Customer Reviews

Ivor Horton's Beginning Visual C++ 2005 (Programmer to Programmer)

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

I found this book to be a great introduction for an aspiring programmer. I have considered the idea of programming and recently decided to get serious about it. I spent 3 hours at the local bookstore examining this book before deciding to purchase it. The book is 1182 pages and I think you actually get two books in one. In the first chapter the author lays out his approach with this book. Before attempting Windows programming he teaches you how to program in the native ISO/ANSI C++ and the C++/CLI versions of the language. The author spends the first 10 chapters some 611 pages on the basics of programming before starting Windows programming using .NET. He uses console applications to teach you the basics in the first 10 chapters. This to me is the first book. The second book is his use of the remaining 12 chapters another 571 pages on the fundamentals of Windows programming using Visual C++ 2005. The author is incredibly methodical in teaching the fundamentals in a relaxed style making it easy to absorb and learn. I am certain there are other equally compelling beginning books on programming however I really do like this book.

This book is oriented to teaching you how to program in C++ in Microsoft environments. Specifically it teaches two distinct versions of C++:

First is standard ISO/ANSI standard C++ that will run on anything and is specifically for the development of high performance applications that run in native mode on the computer.

Second is C++/CLI which is part of Microsoft's .NET framework. .NET is a library of routines that accomplish many of the standard tasks that you would otherwise have to program yourself.

The book is based around the Visual Studio 2005 development environment. Visual Studio is a full fledged IDE, the tools it provides will make writing code much easier. In fact, this and the inclusion of C++/CLI are what set this book apart from others. If you are not interested in using Visual Studio, you may want to consider another of Mr. Horton's books.

This book is in reference, format. That is, it follows more of a traditional textbook format rather than the tutorial, one step at a time, approach of many others.

Mr. Horton's writing style is relaxed and easy, it appeals to many of us. By the end ot twelve hundred pages you will need something light and easy.

I bought this book because I needed to switch from C# 2003 to C++ 2005.

It looks great at a glance... In fact, it IS great!

From my point of view, it has at least 2 serious advantages over any other C++ 2005 book that I've seen so far:

1. While most other books focus on Windows Forms, this one has several chapters on MFC (which is exactly what I needed). With experience in C# (.NET 1.1), I am not interested in WinForms (there are no major differences in developing WinForms in C# and C++), but many legacy apps were written using MFC.

2. Unlike many other C++ books, this one has several exercises at the end of each chapter. If in doubt, sample answers (solutions) are available for download from the publisher's website.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who needs to get up to speed with C++ 2005.

I have 12 years of C++/MFC experience and I still found this book to be THE one that would ultimately propel me to learn C++/CLI and be on my way to becoming as proficient in .NET as I am in MFC. I still have a long ways to go, but this book is the one to start with.

This is a good book to learn the C++ language from the ground up. Good coverage of ANSI and CLR C++. Also covered making GUI inside C++ using MFC and .NET.

My edition is full of typos. This book would get 5 stars if a good proofreader did their job and the book was reissued. Most of the corrections are available from the published. However, the typos are so annoying and pervasive, the book sufferes.

I have been developing in Managed C++ for a little over a year now. I use VB.NET as well and often using the two languages together. My previous books on the subject were void of any serious explanations and did a poor job of covering some of its features. In fact, I discovered one book had written an entire chapter based off of an article in the MSDN library and had the exact same examples in it (shame on you guys).

I originally learned the core language from Ivor's ANSI/ISO C++ book years ago. I recommend it to the other programmers I work with, telling them it fantastic for refreshing you memory or as a simple syntax reference. Simply put, even though I've been writing C++ for over 4 years, I was more than happy to buy this new book. Ivor is a top-notch author and explains everything clear and concise. His examples show you common flaws and how to fix them. Its not only a great guide to writing Managed C++ for .NET 2.0, it's also a great review for the core language.

I recommend this book to everyone who wants anything to do with C++! You've done it again Ivor!

I bought this book from Amazon. Its a nice introduction to Visual C++. Ivor Horton gives a gentle introduction to C++ and then leads into Visual C++ Windows programming. The book should be easy for beginners to read and is detailed enough to enable an experienced programmer to write commercial Windows programs.

On the negative side, the book has many errors, and in my opinion is a bit misorganized

First of all, I like Ivor Horton's writing style and think that the book is well thought-out. The low grade is due to the fact that there are a number of stunning errors in the book. In particular, Horton's description of the bitwise OR operation shows the wrong operator throughout the text. I can sympathize with the proof-readers, as reading such a long book would be a strain for anyone. I always check the publishers web site for an errata list before I start reading a book such as this, but at the time, they did not yet have one posted. The publisher has a "technical support" presence on the web, and they did respond to my email.

The difference between good and average software lies in the small details -- much like the difference between good and average software books. When the numerous errors in this book are corrected, it will be a much better product, and will reflect the author's writing ability.

I learned C from Ivor Horton and i liked his style.But this book is not good in my opinion for a few reasons.First half of the book is talk about standar t and and cli c++ but not in detail.Second half of the book is about MFC and WinForms but again i do not find them enough.It is very hard to follow the examples about MFC and WinForms and i couldnt manage to get to the end of them because of compiling errors and i was very bored.Putting all the things in just a book : ansi c++,c++/cli,databases,mfc,winforms is not useful at all.

I think that this book is very good for beginners. It covers in detailes most of C++ language aspects and provides comprehensive examples. So I'd give five starts for C++.
For MFC however, I think that the book isn't complete enough (well that's probably because MFC is huge and it's just impossible to cover everything in detailes). The good thing is that author tries to give the concept of the structure of MFC which sometimes is more important than providing all the detailes about particular language or library. So I'm giving five stars for MFC too.
There was one thing I didn't like though. Some examples on MFC were written as if they just wanted to make it work. For example, "Sketcher" program was ok in terms of OOP but in terms of good organization of your code its readability (for possible future changes) and its efficiency is questionable.
Thus overall I'm satisfied with this book and it's worth the money I spent on it.