming modification.



2. While this book doesn't actully get into writing funtional Code for the Game as far as i have gotten that is. it deffintly a Good place to learn the base of UnrealScript code.
   
   With this base it and a review of other Scripts for the games it self, you can pretty much cobble togather anything.
   
   No I'm still not do with this book And untill then, This review remains standing.



3. This is book is not really about UnrealScript. It is an introduction to programming tough though Unreal Script. The book spends more time going over how to use tools than how to use the language. It appears the author set out to write a better book but had to finish in a weekend. I would not recommend this book for people like me looking for advances in UnrealScript and the classes of UT2004. I also would not recommend this book due to some LARGE mistakes in programming foundations. Not a good book for people looking to start game design. I wish I could have a refund.



4. I was looking for a book to give in depth information on Unreal Script and how to make your own weapons, mods, mutators and game types, but I have not find anything in this book that helps you make your own types.
   
   Unfortunately, this book was not what I was looking for. The title is misleading for its purpose.



5. I just got this book and after flipping through it, I'm realizing it's not what I wanted at all. It's a book trying to teach programming from step one using UnrealScript. The examples used don't involve games. The programming given is not something you can directly apply to games. It's just programming. Plain old programming. If I wanted this I'd go buy a C# or Java book, not UnrealScript. It is NOT game programming and so it really shouldn't be called UnrealScript Game Programming All In One.

5 comments about Interactive Computer Graphics: A Top-Down Approach with OpenGL (3rd Edition).

1. For an amateur UNIX/Linux C programmer like me, this book is a
   very good introduction to OpenGL. I have bought several graphics books,
   but Angel is the only author I have come across who has
   taken the trouble to provide a makefile to ensure his readers
   can actually compile any program. Once you can do that, you
   should be able to teach yourself with the guidance from the book.
   If you have trouble understanding dot products then you cannot
   blame this book if you find it hard. Ultimately you will only
   learn OpenGL (or any programming) by experimentation. Don't
   expect to read any single book and become an expert overnight.



2. having read many books and articles on 3d graphics, as well as general programming, i believe this book is certainly better than most.
   while this books is aimed most certainly at an academic audience, it covers the fundamentals clearly and solidly. and while i still think foley is the standard, this book covers a lot more of the modern issues as well as providing a practical grounding using opengl. (the lack of which was the *major* downside of foley)

   there are also some good introductions to more advanced issues in the latter third of the book, which makes for interesting reading.

   perhaps my only concern with this book is the obsessive use of mathematics to explain simple concepts. often, the mathematical formulae provided offer no further explanation to the text, and simply serves to distract readers without strong mathematical backgrounds.
   to quote one of my 3rd year math profs : "mathematics should be used as mathematicians intended - succinctly!"
   (i can only imagine that the authors believed the formulae would "lend credibility" to the text.)

   overall, i would recommend!




3. Dont buy this book if you are wanting to lern how to program openGL. Buy it if you know openGL and want to learn how it works.
   
   It is not a book for the openGL newbie. So why many teachers use it for an intro to Graphics Programing class boggles the mind. Angel explantions of theories are hard to follow at best. In one chapter he spends an whole large section explaning the theory behind a lighting model then states that openGL doesn't use this method for lighting. So why even cover it in an openGL book?? This is less a book about openGL and more about 3D modeling and lighting theory in general.



4. This is a very terrible text book. Don't ever look at this book if you are a newbie in OpenGL, trigonometry, calculus, linear algebra and the mathematic's dot product. I think this book is suitable only for the University which the author is lecturing in. My university is using this book as the core text book of the computer graphic course, the end result is that almost 95% of the student cannot code well using OpenGL by following guidance of this book, where everyone is looking for coding and references from Internet just for the assignment, how annoy it is. Further, the lecturer also cannot understand the book's content, they lecture only by using the powerpoint slaid which is from the author himself, which make the situation worst.
   
   If I am not mistaken, the author has claimed that the book is to help the student to program graphics as soon possible using OpenGL. It is absolutely not the true. This book will lead you to hell if you don't prepare yourself well in C/C++ and of course, OpenGL API. And if your lecturer does not know well in OpenGL API or C/C++ as mentioned, may God bless you. Another thing, if you look at the exercises of each chapter, I wonder if anyone who is beginner in computer graphics and by solely depend on the book can solve the problems.
   
   Anyhow, I rate the book one star do not mean that this book is not a good book. To my opinion, this is absolutely a good book for those who have very strong computer graphic background together with mathematic skills or those who are advance learner in this field.
   
   In fourth edition, I really hope that the author will come out something such as 'International Edition' of this book which the content may vary from the original version. This is because the computer science syllabus may vary from country to country. Bear in mind that the Top-down approach is suitable well in author's University or country does not mean that it is suitable to other University or country. This is what I mean the book is suitable only for the university or college that the author is lecturing in.
   
