Customer Reviews

Turbo C++ Suite 1.0

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4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
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This is a 7 year old product. Why not buy C++Builder 5.0 Standard for the same price, also made by Borland ? It has a powerful RAD Environment, Great debugger, and supports WIn 95, Win 98, Win NT and Win 2000 .

Why buy the TC++ Suite? Depends on your needs, as a game programmer I make a lot of 'test' apps, menu systems, map editors, and debuggers; and I really don't want to waiste my time making this stuff work in wondows, when it works twice as fast in DOS. So, if you need to make apps that work in DOS the TC++ 3.0 and 4.5 are right for you. If you just want to learn C++ and Windows, I say buy the C++ Builder 5 or VC++ 6, and don't waiste your money on something you will only use for three months and then put away in a closet, never to be used again.

The big book inside the box is NOT the "Teach Yourself..." text. It is the manual for the C++ 4.5 complier for 16 bit applications in Windows 1.0. (Does ANYONE still use Windows 1.0?!) The "Teach Yourself..." text is available online for free, at least in its 21 day version (by the same author).

You will probably be unsuccessful choking down object oriented programming in a new language in 14 days. I understand 6 weeks is average. I took about 5 weeks. I already had experience with some older programming languages (BASIC, Fortran, DB, Korn), and I'm fairly adept at these sorts of things.

Although the documentation says you'll be able to produce stand-alone programs with the "Learn to Program with Borland C++ Builder 1.0" (not the same as "Borland C++ Builder 1.0"), I wasn't able to find a way to do that. Attempting to run an .exe compiled with this builder will result in the error message, "This program must be run within the C++ Builder environment," which means must first launch C++ Builder.

The "Teach Yourself..." text briefly discusses GDI's, which are the classes that you might use to, say, to draw a graph. The Builder apparently has these components available, but with little or no documentation. They certainly weren't in any usable form. Trying to access their properties was a joke. For instance, I had to guess at the correct usage of TCanvas (a bit like a virtual sheet of paper) based on discussions I gleaned from the Internet. I kept guessing wrong until I gave up.

This package is useful for DOS programmers and anyone wanting to write DOS-box programs for use under Windows. However, those wanting to do more are better advised to buy the C++ Builder 6 personal edition for about the same price. Then either buy a good [...] book or find the "Teach Yourself..." book online for free.

I am about to buy the Builder 6 and RMA the Turbo C++ suite back to Borland for a refund. (Hint: It will probably take you longer than the 30 day return period to figure out what this package won't do for you.)

... Never again will I trust any software with turbines.

This product is very no nonsense. For anyone who grew up programming in DOS, this is THE product. I wrote my first class object 45 mins after opening the package. Borland could have been a bit more verbose in project organization in DOS, but it's everything a 16 bit/DOS programmer dreams of. Documentation, very good... product examples, programs, etc., spectacular. Ease of installation, a snap! This is a MUST for anyone supporting clients still in DOS, and I know dozens here in Juneau.