Rating: 
Summary: Good content, not enough application
Review: This book was a very good introduction to using Borland C++ Builder 3. It covered the basics of properties, methods, and events in great detail. This book gave very good step by step instructions on how to place components on a form, but did very gave very little information about how to implement them in to your program. This is a great book for a beginner, but if you have used C++ Builder before, you may want to try a more advanced book.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Book - I've read it cover to cover twice
Review: This is a Great Book. I've had it I guess for 2-3 years and have read it cover to cover twice and just recently finished it the second time. Like most computer books, it is thick book with a lot of information in it. If you want to learn how to program in C++ and use the Borland BCB RAD, this book is what you should consider. I really cannot say anything negative about this book that is worth writing - its a very good and easy to read survey of C++ Builder 3 and is applicable to BCB 4 which I have also.Most of the reviews here are generally positive and I think that the negative points are minor. Mastering a RAD device like C++ Builder is *not* something you will accomplish in one reading - there is just so much there. After reading this book, you should definitely be able to program in C++ and develop applications using C++ Builder - AND then you will have enough background to learn more. Your second book then should be the "Unleased" book or the "Developers" book. I found that my second reading opened up a better understanding of C++ classes and uses of the VCL (Visual Component Library - i.e. the use of Edit controls, DBGrid controls, data base Tables, etc.). No book is an end all on a subject like this - but this is *definitely* the book you want to launch yourself from basic familarity to no familarity of BCB all the way up to being able to write some impressive C++ GUI applications using this marvelous RAD environment. My observation - Borlands C++ Builder is much easier to master, and more productive when you are doing your programming versus the more cumbersome VC++. If you consider the Microsoft product over BCB, do it only because you favor Visual C++ not on its merits but instead on the influence that Microsoft has on the marketplace.
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