5 comments about Instant Powerbuilder Objects (Instant).

1. I have my improved my OOP skills after reading this book. The coverage on nonvisual user objects, OLE ,application framework design and OOAD are excellent. It would have been even better if the PFC chapter is elaborated

   Waitng for their new release on PowerBuilder. A must have in your library




2. This book pretends to teach advanced OO and design patterns and falls woefully short. The authors don't have any grasp over the fundamentals of OO. Don't waste your money on it. This book isn't worth the paper it is printed on. There are better books on powerbuilder. If you want OO or design patterns pick up the books by Booch or Gamma et al.



3. I bought this book based on the reviews at amazon. The time I spent on this book could have been better utilized elsewhere. The author tries to talk about powerbuilder/OOP/design patterns/ActiveX/OCX/VB and so on without any grasp of the concepts underlying any of these technologies and methodologies. The result is a hopeless morass of confused ramblings with no direction. I wonder how some of the other reviewers gave this sorry excuse of a book 5 stars.



4. How WROX decided to push this terrible piece of writing on their readers is beyond my comprehension. I am a senior Sybase/PowerBuilder programmer, and I felt like laughing at the inaccuracies and inconsistencies that I constantly encountered in this stinker. When I read the reviews at Amazon that this is a great OOP/Design Patterns book, I was intrigued enough to snap up a copy. I am a great fan of using Patterns in my code. But the authors of this book give a completely uneducated and uninformed writing on this complex subject. Coders who are experienced in Patterns/OOP will laugh at this garbage. Novice programmers will be misled completely. I will never buy another WROX title again. My guess is that the reviewers who gave this turkey 5 stars must be friends of the author.



5. Picked up this book in the clearance bin at a technical bookstore close to my work place for Five Dollars. I thought I had an incredible bargain in my hands until I read the book. What a piece of trash! I do a lot of Object oriented coding with Powerbuilder on WindowsNT4.0. I was interested in the design patterns & OO programming techniques that the authors say that they are covering in the book in the preface. I have already read the Patterns book by Erich Gamma/John Vlissides and I was interested in how the authors might have applied those techniques with PowerBuilder. It was a major disappointment for me when I discovered that the authors had no clue of OO programming and a very bad understanding of Patterns in particular. They seem to know enough about Powerbuilder, but they are totally ignorant of OOP and patterns.

   I spent only five dollars to buy this book but still I feel ripped off. BUYER BEWARE!

No comments about Teach Yourself Powerbuilder 4 in 14 Days (Sams Teach Yourself).

4 comments about PowerBuilder 6.0 Questions & Answers.

1. I wish there was a rating for 0 stars. This book rates that. The questions and the answers are extremely superficial. Over 80% of the book is an almost word for word copy of questions and answers that can be found in numerous online forums and maling lists. I don't mind having all of the time and effort I've put into providing answers to questions used to solve their problems. (Many of these answers appear in this book.) But, I strongly object to someone taking my work and effort and trying to make a profit from it, especially when it is offered for free elsewhere.



2. As a programmer who started with PB5, had to do a project in PB4, and is currently developing in PB6, I found this book to be a great referential starting point. Without having to pore through the massive, sometimes silly, Sybase support pages, and every PB developer's website (usually having the same 2 or 3 tips as all the rest, and never updated) this is a great way to have a lot of commonly asked questions answered immediately. Ranging from strange bugs (i.e. the amazing shrinking detail band) in PB, to PowerBuilder-specific constructs, to clean coding advice in general, this book answers a lot of questions that you need to know, but might be a little embarrassed to ask. Plus, you never get flamed for asking a beginners' question! While it isn't a PowerBuilder be-all end-all, it is a friendly and insightful starting point for someone who would like to break free from using only MS dev tools. A good read, too.



3. This book is a perfect desktop reference for novice and experienced PowerBuilder programmers alike. Many times I've spent hours trying to do something or understand something in Powerbuilder. Because PowerBuilder is such a big complex tool, sometimes it's very difficult or impossible to find a solution in PB's online help and documentation. Many times I can only vaguely remember what magazine or user group provided a clever solution to a head scratching problem. So, I was glad to get my hands on Mr. Hatton's book which is filled with nuggets of information that will save PB programmers a lot of time. I've been a full time PB programmer for 3 years and I keep this book right next to my computer.



4. This book is a great help to anyone starting out in PowerBuilder. This book covers a lot of PowerBuilder fundamentals as well as basic programming techniques. It is a really useful guide to working in PowerBuilder if you are still new to it, and it is much easier to find answers here than in the powersoft newsgroups. The style is quite readable and a lot more human than a lot of other tech-oriented books. Definitely worth checking out- although probably not useful if you are already a guru.

No comments about PowerBuilder with Orcale.

No comments about PowerBuilder 5 Developer's Resource: Client/Server Programming for the Enterprise.

2 comments about Powerbuilder 4.0 Developer's Guide/Book and Disk: Your Personal Consultant.

1. As mentioned above I thought the book was teriffic. Hats off to the author!



2. I laughed, I cried, I walked away a solid PowerBuilder Developer.

   The book was soooo well written, it made it easy to learn PowerBuilder. I'd never even programmed before. Now I'm living la vida loca in San Diego, and I owe it all to the great, great man who wrote this book. You changed my life. If I could only repay you.

3 comments about Advanced PowerBuilder(r) 5 Techniques.

1. I think that this book does an excellent job of pointing out expecially good and especially bad places to put common code. The book gives new programmers explanations for why certain techniques are better than others. I would like to have seen more PFC discussed, but there was not enough room. If they made a PFC Book with advice, I would buy it.



2. This book covers most of the advanced topics such as eMail Interface, ORCA, Network , Performance issues, Administration. The example is very good. Also the basic concepts is covered by this book is an advantage. This is really very good reference for the developer who wants to do more advanced function in their applications.



3. This book covers most of the advanced topics such as eMail Interface, ORCA, Network , Performance issues, Administration. The example is very good. Also the basic concepts is covered by this book is an advantage. This is really very good reference for the developer who wants to do more advanced function in their applications.

4 comments about Advanced PowerBuilder 7.0 Programming.

1. This book realy help me in construction of classes and objects using the PowerBuilder 7. It's desvending and show the secrets. If you want a way to mastering PowerBuilder, this is the right way.



2. If there was ever a book teaching Powerbuilder 7 advanced secrets then this is it. A must have for all developers of Powerbuilder. What you learn in this book is invaluable



3. The intro book was excellent, so it was a no-brainer getting the advanced book. The advanced book provided excellent help for me as a new PowerBuilder user. As soon as you open the book, you're already learning plenty of tips that will help you later. Yes, this info is in PowerBuilder help, but here it's all in a nice, consise 'get-to-the-point' format. This book is used in the company's actual advanced class, so you also get a disk with exercises and solutions. The price may seem a little much for some, but for someone having to learn this quickly, which makes sense economically - 1)spend a couple of thousand in some 3 day 'quick' class or 2)spend a couple of hundred and get what you need without leaving your desk? This book is definitely worth it. The chapters on the datawindow report presentation styles (tabular, grid, etc) are excellent!



4. This is definately the book to get to get up to speed with powerbuilder. I just picked up the advanced book in this series. by the way, newer versions covering powerbuilder versions thru 10.5 are available from the author/publisher, [...] And you won't have to pay more than the list price, which is what some used copies are listing for.

No comments about Application Development With Powerbuilder.

No comments about Power Builder 4.0.