Customer Reviews

Microsoft® Visual C++® .NET Step by Step--Version 2003 (Step by Step (Microsoft))

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(6)
2 star:		(7)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

First off...the reviewer who criticized the editor for having the wrong book is the one who is wrong:this is C++, not C#. So that reviewer's dismissal should be dismissed. Second, as the editor pointed out, some reviews were for the wrong edition: they too should be dismissed. However...

I do not recommend this book for beginners. A lot of its "teaching" is done by cookie-cutter programming: find this line of code in the program...don't worry about what it actually means...now type these things under it...now compile. The reader gets working programs without fully understanding what x, y, and z mean.

And the authors don't know how to teach step-by-step, despite the book's title. It's as if they can't decide what their target audience is. Are they writing a step-by-step book (as the title implies) that gradually walks beginners through from beginning to end, holding their hands and easing them along? Sometimes. Or are they writing a book for people who already know C++ and just need to learn how to apply it to .NET? Sometimes. The worst part is that while it is possible to do both in one book, I don't feel the authors managed to do either. Beginners will be confused by the disorganized introduction of material (pointers and classes in chapter 2) and lack of explanations, while already-proficient-in-C++ programmers won't learn enough new stuff to make the book worthwhile (unless they are new to programming .NET with C++: then the later chapters will give them new stuff).

Here are some details, looked at from a newbie's perspective.

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"... (the endl stream manipulation operator inserts a new-line character in the stream.)" (p5)
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What the heck is a `stream', an `operator', and a `new-line', and what in the world does it mean for an operator to manipulate a stream? A newbie could be confused already...only 4 pages into the book.

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"How does the compiler know which function should be called first? ... The rule is that the compiler will always generate code that looks for a function named main. If you omit the main function, the compiler reports an error and doesn't create a finished executable program." (p6)
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That alone is not a problem. The problem arises when the rest of the book violates the rule just provided, without explaining why!

Only the first program in the book - the trivial "Hello World!" program -- uses Standard C++ (iostream, cout, etc.). The second and subsequent programs don't include a main() function!

The book has the reader "blindly" begin typing the second program on page 20, and that program contains several non-Standard C++ entries and omits several of the most common Standard C++ elements.

(1) The program does not have a main() function but does have a _tmain(). What exactly is a _tmain() function anyway? The book doesn't say.

(2) The program does not have the typical #include <iostream> directive but does have #include "stdafx.h". So what exactly is the "stdafx.h" anyway? The book doesn't say. And why is this one surrounded by double quotes instead of by angle brackets? The book doesn't explain that either.

(3) The program does not have the typical using namespace std; statement but does have #using <mscorlib.dll>. What exactly is the <mscorlib.dll>? The book doesn't say. And why is the typical using statement (such as using namespace std;) not prepended with a pound sign while the program's #using <mscorlib.dll> is? The book doesn't say.

(4) Related to the above, the program has a using namespace System; statement. So what exactly is the System namespace? The book doesn't say.

Here's another newbie-stumper.

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"To access the member variables and functions, you have to dereference the pointer in one of two ways. You can use the dereferencing operator, an asterisk (*) followed by the dot notation - for example, (*cat).legs. " (p23)
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Dereferencing a pointer? What the heck is a pointer? What the heck is dereferencing? The book hasn't explained either yet.

And why in the world is the book already talking about classes? Functions haven't even been covered, nor have variable types, looping, selection, scope, pointers, etc.

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"The lifetime of an object instantiated from the class will be managed by the .NET Framework's garbage collector. When the object falls out of scope, the memory used by the object will be garbage-collected and no explicit calls to delete will have to be made." (p22)
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What the heck does "fall out of scope" mean? A newbie wouldn't know from reading the book. What the heck is delete? And should the book really be discussing topics like dynamic memory allocation on the heap and memory management when less than 2 dozen pages in?

Now note the difference between these two.

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Console.WriteLine("Animal 1"); (p25)
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and

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Console::WriteLine(S"Welcome to your friendly Investment Planner"); (p49)
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Why does the second one prepend a capital `S' to the string while the first doesn't? The book doesn't say.

