Customer Reviews

Mr. Bunny's Guide to ActiveX

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

First off, if you want to learn about ActiveX, then this is not the book for you. However, if you want to be entertained by a parody of ActiveX, where wordplay, innuendo and absurdity about ActiveX are used to create some very funny jokes, then it is right for you. Mr. Bunny, the smart one with the glasses and pocket protector, and Farmer Jake, the guy in the overalls with the rake, are the main characters in a story about a "quest" for knowledge.
Everything in the book is a joke; there is a very good one about CLSID registry entries, "Contrary to popular belief, the CLSID registry entries, when spelled backwards, do not contain the subliminal message `I worship Satan'." If you have ever had to write and use CLSID registry entries, you know how much devil there is in the details. Points of additional reading contain entries such as:

* New York City Phone Book.
* United States Internal Revenue Code.
* ActiveX For Bunnies.

I found the last especially funny, the parody in relation to the "For Dummies" series and this book is quite good. Even the exercises are jokes; the following are given as end of chapter exercises:

* Optimize the following Visual Basic code: n = 1
* Point
* Click
* Find the missing poodle.

The book is very funny and a welcome change from the relentless detail that appears in some programming books. I recommend it very highly as comic relief.

I was on a train when I started to read this book. I usually don't laugh out loud, but when I was reading this, I just couldn't help it.

This is definitely one of the funniest "geek" books I've seen (haven't seen too many). My wife doesn't get it!

Before reading this book, I was blind. Upon finishing the last page, I was amazed to find that I could see. Thanks, Bunny, for restoring my sight to me!

I purchased this book at a Microsoft conference at the urging of one the speakers. At the time I was already quite familiar with ActiveX/OLE/COM via C++/ATL & VB. I enjoyed the wry humor that peppered the book and the constant strangeness had me laughing at loud at times. Still, the book is done in about 20 minutes and I thought it confused COM issues more so than brought them to light. I think it would have been better if ActiveX was ignored and the focus was just on Mr. Bunny & Farmer Jake.

After reading through many books on ActiveX control and programming this book was a welcome relief. It is funny and witty and short.

This book is written largly based on using ActiveX control in VB. Anyone familiar with VB (even if they don't know ActiveX)will get most of the jokes and diagrams.

I would recommand this book to anyone that has had just a little too much technical documentation and would like a mental break. Hey, you may even learn something in the process.

An excellent book which clearly sets out the fundamentals of ActiveX programming in a concise and lucid manner. At 90 pages, there is no filler material.

This is not an Active X book. This is a parody of an Active X book written by an Addison-Wesley editor that has seen too many Active X books.

Very funny, but don't reach for it when you are trying to understand someone else's code ... (unless the other programmer is a rabbit)

I'm amused at the angry souls who bought this book and 'didn't learn anything about java'. Mr. Bunny has a broad base of experience, and his constant note of wry amusement doesn't preclude some jokes that are predicated on a very thorough understanding of the principles of programming. Not a book for the java beginner; rather a book for the individual who can sum up java as a quick diff against any other OOPL, and who wants an amusing book to share with like-educated friends.

This book is entertaining to all but the humorless (see the 1-star review). It should be _hilarious_ to any poor geek who has had to write to any of Microsoft's insufferable coding schemes.

The punchlines fall fast and furious, which can make the reading a little tedious. I recommend savoring Mr. Bunny's Guide a page (or even a paragraph) at a time, like a box of circus peanuts.

Mr. Egremont has written the Great American ActiveX/Bunny Novel