Rating: 
Summary: Complete reference
Review: This is the most complete reference I find to C++ Builder 5.
Rating: 
Summary: The Only C++ Builder 5 Book Available in Book Stores
Review: This is the only C++ Builder 5 book available in book stores. Fortunately, it is a GREAT book. It covers the topics (see Table of Contents by clicking on the hyperlink) well.As pointed out, the PDF file could be improved. Certainly if hyperlinks are included would make it easier and more practical for the reader. As for some chapters being available only on the CD-ROM, I would say that it is a matter of personal preference. Would you mind buying another book or just leave it as chapters on the CD-ROM? But it is great stuff and I personally find it easily to look for stuff printed in book form rather on CD-ROM. If you are using C++ Builder 5, you will find this book useful.
Rating:
Summary: A goldmine with no maps
Review: This is very useful raw material, full of very hands-on examples and advice, and thus valuable to a 5 star level, but the CD-only chapters are a serious problem. The problem is not just that the printed version is missing so much stuff, and that the paperback is unwieldy anyway, it's that the whole approach to the "fat book" issue is idiotic. PDF is an irritating format to begin with, but I have run into some annotated and indexed PDF files that are searchable and user-friendly, so it can be done. Yet nothing of the sort is true here, no effort was wasted on this puppy! You end up with a partial print book and a completely separate plain PDF file of the full book. Of course you discover entirely different page numbers in the printed and the on-CD PDF versions. Then, in addition, in Acrobat the page numbers shown on-screen don't match the numbers in the goto bar (you have to keep adding an offset of 42 pages), plus the PDF file has no hot links, not even the chapter headings, there is no search index, so it's about as dead a PDF as you can get. It's so disappointing that you can seldom find the examples that are there and that you need without a major hunt using a slow string search tool. The most practical ways to use this book are to either read whole sections and remember them, or open it at random and look around. The failure-to-use-available-technology factor is an insult to everyone involved. For all of the work the writers put into it -and this IS by far the best BCB material on the market- hopefully next time they will choose a publisher who gives a hoot.
Rating: 
Summary: There are better books out there
Review: This isn't one of the greatest C++ books out there, and for the money you'd be better off getting something else, but for IT professionals, and contractors earning good wages, with money being no object, this is probably the text to go for.
Rating:
Summary: The best book on C++Builder 5
Review: Well, seeing as this is pretty much the only book on C++Builder 5, I guess that goes without saying. However, even if there were other books, I think this one would still be the best. Every chapter is focused on a specific task and has a lot of good information regarding the task. I recommend this book to anyone who works with C++Builder or would like to but doesn't know where to start.
Rating:
Summary: PDF File Will be Updated
Review: Yes, the PDF file is lacking significantly. Unfortunately thenavigational pane and links were overlooked in the first edition andwe were all disappointed. The second print run should begin in thenext few weeks or so and the PDF file will be fixed. The new PDF filewill include a TOC with links in the navigation pane and links fromthe index, making it much more useful (no more guessing the pagenumber or searching!)... In addition to the PDF file there are anumber of technical corrections that have been made...
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