So far I've been disappointed with several of the Microsoft Press books I have purchased. It is almost as if MS is just pumping books out one after another...each one quickly thrown together...just to get presence on the shelf (or to flood the shelves with their books): knowing that people are more likely to by an authentic Microsoft book on Microsoft products.

I wanted to write in response to Jason E. Trout's review. First, I need to state up-front that I was the Technical Editor on the 2003 edition of this book.

The two errors that Jason points out indicate that he is reviewing the old (first edition) of Visual C++ .NET Step By Step. I double-checked the 2003 edition of the book and found that both these errors were caught and fixed.

The 2003 edition includes updates that reflect changes introduced with version 1.1 of the .NET Framework and Visual Studio .NET 2003. The chapters on Windows Forms have been entirely rewritten to reflect the inclusion of designers with Visual Studio that create forms coded with the Managed Extensions for C++. This means developers can now create Windows Forms using designers, just like a Visual Basic or C# programmer would, instead of needing to hand code them. Julian also rewrote the chapter on ADO.NET so the sample projects require Access instead of SQL Server.

So give the new edition a look if you have the chance. I am confident you will find the updates and new information handy, and that errors like the ones Jason mentions have largely been eliminated.

I would have preferred to post this review without rating the book, but Amazon's submission forms don't allow it.

Thanks,
Eric Dettinger

I was a little bit worried that a Microsoft Press book might read like a dictionary. That was not the case. I find this book extremely easy to read, filled with very good analogies and explanations. I've always had issues understanding Object Oriented programming, mainly because most books only lightly explain it, and by the time they get to it you're reading chapter 83 and dealing with other complex concepts. I was overjoyed to see that object oriented programming was explained in Chapter 2 (right after the hello world exercise). Needless to say, I was able to understand it right away, for the first time.

Programming books are always hit and miss, sometimes they start too slow and then all of a sudden you're lost in advanced, unexplained topics, and don't know how you got there. Sometimes, the chapters just seem to drag on forever and it becomes easy to lose motivation on over covered material.
This book however is a work of art, the chapters are nice and short, easy to follow and have just the right amount of info to cover the topic. Every time a question flag gets raised in my mind, the answer is on the next line.

This book is worth the money and the time.

I agree with a previous reviewer who said that the authors didn't pay much attention to who the target audience was for this book.
It starts off like a C++ book, then you have some .NET stuff thrown in (ofcourse, you are not told why you need them, its like "This is a .NET book, and there has to be some .NET material!!"). I have been programming in C++ for quite long, and I thought I could progress to .NET with this one. I was wrong. The book doesnt even take time off to explain what "Managed" C++ is all about. There are some nuggets of info here and there, but its so disorganised, I dont think they will benefit anyone.

Much of this book is wasted on me because I am already experienced in MS C++ MFC programming. I bought it because I wanted to see how it and C++ .NET differed. I do think it was worth it overall for this purpose. I took an interest in the C++ portion because I saw the previously posted reviews and noticed that some reviewers were disappointed with it because they thought it inadequate to learn C++. Skimming those chapters I skipped, I would say too that it would have been inadequate for me to have learned C++, but to do justice to this book no one book was sufficient for me to learn C++ either. For example, much of the power of using C++ as an OOP language lies in abstract classes and virtual functions. Instead of building the narrative towards these features, this book mentions their existence almost in passing. Without these features, there's not much to recommend C++ as an OOP language of choice. The beginner who wishes to learn full C++ and not a particular flavor will need other books. Some books were better at explaining object-oriented concepts; some were better at explaining how C++ features related to OOP. Over time I bought about 16 books on C++ and OOP (object oriented programming). In particular, I think two of Herbert Schildt's books, Teach Yourself C++ and C++, the Complete Reference were good. You might think of getting a generalized OOP concepts book such as by Booch. Later, I found the C++ FAQ book by Cline and Lomow useful. Unlike when I learned other languages, learning C++ and OOP required many small epiphanies. Most important you just have to try small programs that implement the ideas in the books to "get it". Once you do, learning something like Java seems almost trivial. Make no mistake, learning OOP and C++ is a tough row to hoe.

