Customer Reviews

Accelerated Lotus Script Study Guide (Exam 190-291)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Far too many errors to be useful. I there was a rating below one star this book would get it!

I can only repeat this comment:

"On average, there is one error per 2 pages of this book! Really. It's unbelievable that McGraw Hill would let something like it out. It's not just the explanatory text, but the sample questions are full of errors, too. "

So you must know LotusScript pretty well to be able to identify the errors and understand that the book is wrong and not you. This is not of any use if you are using this book to prepare for the exam.

I have written to McGraw Hill but got no response so far, I believe they owe anyone who has purchased this book an update. There is no errata for this on the web site (and the book has been out for 7 months).

The cover itself has two major errors: the wrong test number (the book covers 190-273 not 190-291) and the target audience are developers not Systems Administrators as stated in the first bullet item. It's hard to believe that a reputable publisher would let this hit the shelves. (Others in this series have similarly egregious errors.)

Many of the sample test questions have errors in them which could leave the reader misinformed or confused. Some of the text seems to be blatantly repeated to add bulk.

Much of the good information is taken directly from the Lotus official documentation and Help database (word for word).

This book should never have been published and should not continue to be sold as it is.

The typos start on the cover. The LS test for Notes is 190-273. The cover lists test 190-291, which is LotusScript in 1-2-3, etc. There are typos in almost every, if not every, practice test at the end of each chapter. Much of the text is identical to paragraphs from the Programmers Guide from Lotus.

Nonetheless, this book was a tremendous help in my preparation for the test (passed today). I've been coding LotusScript for a couple of years, but this book filled in some holes and served as a good refresher.

If you need to LEARN LotusScript, buy Teach Yourself LotusScript by Kreisle & Oliver. If you need to REVIEW what you've been using and fill in the gaps, then buy this book.

I can only agree with the comments below. If you want to study this topic and find something that adds more depth stay away from this awful book. Not only does it say nothing that you can't get from the on line designer help documentation but it actively confuses the entire topic by getting nearly everything wrong including syntax errors and the worst set of exam examples I have ever seen. The person who proof read this appalling "reference" should be shot -its a true disgrace to MH (Who have published some fine books on the Notes certification route)- a true victory for sloppy workmanship and generally lazy publishing. - Spend your money on something better.

This book provided absolutely nothing that I couldn't have gleaned myself from the Notes Designer Help database. I would think that any book worth publishing would provide some ILLUMINATION, not just rehash what Lotus has already published. Furthermore, this book is worthless as regards testing. Being a CLP myself in both SA and AD, and already possessing LotusScript skills, I was hoping the book would provide some insight into the actual test. Instead, it points out areas the test covers. Big deal--again, Lotus already provides that on their website. This book should have provided me with some greater depth on those subject areas, not just regurgitate the rules & regs. The author and McGraw-Hill should be ashamed.

I am studying for my Principal Developer exam. I am only through the first chapter, and I am concerned. When the title included displayed the wrong exam number (190-291) instead of 190-273, I was on alert. Fortunately I received my copy for free. I am certain the material is useful, but if you have to critique it as you go -- its too much. Trust -- but verify!

I just took the LotusScript test and passed with a 74% which isthe minimum score. I studied this book carefully and not much of itwas on the test. I noticed that much of the material is from Notes help. The other material added by the author appeared to be good information until I realized none of it was on the test. As for the errors in the book, there are indeed many. In a preverse sort of way, I enjoyed going through the book and correcting the errors. I thought it might help me on the test, but again, it didn't. I believe you can pass this test by downloading the test objective from the Lotus Web site and writing your own script and studying Notes help...

I am very glad that I also bought "Teach Yourself LotusScript" when I bought this book because half of the script examples in this book have errors in them and will produce error messages when run. It is very frustrating to get these error messages when you have typed the code exactly as it appears in the book ... I don't mean once or twice, I mean half of the examples in this book have errors!

I got a few good pointers from this book, but not enough to make it worth the price, I wasted a lot of time trying to debug code which was copied from the book. I threw the book accross the room a few times.

There are a few good books out there for learning LoutsScript, and this is not one of them.

This book was the reason why I passed the test. I found this book very useful and accurate.

The authors not only know their stuff but they made the book easy to read and learn.

I used this book to study for the Lotus exam and found it extremely useful. Yes there were typos, but you could certainly see when they occur in the book if you have some experience already with programming lotusscript. I would buy this book just because it is sufficient to use, learn and study from.