REALbasic : The Definitive Guide (Paperback)

by Matt Neuburg (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Matt Neuberg's REALbasic: The Definitive Guide is a diligent and thorough introductory text for REALbasic 2 on the Macintosh, an object-oriented programming environment based on components and BASIC. Even if you've never programmed before, this title--combined with the power and ease of use of REALbasic--is all you need to start writing your own software for the Mac.

In addition to being a tutorial to the REALbasic tool itself, the author's introduction to object-oriented software is remarkable for its patience while also getting the beginner to think in objects. (Besides an authority on Macintosh programming, Neuberg has a Ph.D. in ancient Greek. This book is probably alone in that it discusses objects while quoting Plato.) There is a full tour of REALbasic program statements, data types, and the nuts and bolts of working with the environment and building basic programs.

The heart of this text covers the various controls and features available in REALbasic. The author discusses simple and advanced user controls (like buttons, edit controls, menus, and list boxes). Neuberg's tour here will let any reader design user interfaces and add event handlers to provide program functionality. Highlights include how to display images and create animation, sound, and video within REALbasic. (Here, the author extends the already strong multimedia support in REALbasic with his own code for a simple video game.) For more experienced users, there are how-tos on using files, databases, and socket programming with TCP/IP and AppleScript.

In all, REALbasic: The Definitive Guide serves its purpose well as a one-volume reference and tutorial to getting the most out of this capable tool, whose functionality certainly rivals any of today's RAD-style programming environments. --Richard Dragan

Topics covered: Overview of the REALbasic environment, BASIC language keywords, constructs and datatypes, arrays, objects, classes and instances, subclasses, events, menus, application architecture, building and debugging, window basics, system events, mouse processing, canvases and graphics, displaying images, basic controls, list boxes, progress bars, sliders, shapes, menus, tab panels, keyboard and mouse processing, files, databases, clipboard, drag-and-drop functionality, sound and MIDI, playing movies, game animations, printing, socket programming, Apple Events and AppleScript, and language extensions with XCMDs and plug-ins.

Product Description
REALbasic allows users to design astonishingly fast, full-fledged applications. Simply put, it is like having Visual Basic on the Mac. It is the only program for writing Mac applications that offers visual design, object orientation, and an easy language. REALbasic: The Definitive Guide gives people the information they can't get from from the documentation alone and provides new users with the details they need to grasp the program's essential concepts. It takes the reader from zero knowledge of programming to the ability to program every aspect of REALbasic--a vital reference for the expanding legion of developers who are discovering the power and flexibility of this program. Divided into three main sections, REALbasic: The Definitive Guide covers:

• Fundamentals: a detailed and comprehensive summary of the language that quickly shows you how to think about programming and accomplish your goals in less time
• User Interface: how to create a complete application using the rich classes and pre-defined tools that make life so much easier for the REALbasic programmer.
• Reaching Out: comprehensive coverage of Internet communications, databases, multimedia, game programming and more!

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Product Details

• Paperback: 686 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly; 1 edition (October 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1565926579
• ISBN-13: 978-1565926578
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 7.2 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,025,816 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars REALbasic books: Newburg vs. Tejkowski, October 22, 2001

By	Dan Jerry "danjerry" (West Chazy, NY United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This review is from: REALBasic: TDG (Definitive Guides) (Paperback)

After more than twenty years programming computers, I decided to learn REALbasic, as I wanted more control over the presentation of my FileMaker databases. I bought REALbasic, the "Standard" version (mistake #1 - it isn't full-featured). Then I bought Newburg's book (mistake #2 - too difficult to start with). Then I upgraded REALbasic to "Professional" (good move), and bought Tejkowski's "REALbasic for Dummies" (at last I could understand!) Don't do as I did. If you REALLY want to learn REALbasic, get the "Professional" version, and BOTH Tejkowski's and Newburg's books. Start with TejKowski; it reads easily; do the examples. When you're through, use Newburg's book to give you the philisophical understanding, and as a reference. The manuals that come with REALbasic are well done, but still - start with "REALbasic for Dummies".

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Very Detailed and Helpful Tool, December 17, 1999

By	Benjamin "benjy-dot-net" (Iowa) - See all my reviews

I studied programming in school but had trouble grasping many of the concepts of programming, so dropped my studies, but continued trying to learn these past few years on my own, venturing in to Visual C++, Visual Basic, and a few others. I gave REALbasic a shot just for fun, and was doing ok, but the Definitive Guide has taken me farther in the month since I got it than in the past years with any language. Now, finally, I'm comfortable enough to purchase the full language and have fun with it.

This book is much better than many of the textbooks I've been through and other books I've purchased for various languages.

24 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Dummies and the O'Reilly's book: Which one to buy?, September 2, 2002

By	macktheknife (Northern, CA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: REALBasic: TDG (Definitive Guides) (Paperback)

I work in the economic research and finance industry, and while I have some experience with Excel VBA, I am by no means a programmer. I was thus already more or less familiar with object-oriented programming (OOP) and the overall syntax of the Basic language. I had started programming with REALbasic for only a few weeks, and I had purchased both the Dummies and O'Reilly's book. Both have their strengths and weaknesses.

Dummies: If you already understand OOP and how to write commands in Basic, then you won't need to read half of book. However, Tejkowski takes the reader gently through different topics in REALbasic and actually shows the reader--step by step--on how to do this and that.

O'Reilly's: Much more theoretical and advanced. It actually has less to do with showing the reader how to do something step by step than discussing good programming techniques. Expect to invest the time and patience in reading and understanding it.

The Dummies book is a good start for anyone completely new to REALbasic. I found half the book not useful for my purposes, but it's still a good reference when you want to do certain things, say set up a database. The O'Reilly's book is also a must to understand *why* you need to do certain things in REALbasic. The manuals included with REALbasic are good, and the step-by-step tutorial is excellent, but the O'Reilly book fills in the theoretical underpinnings.

I would recommend both books to anyone who's serious about programming with REALbasic. Assess your programming skills and background honestly to determine which book you should start with.