Of course, no one goes through all that effort to write command line programs. You'll want window control, graphics, multi-threading, database access, etc. -- all implementation specific activities. This is where this book is relevant. It provides a brief overview of how a C++ programmer can interact and use Windows OS functionality.

Step by Step is a good description of what this book is about. While it would be very helpful to have some prior C++ experience, you could probably just have a copy of .NET and this book, and get alot out of it. However, if you are experienced in Visual C++.NET, this book would be of little use. It would be impossible to comprehensively cover all of the topics addressed in this book in it's < 600 pages, but it gives, in my opinion, and great introduction to some of C++.NET's features. I found the section on ADO.NET especially helpful, and was able to write some fine database mgt. software for my personal use. This book also gives a solid introduction to Windows Forms programming as well as to exception handling in .NET. I think some of the longer reviews for this book are over done. It would be very easy for a knowlegdeable .NET developer to sharpshoot was is wrong with it. I am glad I didn't listen to them before I bought this book. It was worth every penny.

This book is great! It's easy to read and is a great way to learn about the new .NET framework. I recommend this book to any C++ programmers wanting to learn C++.NET. I do not, however, recommend this book to new C++ programmers because it lacks detailed explanations on such beginner subjects (Check out "Practical C++" by Rob McGregor for a very complete book to teach you C++).

Just like one of the reviewers said, the OOP (Object Oriented Programming) explanation is awesome! I have programmed in Java (ALL OOP) before, and it wasn't until I read this book that I really discovered the greatness behind OOP.

Buy it. Read it. Cherish it.

This book was recommended to me because I was coming from a Borland environment. I have been struggling to get into windows development and finding resources that are instructional to someone that has written many Console based apps, and is pretty knowledgable in OOP, has become a nightmare. Most of the books I have found are made toward beginers, and they all reitterate the same information for beginners. I almost believe that the writers out there either don't understand the languages themselves, or have descovered if they keep regurgitating the same novice information with a new cover they can sell more books to suckers thinking they will learn anything more than what an array is, or how to say "Hello, World!". This book did give me a good introduction to the user interface and slight language differences from my Borland experience. But it gives nothing more than an introduction. The examples are exactly as the title states "Step by Step". I do not see the relavence of the examples, nor there application to real world programming. This is a feel good book for anyone who would like to pretend that they are programming real windows applications; and have no real understanding of the language. The examples will walk you through it all so you don't have to understand or learn any more than that. Don't expect this book to tell you how any of this, or the examples relate to real applications. For example the window example has you create a window. Woohoo! I could figure that out from playing with the environment for 2 minutes. It will not tell you anymore about how to put real data or information into the window. Or, how to trigger new windows, or new information. What is worse is that Microsoft seems to want to keep all the knowledge to themselves, by way of the MS Press (once again reflecting back to my making money scheme, Bill you sly dog!).

Good book but ... does not get you anywhere unless you think you can move to India!

I can't believe this is a microsoft signed book. It is named Step by Step, means, it should be for beginners. I have been using Visual Basic since VB 5.0 and now I am using [...]. I am not new to programming; however, I couldn't benefit anything from this book. None of the examples complied on my machine. So I am wondering how much will benefit from this book a person completely new to programing. My guess is that this book will scare people away from this major.

The authors failed to explain the basic information needed by a person that never used C++. I mean, the namespaces, libraries, basic difference between compilers. None of the code works becaues the Authors never tell you which namespace or library should you include. You will never see, in any of the examples any of the following terms (#include, #using, using namespace, ...). Do the authors expect us, as beginners, to figure that out.

If you don't explain these information, what is the point of a Step by Step book. I can figure out the C++ syntax for If Statement, Switch, Loops, ... This is not the reason I would be the C++ book. These things exist in the help.

This book wasted my time. I will have to buy another book.