Customer Reviews

Sams Teach Yourself Visual C++ 6 in 21 Days, Professional Reference Edition

5 star:		(16)
4 star:		(17)
3 star:		(15)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(33)

 

 

I purshased this book to learn the "Visual" aspect of Visual C++. In that regard it is on target. Don't get it to teach you C++ because it is not designed to do so and there are lots of good books for learning C++ itself. I like the fact that it stays on the Visual part -- I have seen many "Visual" C++ books that throw in 1-2 chapters on the visual portion as an obvious afterthoughs.

The flaws in this book render it half-useless, however. (1) Many of the examples in the text are incorrect and won't compile. (2) There are too many chapters where one rewrites the same drawing program. Since the first chapter drawing program won't compile, and all of the other ones say to do the same things as in that chapter to start with, this renders at least 3 chapters useless. (3) I would prefer more useful examples than another variant of "scribble" (especially since it doesn't work anyway). (4) I downloaded the example chapter code from their website. The chapter codes I tried work, but obviously aren't based on a person working through the actual chapters, since the code has many differences from what you get from the compiler. I expect that they used code from past text revisions, possibly based on earlier versions of Visual C++. (5) It would be helpful if they supplied (either in a CD or at their website) actual code derived from various points in each chapter (e.g., "open file for Chapter 10 version 3 to see the code for the partially completed project on page 210"). (6) It would be good to have MANY more compilable points in the chapters. As it stands, one has to make scores to hundreds of changes between times where it allows compilation. This makes it very difficult for a beginner (i.e., a person who would buy a training text) to get exactly right. (7) The exercise portions of each chapter should be somehow marked, not buried in the text of paragraphs -- this would allow users to work through examples more quickly and not miss some important step.

Overall, good fundamentals but badly flawed execution. Quite disappointing compared with the rest of the series.

This book does not teach C++ directly, nor does it really get under the hood in MFC. I have a large ammount of experience with C++, and have read some books on MFC as well; with this background, this book served me rather well as a handbook on how to perform routine stuff. Those who are uncomplimentary of this book seem fall into one of two catagories: Those who don't know C++ or MFC and expect one book to quickly teach them both (not possible), and those who understand C++ but want an in depth book on MFC. If you don't understand C++, this book will frustrate you to no end; read a C++ language book first. If you are interested in MFC, then buy a book on MFC. If you already know C++ and are familiar with MFC from a "big picture" perspective, but you want to learn how to use the VC environment and to apply some MFC and such, then this book is not so bad. Errors in the example code prevent this book from getting five stars. All in all, it's a good book, but with a fairly narrow purpose.

I am an advanced Java and C++ programmer and found this book to be a poorly edited text wrought with errors and missing code. I don't think that anyone short of having advanced C++ skills will get any amount of satisfaction from using this book. There is no updated code referenced on any of the publisher's Internet web pages. In fact there is no support from either the publisher or the authors of any sort. Email messages sent to both are still not answered. Not only would I not recommend this book, I feel the publisher should issue a public apology for allowing such a poor example of work to be sold to the public.

Maybe if people would bother to read a preface they would understand the layout of the book. Most of the "missing" material is in the back of the book in the "C++ Overview" section. You know...the last 600 PAGES!!! The blue ones. Yeah, those. Try reading through some of the material. Maybe get off your duff and install the CD that accompanies the book.

I've been a programmer for a good long time now, and I've learned more languages from books than you can count on both hands. This book is EXCELLENT, and I highly recommend it for the beginner, and the advanced (visual or not) C++ programmer. As long as you read the ENTIRE FREAKIN' BOOK. Don't just use the lessons in the front and not refer to the refrence material and additional examples in the rear. The CD has all the code contained in the book. If there's a question about where to put code or a variable...take a look at the author's coding. Nine times out of ten it will solve any and all problems/questions you may have.

This is a good book. Why? Because it does exactly what it is supposed to do. You have to accept that VC++ and MFC are way too big to condense into one readable book.

What I like about this book is that it get you up and programming quickly. When you are done, you can actually write useful programs. That is, you can create a user interface that hits a database and extracts information. Sadly, that is what most commercial programming is all about.

