Rating: 
Summary: [attempt to] learn by example with no reference at all.
Review: don't waste your money, unless you want to learn how to make trivial programs that only teach you specifically how to make them, and have no reference to anything else at all. specifically if you're an experience C programmer, and just want to learn i/o, get a reference guide. too bad there isn't a 0 star rating.
Rating:
Summary: Do yourself a favor -- buy some other book instead.
Review: Where to begin .... The intended audience is beginner-intermediate. The book is bad for such people. There are basic C++ errors (such as insisting that default access for a class is public -- p.292). The code is inaccurate -- a missing function, missing include statements, and various bugs in the code. The C++ style is often poor (especially if you like Scott Meyers' and Stroustrup's suggestions) -- a problem for the target audience. Not to mention novice things like putting #include statements that belong in .h files in the associated .cpp files, and then cautioning you to get the order right! Examples are tedious and repetitious -- sometimes with a later example pointing out it is better than one done earlier. Why give the bad one to begin with? No sign of standard C++ -- one obvious example is a lot of old-style C++ casts, not the new style. Would also be nice to have some words on how standard C++ fits with MFC, since there is overlap (types, containers, ...). Would be helpful to make new code stand out (e.g. boldface) when it is one or two lines in a page of listing. The threads code did not even compile -- the wrong member function was declared static (the thread function should have been). No UI thread talk, and refers to OnIdle as a thread (though both of these addressed later on in notes). Worst was no discussion of MFC threading issues (MFC class instances are NOT threadsafe in general), especially since he passed pointers to instances between threads (dangerous, in general). Sized a view from the doc class, before the view was created, resulting in drawing out of the visible area!In short -- I realize this is a pretty negative review. It is not on impulse, though -- I've thought about it the last week. My bottom line is that I spent too much time debugging the book. I really wish I'd been more careful and bought a different book instead. Definitely not recommended for anyone, especially beginners.
Rating:
Summary: not for some one trying to learn Visual C++
Review: The worse "Teach youself ..." book I have ever picked up. After completing 3 days in 2 weeks I went blindly to another book to teach myself Visual C++. My extreme disappointment can not be expressed here. I would rather eat airline food for a year than learn Visual C++ from this book. Sorry.
Rating: 
Summary: Very concise, True to the author's statement
Review: I found this book to skim the surface of win32 C++ development very well. Let's read that again... the SURFACE of win32 C++ development. I think that most folks take the standpoint that 21 days books don't delve into things deep enough. I agree, but they aren't designed that way either. At today's book costs I read every review I can find b4 I buy. Let's read the author's above comment again. He states that this is a good primer for many of the concepts of win32 C++ programming, with hints of moving on to other books for more depth. I second that. Heck, I even felt when moving into ActiveX the author gave a very good short primer on some complicated technology. "working programmers" may indeed like the fast pace of the text as well as those wishing only to learn the newer features. The book concentrates heavily on the tools available in the environment. I myself wish to know as much as I can about what is going on. I realized quickly that if I was serious about my C++ that a 21 days book wasn't going to do it. No one book will. But for a good intro to applying C++ to windows programming, you could do worse. The first thing I did was pick up my old C programming book from college and bone up on some of the finer points and then I ordered Stroustrups' book. I plan on coming back to this book when I want a good primer on VC++.
Rating:
Summary: Giving 1 star to this book is a gift....
Review: I cannot understand how could I have thrown my money in such a way... Please... and without any bad intentions towards the author...DONT THROW YOUR MONEY!!
Rating:
Summary: The choice of a drawing program for the examples wrecks it.
Review: Throughout the book they used a drawing program and bitmaps as their examples and didn't cover the use of text, which I felt made it a poor choice for business programming and the classroom.
Rating: 
Summary: Learn Visual C++ by building working applications
Review: C++ can be a pretty imposing language to have to use, especially for building Windows applications. However, it doesn't have to be. Visual C++ provides many tools and wizards that make the task of building Windows applications with C++ easy. Unfortunately, most books on Visual C++ place most of their focus on the language, with little attention given to the tools. As a result, C++ maintains it's imposing stature. This book is different. This book was written with the main intention to show and teach you how easy it can be to build Windows applications using the tools and Wizards provided with Visual C++. While other books want to teach you every nook and cranny of the language (and MFC, Microsoft Foundation Classes), this book tries to teach you what you need to know to get up and running quickly. It is my belief that, once you have the skills to build applications with Visual C++, learning MFC will come much more naturally and easily. As a result, this book focuses on doing, taking you through the building of a running application each day, introducing new concepts each day. Over the course of the 21 days, you'll learn many techniques and ways of adding functionality, always in a practical, hands-on manner. Once you have finished this book, you should be comfortable performing most typical programming tasks involved in building Windows applications with Visual C++. My goal is that, after finishing my book, you'll pick up a more advanced book on Visual C++ and be pleasantly surprised at how much you already know.
Rating:
Summary: Focuses too much on Wizards
Review: I usually like Sams books and have bought several others. However, I felt this book jumped way too fast into using the Visual C++ wizard features rather than discussing MFC and and event driven programming. I'm one of those people who just can't stand not understanding how things work under the hood and I believe that in order to write any truly complicated app, I will need to go to another book to find detailed info on the MFC. Perhaps I'll return later to this book but I must say I'm a little disappointed.
Rating:
Summary: On Day 4 and already lost!
Review: I've known a fair amount of C++ for a couple of years now, so it's really sad that I should be so confused about seventy pages into this book. Chapman gives no background info on MFC; there's a ton of sample code and barely any explanation of what's being done. I'm sorry I wasted my money on this book, it's a horrible introduction to Windows programming.
Rating: 
Summary: Good book but with some errors.
Review: In general, this is a good book for new VC++ programmers. The book is very well written. However, there are quite a few minor errors in the codes that Mr. Chapman provided, but nothing serious.
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