Customer Reviews

Advanced Object Oriented Programming with Visual FoxPro 6.0

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a landmark book that attempts to fully explain the object-oriented concepts and tools that are part of Visual FoxPro (VFP) development. If all VFP developers simply understood all of the concepts presented in Chapters 1 ("Basic Concepts") and 2 ("How Things are Done in Visual FoxPro"), they would be much better off. And there are 15 more chapters that follow.

This book in not about source code. You won't want to read it while sitting at your computer. Rather, it is filled with principles and wisdom about some of the core aspects of adopting a high-quality development approach. The only real hands-on sections describe advanced uses of the Class Browser and its new companion, the Component Gallery. The final section of the book includes a good introduction to object modeling, requirements analysis, and the Unified Modeling Language (UML).

The book is written from the ground up for version 6 of VFP, so it fully integrates the latest object technology in the product. I also found a consistent high quality to the editing with very few errors noted for a book of this type, which speaks well for the efforts of both the author and Malcolm Rubel, the Technical Editor.

With this book, Markus Egger has undertaken a very difficult task and done it successfully.

In order to benefit the Power of VFP, a developer should understand the power of OOP in software development. This book tells and guides you how OOP is applied in application development using VFP. The explanation of OOP tells it loud and clear that Object Orientation is very important aspect in today's software development. Markus and his associates really deserves commendation of doing it well.

For those working with Visual FoxPro 6.0 and use the Class Browser, Component Gallery, FFC, and OOP in general will find this complete tutorial and reference guide on these subjects is required reading material. With details, descriptions, and examples, Markus goes far beyond the Visual FoxPro documentation on these specific subjects and more. Developers should not hesitate to read this excellent VFP book.

This is probably the best book that I have ever purchased for learning the real nuts and bolts on Visual FoxPro's OOP capabilities and the tools available in it. I encourage both new and seasoned programmers in Visual FoxPro to BUY THIS BOOK!!. I don't think you'll find a better one out there. The way Markus covers the FFCs and other advanced topics is great!!! It is hard to describe in 100 words or less how valuable this book is.

When was the last time you picked up a book and couldn't put it down? Markus Egger's "Advanced Object Oriented Programming with Visual FoxPro 6.0" is such a book. He covered everything I needed to know. He covered the fundamentals (a short review of terms), given clear explanations to everyday problems and demonstrated how objects are used in real world designs.

My favorite chapter was "Using Shrink-Wrapped Classes". Until now I have avoided using the available classes distributed with Visual FoxPro because there was a lack of documentation in the original manuals and didn't have the time to open each class and explore. Now that I have read this chapter I ask myself why was I pushing a square wheel up a hill all these years when I could have used these classes immediately and start building on them. Another favorite was needing to know how to hide properties and methods in classes and never being able to figure out how to make these classes work properly. Now I know!

I read this book in two evenings and now I am going back over my classes to re-configure them.

Hentzenwerke Publishing has done a phenomenal job with all it's titles. Not one has been a disappointment. Unlike IDG Books "Bible" series which has been nothing more than fluff and someone wanting to show-off their code.

Although I haven't finished this book yet, it was already worth the money I paid for it. (In fact, I just purchased a second copy for a friend!)

If you've ever had the opportunity to see Markus speak at one of the American or International Conferences, you will be pleased to find that this book is written in the same concise, informative, but easy-going and humorous style. Markus has a way of encouraging you and seems to be saying "Come on guys, this isn't rocket science!! YOU can do this - just follow me....."

I guarentee that no matter what your previous experience with OOP and VFP is, that you will learn a lot from this book, and might even smile while you're doing it.

This book begins with the basics that every programmer should know. A must have for any professional VFP and OOP developer.

If you really need to understand Object Orientation and how it is applied in Visual FoxPro, this is your book! Even though I have been using VFP 5 and BVFP 6 for a couple of years now, I still learned a lot from this book.

As Mac Rubel says: Until now you could buy good FP books and good OOP books but you couldn't buy a good VFP OOP book.

I highly recommend it!

Almost reads like a novel. I couldn't put the book down. It was immediately relevant, and I can see it being so for years to come. It has permanently changed the way I write code in VFP.

Overall pretty good book, I pretty much read it cover-to-cover over a two day period. However, my expectations were a bit high after reading all the other reviews on this site. First of all, his description of the Component Gallery totally lost me. More importantly, from chapter 12 on, the author elects to assume that everyone has access to a ... piece of software called Rational Rose to design an OOP app. This disappointed me, I would have preferred to have things explained in a way that I could follow along with the tools I have as a VFP developer.