gemini_shooter said
This is quite an extrordinary text, not only because of the knowledge it covers but also because of Ivor's presentation and writing style. Not once in this book did I ever had a question of "What the hell does this mean ?" Some key important things you need to know if you are thinking to pick up this book:
1. Mr. Horton does a fine job explaining everything before he jumps into using it. The writing style is based around writing a program to cover a topic and then explaining it .... as the programs get more complex this has its advantages and disadvantages. In the later chapters Ivor uses examples to explain several topics like drawing, serialization, printing, views in the Windows API. Previous knowledge of the Windows API (for e.g. charles Petzold's book) can help you get past this book like a breeze but its not required
2. The book is a little long keeping in mind the vast extensive areas it tries to cover and is meant for a beginner or someone who wants to review the foundation for VC++.
3. The first half of the book covers the basics of C++ and Ivor jumps into the Windows API only in the second half.
4. Gives you a starting foundation to advanced topics like ActiveX, ATL, COM, OLE or ODBC.
5. Heed Ivor's advice as he does tell you to stay calm while going through this text.... at times I did feel like tearing my hair apart because of the vastness of this subject but I kept my calm took a small break and got to the same topic again
Well done Ivor !!! If only other books were written like this ....
Damon Slye said
Ivor Horton has written a very clear introduction to Visual C++ 6.0. What I like most about this book: When a new feature is introduced he explains the meaning of the feature on a conceptual level instead of just showing how to use it. Therefore when learning it is easy to prioritize and organize all this new material since he has essentially already organized it for the reader. I have found that many other books leave the burden on the reader to absorb a bunch of seemingly unrelated bits of knowledge, and then make sense of them before learning is truly complete. This is of course tedious and time-consuming.
His work is also very careful--he always anticipates and addresses those little nagging details that often can throw the reader off, so that as you read it you aren't dragging along a bunch of unanswered questions.
The book teaches:
a. How to use the Microsoft Visual C++ 6.0 Integrated Development Environment (IDE)
b. The C++ language itself
c. Windows Programming, including usage of the Microsoft Foundation Classes (MFC), the AppWizard, ActiveX etc.
I was already familiar with the C++ language, so I did not read that section of his book (and therefore this review does not cover that). I used it to learn the IDE and Windows Programming.
I really enjoyed this work, and will continue to use it as reference.
Fazli said
This book is very...very...very good book for those who want to learn about C++ and Visual C++. Before I read this book I have read a book with a title"Learning Visual C++ in 21 days". I learn that book in 25 days. When I want to start my programming I'm stuck.After I read this Ivor Horton's book about a week, I can continue my programming without a stuck.My previous problem have been solved.The code in this book is free of error not like the other books. If there have an error that only a typos error that come from you not from Ivor Horton's code.I can learn much with this book.You can catch an error in another book after you have read this Ivor's book.Don't believe me?It's all depend on you.
Tim R. Niles said
Above all else, book about software development should have loads of exmaples, and when describing the use of a specific compiler, leave very little to the imagination (compilers are too loaded with power that only their developers and heavy duty users understand. Horton's book does exactly this!
I have been writing software since 1969 in all forms, but mostly engineering applications rather than Windows or web code.
Even though I've had the VC++6 compiler since 1998, I'd not used it for anything more than fast prototype code or code that had specific value only to me. Well, with the exception of writing a 'fast fingers' piee to train myself to be really really fast at the "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" game (a GREAT little app.)
my last Windows work had been in 1996/7 and was related to testing cable systems (worse, it was only modifying existing Borland C++ developed under SDK! so I learned little and rememebered less) and some VC++5 code that I worked out in 1997 for a few months.
Now I'd bought Ivor Horton's book on VC++5 in about 1997 and had read it occasionally, in very rare moments, so I knew it had quality to it, had the features I value most in a software book: examples and comprehensive detail made explicit.
When I recently discovered a new idea for software, I realized that I had to learn VC++6 for true Windows - and I have plenty of reference books on this topic dating from 1992 - it took about two weeks of floundering around with a dozen of them to finally realize that Horton's book on VC++5 was the best of the lot... so I bought his book on VC++6.
If you are a beginner, Horton will NOT fail you. The book is immense, over a thousand pages, but it is also easy to understand no matter how rusted you are - and I was well rusted by lack of recent C++ experience.
Buy this Book!
Clockwork Java Orchestra said
I began programming with Ivor Horton's Beginning Java 2, JDK 1.3 Edition. It was excellent, full of pertinent information, well organized, informative... everything I could want. When I wanted to learn C++, I bought a book by the same guy. It was a big mistake.
This book spends too much time on really simple concepts and does not sufficiently explain others. For example, enumeration types are lavishly explained in such a way that somebody could easily read the pages (that's more than one page about a special int... YIKES!) about them seven times without understanding that each is just an int with a named set of values. I also particularly dislike some bad formatting, unnecessary time spent on how to use an IDE, and the complete ignorance of the printf() function in favor of the less efficient cout stream.
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