C++ Neural Networks and Fuzzy Logic

Rating:
Summary: Big promises but no delivery
Review: At first this book promises to offer a great deal for the reader, and the copious amounts of code therein support this impression. But once one actually begins working with the text, the book's shortcomings become all too apparent.

The authors do a lot of 'hand waving' at important concepts, almost as though the book was written as a companion piece to a course lecture. (Sometimes it really does read as though it's just a transcribed volume of professor's notes.) Numerous times I found myself stopping and thinking "wait, don't get off that topic yet! You've barely addressed its basics," and wondering if I had somehow missed something on the previous page or two.

The code supplied is abominably written, a Frankenstein hodgepodge of C and C++ intertwined. This code can be made to run with some work, but it could hardly be used as a sound basis for further development or experimentation.

You can derive good conceptual information out of this book, but it takes a lot of work. You really have to bludgeon your way through it, and that is no recipe for a successful educational text.

Rating:
Summary: Not recommended
Review: Being a professional C++ programmer with a background in Applied Math I didn't like this book at all. It's written in a very annoying way: sometimes it sounds like its author is trying to sell the whole concept of NN and Fuzzy Logic to the reader instead of explaining how, when, and WHY fuzzy logic and neural networks work, how to train them properly, and what their limitations are. One characteristic example: author presents a list of companies using fuzzy logic in real systems but never gives any useful details about these systems.

The book is not for a "mathematician" since it often lacks precision, coherence, mathematical rigor, clarity, ... More often than not, you will find wordy explanations instead of simple formulas

It will displease a "programmer" too. The book's title is "C++ Neural Networks and Fuzzy Logic" so one may expect to find some well-thought and proven design ideas on how to implement NN and FL in C++ as well as a decent C++ library. Instead you will find just an amateurish C++ code (like anybody had any doubts that NN can actually be implemented in C++).

Numerous times author uses this "trick": he introduces new concept, delivers a couple of vague statements about the concept, and promises a better explanation later (in the following chapters, next series, etc).

How do you like this for definition: "STABILITY refers to such convergence that facilitates an end to the iterative process". You can find a lot of such "pearls" in this book.

Don't waste your time... There are better books

FYI: the book includes just a floppy disk instead of CD.

Rating:
Summary: Poorly written - but code is useful
Review: I must agree with some previous reviewers that the editing and general writing standard is somewhere between bad and appalling. Probably the latter when you consider how much books like this cost. The mathematical treatment is terse to the point of being meaningless. Key technical terms are not explained clearly. I found a number of paragraphs and sentences which did not scan. The only redeeming feature of this book is that the code does actually compile :-). Also, it gives a feeling of the general areas in which neural nets can be used. This is not a good book for a beginner trying to understand the foundations of the subject. It is also of no use to someone who already understands neural nets.

Rating:
Summary: Unclear concepts and unclear code.
Review: I was very dissappointed with this book. I liked the idea of having the theory of neural networks and fuzzy logic with examples in C++ code. Unfortunately, the book is poorly written. The theory behind neural networks and fuzzy logic is not explained well with quite a bit of unexplained jargin. The C++ code is usable but not well done. I felt that the C++ code should be secondary to the explanations anyway, but it would have been nice to see good code. I recommend against getting this book.

Rating:
Summary: Bad and code is useless
Review: I'm sorry, this book is nearly useless. I'm a vetern C++ programmer and I tried to create a fuzzy logic system from the concepts and code in this book and it didn't work out at all. At first I blamed myself then I found some other fuzzy logic books and realized that no, this book just wasn't able to articulate the concepts in a meaningful way. The Neural net code was even worse. I wanted a cook book, do this, get a simple net, do this get a simple fuzzy logic system, now take what you learned and make a real one. Nope.

They do go over the AI terms and types of Neural nets and I did learn something by reading about it but not enough to justify the price of the book.

Rating:
Summary: great book. good source code & example programs
Review: This book can be a bit hard to grasp at first,
but when you have read through it, you really
feel like you have learnt something.

The C++ source code is good help
in making your own neural network apps.


Rating:
Summary: Not recommended
Review: This book is excellent introduction to theory and practical application of neural networks and fuzzy logic.
I know that for sure because I was totaly illiterate in that topic before I red it.
This book requires some prerequisite knowledge from reader.
Reader must have at least average undergraduate knowledge of discrete matematics,probability theory and matrix algebra.

I saw from previous reviews that some "good" C++ programmers expects to learn all that mathematics from one 500 pages book.
I think that would be impossible even for a perfect neural network.