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14 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointing, October 31, 1999
By A Customer
Of ~550 pages, the first 270 are a light overview of various C++ features, STL, UML, patterns, and frameworks.The CORBA part starts on page 271 and includes a light overview of the OMG, OMA, and CORBA, a little bit about IDL and how it's mapped into C++ (but only very superficial), two chapters on dynamic aspects (Any, TypeCode, IFR, DII), one chapter with an overview of CORBA services and a short example on the Naming Service. The last four chapters talk about frameworks. They talk about design patterns, metadata, a bit about services and facilities, and refactoring. Overall, I was disappointed. For one, the book is out of date. (For example, there is no mention of the POA). But more importantly, the lack of focus was disturbing to me. It seems to be a case of a little bit of everything and nothing in detail. I didn't see the point of the first half of the book in particular. What's the point of explaining what the new operator does or how a virtual function works? That's basic stuff that everyone who uses C++ will know as a matter of course. Yet, at the same time, there isn't enough info to actually learn C++ if you don't know it already. To me, the first half of the book was largely a waste because its neither here nor there. (There are many better books on C++ that explain these things properly if you need to learn C++). Of course, I'm severely biased when it comes to the second half of the book, so take this with a grain of salt. But I was left with the impression that lack of focus was the main problem. If you don't know CORBA with C++ already, you are not told enough to learn it. If you do know CORBA with C++ already, the coverage of services, patterns, frameworks, etc is likely to leave you dissatisfied because it is too superficial to teach much you won't already know. Overall, I'd say it teaches just enough to make you dangerous...
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