Customer Reviews

X Window Programming From Scratch

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3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

It has been said that a specialist knows everything about nothing, while a generalist knows nothing about everything. This is a generalist book.

The title of this book is completely misleading, except, perhaps the "scratch" part: After reading it, I am scratching my head, and asking, so how do I write programs for X Window???

The author is spreading himself too thin. He assumes you do not even know how to edit a text file, you do not know how to program at all, you do not know what a linked list is. This is ridiculous. Obviously, if I want to learn about X Window programming from scratch, I do not know how to program for X Window, but I do know how to program in general. Alas, the book tells very little about X Window programming. It talks about Unix shells, about computer graphics, about make, about trigonometry, etc. But when it comes to X Window programming, it just breezes through it very fast. There is no systematic explanation of a basic structure of an X Window program. Instead, it offers the code of a vector image editor, completely confusing to an X beginner.

One thing the author excells in is self-praise. For example, chapter 13 says, "Chapter 1 provides an EXCELLENT introduction to ..." (emphasis mine). Give me a break!

I feel I was had. I feel I wasted both my money and my time. Don't waste yours!

I am a complete beginner, so I hoped this is the book for me.And yes. it is, but...
First part of the book, about 100 pages, contains intro to UNIX/Linux, C cmpiler, make, programming and C language. Very short, more a review than introduction.
Then it explains the basics of X Window System, widgets + some background. Follows a part containing the math stuff needed for the real drawing program, which is then implemented.
At the end the book contains more then 9000 lines of Vector Font Deefinitions (contained among others on the CD), which is almost 200 pages.
The book is still pretty good, but you are buing not a 800 pages book, but a 500 one, don't forget it.

This book is very poorly written. Yes, there are usable things in it, but you're better off buying the X Toolkit Cookbook (if you need a tutorial approach), or the Motif Programming Manual (Volume 6A from O'Reilly).

This book reeks. It's poorly written, and organized so badly I was tearing my hair out after the first few chapters.

Buy "X Toolkit Cookbook" - it's so much better, it defies description.

The book provides a great overview of Linux, C, and Makefile then leads you through an excellent introduction to X Window programming including the mathematics necessary for writing a viable graphics editor!! The appendices are a little long (and exist on the CD) but the book is full of content! Even has a bonus chapter on PostScript for adding a print driver to the project.