I have read two other great books on VC++ and MFC: 1. Programming Windows With MFC by Jeff Prosise 2. Programming Visual C++ by David J. Kruglinski, et al

They are great for learning the every nuck and cranny of how to program windows, but they dont really help you create useful apps quickly. They are great references. But this is the book that will gives you reasonable, doable, "homework."

As to the bugs in the source code, I did notice some. But remember, we are programmers!!! Once we get the gist of things, the best way to learn is to no enter in the code verbatum, but to write a little bit of our own. That's how you learn.

One last note, to learn VC++/MFC, you really need the MSDN Library. As you are writing code, make sure to look up the objects. Get a good handle on the member functions and variables.

Good luck

Sams Teach Yourself Visual C++ 6 in 21 days.

I would admit that C++ is an intense subject with many strange inconsistancies. It is a topic that many would find hard to enclose in one book. This book is most useful for those who know Borland C++ inside and out. This book is not as helpful for a beginner (such as myself). What gets me through is the fact that I understand the basic programming principles and have some experience in many other programs.

The Good: It is set up fairly well with the easier chapters near the front and the more intense chapters at the back. The book is laid out like most of the SAMS books and I consider that a good thing. The exerices although mainly graphical in nature seem to have purpose.

The Bad: There are skipped steps hidden throughout the book. The missing bits cause problems. Also I had compiled programs do unexplained things. After Redoing the exercise I found out that I had some ">>" pointing this way "<<". From Day 1 to 11 I was able to figure out what went wrong (By redoing the entire exercise). I had Chapter 12 - 3/4s done until I ran into an error without any help. From there a few more errors occured and there are a few chapters that I can not complete.

That concludes my review. I am stuck in this book. What would have helped would have been a web site that displays the corrections made to the chapters. Also some hints to program it better (there is always a way to program better).

If anyone has any hints or clues please email me at pharvey@nonline.net

The first bug I am interested in is on Page 267 Listing 12.7.

Line 13: pDoc->SetWidth(nIndex);

In General terms (not the exact error message): CDay10Doc does not have a SetWidth parameter. There is not a SetWidth function in CDay10Doc.cpp.

I'm a fairly experienced programmer but had no C++ or "visual" experience when I got this book. I needed to kickstart myself on a largish project- this book did a pretty good job, except it is NOT for someone who doesn't know C++. You will need a C++ primer as well!

I haven't read the whole book yet, just finished Day 4, but I'm very pleased so far. This is a no-nonsense book which jumps right into using the VC++ 6.0 IDE *to create stuff*. In other words, if you are seeking explanations of MFC or C++ concepts, look elsewhere. Also, if you don't have previous knowledge of C++, you may have some trouble due to the unfamiliarity of the look.

Nonetheless, the exercises are just right, and it doesn't spoon-feed you the same stuff over and over again, so you have to think a little bit, not just type.

To sum up, if you are an experienced programmer, know a little C++, and want to get up and running asap on VC++ 6, then this book is an excellent choice.

This book is really for beginners, If you haven't touched ANY windows programming and so abruptly want to jump into visual C++ , try this book. But one of the drawbacks of this books is, the author should realize that even the begineer ( i mean the serious beginner) still really want to know some thing under the hood! Just knowing how-to is far from necessary, Actually, that doesn't prompt our study, but rather hinder it. So frequently, I got to check the code automatically generated by the ApplWizard & ClassWizard. This does help!.

Another drawback is this book doesn't touch anything about MFC , which is the must-know for serious user, It doesn't even mention it.

The good thing is, the author explain everything in very detailed, Okay, I mean everything on the surface. After you finish this book, it will be much easier to go through more advanced topics, MFC, ActiveX and multithreading stuffs,...

Anyway, I should rate it as 3 and Half stars. I think that best book for beginner is " special edition using visual c++ 6.0" . But it is harder to follow.

I am using this book as a basis for an online programming course in c++. Unfortunately, this book gives the reader some sample projects to type in and try, but explains very poorly or not at all what each function does or how it interacts with other functions. I guess it gives a whole new meaning to the title "Teach Yourself..." because this book sure does not do it.