Customer Reviews

Borland C++ Builder: the Definitive C++ Builder Problem Solver

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Excellent and helpful, but the examples are from an older version of C++ Builder and this can cause confusion when you try to get them to work with C++ builder 4 or 5. It's overdue for an updated edition.

This book is not a tutorial for Borland C++Builder, or C++ in general. It is a collection of over 100 example programs that provide solutions to problems commonly faced by Windows programmers. I can't even begin to describe how much work this book has saved me. Almost every one of these examples was something I've wanted to do in the past or plan to do in the future.

The sample programs are grouped by functionality into the following chapters: Forms, Standard components and classes, Text controls, Mouse and menu, Graphics, Environment and system, Peripherals, Internet, Multimedia, Printing, Database, Threads, OLE, Exceptions, Custom components, The polished application, and Tricks and tips. Each example given in the book is laid out using the format: · The goal (How do I... use drag and drop in my application) · Problem (A brief statement of what the example is trying to accomplish) · Technique (A short description of how the problem will be addressed) · Steps (A step by step walk thru of the sample program used to solve the problem) · How it works (A through discussion of how the program steps work) · Comments (Talks about possible pitfalls and other solutions).

Also the examples in this book are not trivial, to give you an idea of what is covered, here are some that have helped me personally so far: · How to set the minimum and maximum sizes for my forms. · How to communicate between programs over the internet. · How to prevent multiple instances of my program from running. · How to determine whether a system has a sound card. · How to detect and use a joystick in my application. · How to safely share data between multiple threads. · How to Put pictures in menus. · How to determine which programs are running.

While you can find the Windows API calls that do these things in C++Builders on-line documentation (with some effort), figuring out how to use those API calls in your program can be a very time consuming and frustrating experience. By giving me complete working example program! s that do the things I've been trying to do, this book has made me a very happy camper! By the way, all the source code as well as some useful tools come on the accompanying CD-ROM. On the down side, the one thing I didn't see covered that I would like to have seen covered is how to get sound input from the sounds card's analog to digital converter so I can write a write a program that displays the wave form of the sound coming in in real time when the sound level goes above a certain threshold value. But considering how much time and effort this book has saved me I really can't complain! ;-)

Next to Stephen Prata's book "C++ Primer Plus" This is one of the most useful books I have in my collection. If you have C++Builder and you want to save yourself a lot of work then buy this book! You simply won't believe how useful this book is until you begin to use it with your own applications. I would like to say to the authors of this book if they happen to see this review: first, thank you! and second PLEASE WRITE MORE how to books for Borland C++Builder! Maybe you could call them "How to 2", "How to 3" or "Advanced How to", "Really Advanced How to" or "More How to", "Much more How to".

A Great Book to find answers to problems your having For beginners who got into programming and want a little help, then this is the book for you! I found it great help in solving some problems and finding new ways to do things 5 stars definatly!

Personally I have bought many books about C++ Builder and this one interested me a lot. I really consider this book a reference one, not one for learning the programming aspects of C++ Builder. Most of the examples perform wonderful things, but they are done using a very low level API programming with the aid of the VCL components. Examples are very specific to accomplish a single thing like morphing an image to another or making a little animation inside the form's caption (believe it, it's possible). You have the source code there, but unless you understand the API, you will take things explained there by faith. If you are a beginner, wait some time to buy this book, if you are an expert go ahead and buy it

Over 100 "How to" questions are asked and each is answered with its own stand-alone application.

If you prefer to learn by example, this is the book. Bear in mind while it should not be considered as a 'first' book for C++ Builder - you should understand the basics of putting a form together, etc. - it's a real good second book.

Top marks for style, content and explanation.

This book has a unique, how do I do this approach. You can quickly look up answers for your problems. The only quivers I have about the book are that sometimes the examples tell you too much and you have to weed through the code to make it work for your needs. Programming examples are kind of sloppy in some circumstances. For instance, the section about restricting the type of information inputted into edit fields. The example code made use of sloppy goto statements and was long and unnecessary. I rewrote the code in much more precise, readable code without any gotos whatsoever. Unfortunately, even though my code works exactly as his code (I tried them both) it doesn't work quite the way I want it to. It does restrict the user from entering non-numeric data into the field, but it shows the entry anyway and you must backspace to erase before going on. I wanted it to not display it and not advance the cursor postion either. Besides those two minor points, the book is great. Comes in very handy at times.

This book bit all other books about C++ Builder combined!
I wish to have second edition of this book covered Builder 5 and Internet development.

I will recommend this book to the people knowing C++ and the api well if you need to make windows-applications and would like to use Builder to do it. During my final year project, this book has been absolutely essential. I've found very nice solutions to advanced problems. Without it, I would have had severe trouble. Although it covers alot, it doesn't cover everything - there is still need for some fiddeling around. Conclusion : highly recommended for intermediate to advanced programmers.

The book should have been titled "Advanced Windows API How-To using C++ Builder" or something else more appropriate. The examples are good but complex. If you're a novice with CPPB this book will be totally useless to you.

Not many books are available for Borland C++ Builder (compared to MS Visual C++ and MFC). And as there's not so much to choose from, one has to be happy with what exists.

This book has an interesting form that I personally didn't find in other computer software related books - it's divided into problems and answers. Each problem-answer consists of a question, exact programming steps to solution and explanation of the solution.

The book covers many programming topics, like forms, windows controls, internet, database, custom controls, etc., etc. All solutions are presented in such way that you can freely combine them together. You just implement all that would suit your particular needs in your projects. The book is well structured, so you can find what you're looking for easily.

I find the book VERY readable and easy to understand (I have 2 years of Visual C++ and MFC programming practice and have recently switched to BCB) and I find myself browsing through the pages just reading the contents "offline" many times. And every time I run into something cool, something that will just have to be implemented in my next project...

There are few examples, where not all code is covered in the book - you can get it complete on the included CD. I also found some examples that are based on older version of BCB (I use BCB4), so I had to find the corresponding commands in the menu. But nonetheless I still think it's really a good book and I only wish every software would have a similar how-to book...