Customer Reviews

Borland C++Builder Programming EXplorer: The Hands-On Guide to Mastering the Power of Borland's C++Builder

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

 

 

It's obvious that one of the coauthors, Jeff Duntemann, is not familiar with the C++ programming language. Examples: (1) The sprintf function he twice claims is part of the C++ library. ( It's in the C library ) (2) Use of the static modifier to hide functions instead of using private member access specifier. ( Static functions are used to access static data members. Static variables are contained in classes only, and not duplicated in the class's object ). Both authors use terminology before they define the terms, e.g. using the name of a saved file before they instruct to save the file. There's more but space does not allow. This book is better than nothing but other texts will take you further, faster.

This book should be read while one is on a vacation. There are too much narrations that seem to be off topic. It does not cover enough topics for either beginning programmers or professional ones. There are many errors. The main one is the mortgage example codes. Try running it with mort amt of 100000, int 8.05% and periods of 180 and you get a junk row at the end of the string grid. The destructor call delete Mortgage w/o freeing the individual pointers, in this case, Items. One call to GetStringForm() passes parameters using commas instead of an array. The common dialog example forgets to show the code to execute the printer setup dialog. You'll have to peek at the CDROM source to follow along in some of the chapters. Type conversion or casting did not get proper treatment. It should note dynamic_cast and reinterpret_cast are C++ casting style for polymorphic behavior and should explain the difference between the two. The first illustration for the first chapter is WRONG! (What a way to start a chapter.) The mortgage chapter is peppered with Pascal-style comments. It even asks you to include SysUtils unit in your interface section, ha! On the plus side, the book is fun to read. The explanation is clear making it very readable. It will get you started, but you cannot live with this book alone--by far.

If you really want to learn, you must have this book. From simple examples to complex ones with full explanation of everything. Tips are available about what to do, and how to do it better. All explanations are done in simple English without too much complexity. I recommend it if you want to learn quickly+

I am not a professional programmer; I'm just a guy who liked programming as a hobby. I have more books on C++ than I care to own. Most the books were way too difficult for me to understand and are just sitting on the shelf. I own many books on Borland C++ Builder 3 & 4. This is the only book that explains how to create a simple database and tables. It's very easy to understand and it was this book more than any other book I own that got me going with C++ Builder 3 & 4. I am selling most of my programming books on Amazon right now because I don't do much programming anymore but this is the one book I'm keeping just in case I start playing around with Builder again. Hope this helps all you hobbyist out there who don't know what to buy and like me have spent way too much money on books you can't understand.

I picked this book up shortly after it came out. After a weeks of working with I can say that it is an excellent book. The examples are complete and clear, the prose is light but not too light. I found the examples to be accurate and have found very few mistakes in them. This a well rounded, and very useful text on programming in Borland's C++ Builder