   Remember, buy this book only if you already well-prepared yourself in C/C++, OpenGL API, trigonometry, linear algebra, geometry and some calculus basic.



5. This is a very jargon-based book. The author likes to use symbols or what so called algebra representation for many of the mathematic terming particularly in matrix representation. This make the book not worthy to buy. Author should use number in mathematic representations rather algebra so that readers can have quick grasp over the topics, but the author didn't. Most often time you have to imagine yourself what are the 'pictures' that the author tries to tell you.
   
   To me, a good book must not to be too jargon-based, no long story, straight forward, and use simple example but still can let one apply it to complex situation later. For example, why should use a + b = c by right it is best to explain it with 1 + 1 = 2? Because using numeric number as example is easier and faster to understand, once the reader understand, then automatically they can apply it using a + b = c. Unfortunately, this book does not fulfil this requirement. This is why I am not very happy with the book because what normally the readers wish from the book is to have as fast possible in grasping the knowledge and apply it as soon possible, but not to sit around to think and analyze things for long time.
   
   Further, author assumes you know quite number of things(especially programming using OpenGL API) before you can start programming following the guide of the book. The book is not as comprehensible even for some of the advance graphic students as the examples given is really difficult to understand (particularly graphics algorithm). Again, without simple and comprehensible examples, you have to use your own imagination to figure it out and most often time you may not able to do so due to the complex nature of the theories.
   
   Many computer science students have claimed that the computer graphics is a 'killer subject'. From the feedbacks I have gathered so far, I found that all they are using this book as a core text book. To be fair, this book may suitable for computer graphic students with one condition, that a good instructor who are really expert in this area is with you, as warned by the other reviewer before.
   
   So, buy this book only if you are not learning computer graphic yourself, and you must have a very good instructor/teacher/lecturer in this area. Otherwise, do not buy this book!

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3 comments about Advanced Graphics Programming Using OpenGL (The Morgan Kaufmann Series in Computer Graphics).

1. I posted a review before, but I decided again to change it. Everything I said I will repeat more or less.
   
   There is a paper on OpenGL.org written by an author, and much of that paper's info is in the book. It is not a direct reprint though. I was disappointed because I had an immediate impression it was just a total reprint of a free document. Also, the book is not hand-on at all, you really have to know your way around OpenGL to implement the techniques. It's not a quick teach-yourself-OpenGL book.
   
   Now, I came back to update my review, because the first few chapters are crammed full of info that is really, really good. Well worth the money for the book. If you really want to know OpenGL on the inside... this book is it. It's just alot of reading, and very little hands-on. And some info in here you can find on OpenGL.org, but much newer techniques are covered to.
   
   So I bumped it back to 5 stars, and it is an honest review. It is really worth it for these deep chapters, not for code techniques. Don't buy it unless you really already have a good handle on GL you will not be able to figure much out.



2. Since its first release in 1992, OpenGL has been rapidly adopted as the graphics API of choice for real-time interactive 3D graphics applications. The OpenGL state machine is easy to understand, but its simplicity and orthogonality enable a multitude of interesting effects that require more room than can be accommodated in the OpenGL "Red Book". The objective of this book is to demonstrate how to generate more satisfying images using OpenGL in general, and how to achieve some sophisticated results in particular. There are three general areas of discussion: basic OpenGL concepts, basic techniques, and advanced techniques.
   The first part of the book goes over some of the more basic OpenGL material - 3D transformations, color, shading, and lighting. Although the second part of the book - basic techniques - may look old hat at first, it does cover some interesting subjects such as deferred shading and image processing techniques that you don't normally think of as wedded to computer graphics. The best part of the book, to me, is part 3 on advanced techniques. In particular the chapters on scene realism, natural detail, illustration and artistic techniques, and scientific visualization have very unique material on them that reveal algorithmic details along with enlightening illustrations and pseudocode. The reader of this book should already be familiar with performing computer graphics using OpenGL and also be somewhat mathematically sophisticated considering that mathematics is heavily used in this book. All of the code for the methods and effects used at this book are in a zipfile at the book's website. I highly recommend this book to anyone who has gone through the "OpenGL Programming Guide" and wants to take their computer graphics skills to the next level.
   One of the authors of this book does have an extensive tutorial freely available on the web that is an older subset of this book, so you might want to check it out and see if you like his writing style before you purchase. Type "Advanced Graphics Programming Techniques Using OpenGL" into Google and the first address listed should be the author's tutorial. It is no longer on OpenGL.org as far as I can tell.



3. Today there are many books for pro (GPU Gems, ShaderX etc), many for beginners (superbible, redbook, orange book etc), but practically no for intermediate level. This is one of them. It's well written and tells the basics of advanced 3D algorithms: batching, env mapping, bump mapping etc.
   Disadvantages are:
   -too short articles on difficult topics
   -too much (for me) about CADs
   -somewhat old (using pbuffers instead of FBOs)
   P. S.
   The link for source codes from the book doesn't work, use the following one: [...]