Powerbuilder Foundation Class Library Professional Reference (Team Powersoft Series) (Paperback)

~ Millard F., III Brown (Author), Boris Gasin (Author), Howard Block (Author, Editor), (Author), Andy Tauber (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Presenting the definitive guide to building object-oriented software for the Internet and client/server applications. Some 125,000 software developers are already using the Powersoft Foundation Class (PFC), and this book/CD-ROM explains the PFC Library for PowerBuilder-the collection of programs frequently used and reused by developers when building software applications with PowerBuilder. Encompassing the latest 5.1 release of PowerBuilder, this sourcebook provides in-depth guidance on application development, performance tuning, maintenance, documentation, and more. A special section covers the use of PFC on the Internet. Given that Powersoft itself asked these expert authors to create this package, it promises to be the premier PFC Library resource!

From the Back Cover

Here's the first complete guide to using PowerBuilder Foundation Classes, written by Powersoft insiders! Used by over 300,000 software developers, the PowerBuilder Foundation Class library is a major advance in the use of object orientation and is now the standard by which other class libraries are measured. Written by members of Team Powersoft with contributions by Steve Benfield, Kent Marsh, and William Rompala, PowerBuilder Foundation Class Library Professional Reference is the definitive guide to the PFC and its applications, including its use in building object-oriented software for the Internet and client/server. Every facet of the PFC is covered, including its advantages over other class libraries, components, menus and windows, extensibility, services, and the application design and development tools needed to support the PFC. This Professional References tackles such technical issues as: performance and tuning - including performance enhancement techniques; Extending the PFC - with insight into the extension layer and extension techniques, methods and layer usage; deploying the PFC - with tips on deploying with PowerBuilder Dynamic Libraries; maintenance upgrades - including full coverage of centralized upgrades; documentation and help - manuals, on-line help, PFC Code, Powersoft training, and more. Featuring a special section on running PowerBuilder applications on the Internet, the Professional Reference provides a CD-ROM packed with templates and tools for building PFC applications. ABOUT THE AUTHORS: Howard Block teaches the PowerBuilder and leads the PFC Special Interest Group, sanctioned by Powersoft. Millard Brown III, Boris Gasin, William Green, and Andy Tauber, are members of Team Powersoft. Mr. Brown and Mr. Green are coauthors of McGraw-Hill's bestselling book on PowerBuilder 5.

Product Details

• Paperback: 448 pages
• Publisher: Computing Mcgraw-Hill (November 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0079132677
• ISBN-13: 978-0079132673
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 7.5 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,756,620 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great intro for new PFC users, September 3, 1998

By	"mbyers1" (Liverpool, NY United States) - See all my reviews

I routinely recommend the PowerBuilder Foundation Class Library Professional Reference to other PowerBuilder developers who are interested in using PFC. By reading it before starting a PFC development project this spring, I cut approximately 4-6 weeks off my development effort. By the time I got around to taking an actual class on PFC, it was all review.

The text is a relatively easy read for an experienced PowerBuilder developer with a good understanding of object-oriented principles. It provides step by step code examples for implementing key PFC objects. Watch out, though, for the occasional typo!

Although I refer to it less frequently now, I still keep the book handy on my desk. More significantly, I refuse to loan out my copy. I tell everyone to go get their own copy from Amazon.com.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Honorable Competitor, August 2, 1998

By	Richard Brooks ([e-mail]) (New Jersey) - See all my reviews

This book appears to be in direct competition with mine... at first glance it does. Once you read the book you find that indeed the emphasis is entirely different. This book explains a lot of the theory and the use of the PFC's and that appears to be the purpose of the book. It is exemplary in achieving that purpose. It covers all of the areas that are of great concern to the typical programmer in exquisite detail. My book only briefly addresses that in the appendices. To my mind this book is like a manual while mine like a dictionary. For me, I can't get along without both.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good Reference Book, July 30, 1998

By A Customer

I thought the book was well laid out and readable -- given the atrocious documentation that came with PFC 5, it is a good companion.

Oh the minus side, it is written for PFC 5 (all code examples, etc.) PFC 6 is an add-on chapter and is not integrated.

The other difficulty I found was that it was not critical of the PFC -- pointing out its better services and ones that are frankly weak.

Hopefully the authors will produce a book for PFC 6.5!