Rating: 
Summary: Hmmm....
Review: Not a bad book but that's not what I was looking for. With this book you learn some C, all about classes and some visual programming. But at the end of the book I just don't know how to convert a decimal value into a hex. value and insert it into a variable. Or I don't know how to join variables (ex: text1 = "my text"; text2 = "is great" -> joined = "my text is great"), how to make a system call, or I just don't even know how to "read" the documentation and use some functions already made (in linux environment, for example). It's a very BIG book and reading it is very BORING. In some chapters you have too many about classes (that's good) but without interesting excercises or examples... it's very boring!
Rating: 
Summary: excessively complex
Review: The idea is great. The book covers a good amount of C++, and then moves on to MFC. The execution of the idea is terrible. It seems Mr. Horton spends more time showing off his abilities as a programmer then he does trying to explain the concepts. My teacher used this book in a college MFC programming class. I hardly ever touched this book, and was forced to use others for reference. Almost everything I learned about C++, I learned from lectures and other books, and everything I learned about MFC, I got from "Practical Visual C++", which manages to focus on MFC while teaching it instead of focusing on an excessive amount of trivial C++ code. If you want to get a good feel of C++, get "Beginning Visual C++" by Tony Gaddis. It covers more then the first half of Horton's book, and explains it well (unlike Horton). True, you might end up spending a bit more money then just by buying this book, but at least you'll have an idea of whats going on.
Rating:
Summary: Lack of attention to style
Review: This is a book to get you up and running on Windows programming
in C++, not a book to learn C++ by. The book lacks attention to
good programming style. I quote page 80 - "the variable name count1 has been duplicated here only to
illustrate what happens, although this code is legal, it isn't
a good approach to programming in general" This quote is in reference to the code presented on pg 79,
introducing variable scope. Just as inportant as knowing how to code is knowing how to code
so others can understand what you are doing. The quote above
was not the first instance, where tha author tell the reader
that the code example he has presented is wrong in terms of
style. Other than this the book is well written and the material is
presented well, however this is not a book to pick up if you
want to learn be a programmer.
Rating: 
Summary: Saved my bacon . . .
Review: I bought a couple of Visual C++ books preparing for a senior project coding final. I ended up working through the odbc database section in this book over and over again. Like all Ivor Horton books, the examples worked, and he explicitly lists all of the steps to perform the exercises. Because of this book I passed my final the first go around. If you work through the examples in this book, you will gain the ability to use Visual C++.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding Step-by-Step Guide
Review: I've read several programming books. This is one of the best books on the market. The book steps through several topics and supplements each one with sample code. Each lesson builds on the previous and there are no major gaps in which something is used without being presented in a prior chapter. The book is not a reference book and is designed to be read chapter by chapter. The topics covered are covered sufficiently to enable the reader to utilize the MSDN help system to fill in the gaps (Use of the MSDN help system is covered throughout the book). If you are looking to learn Visual C++ from the basic then this is an excellent book.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely GREAT
Review: I have read 2 books before this on c++ so i considered myself a beginning programmer. My knowledge was not in depth, I just knew how to get things done, not how to get them done right or why it worked. This book explained it. If your good with a computer, but know nothing about programming this book would be fine for you. Or if you bought a lesser book and want to build your foundation more this book is for you. The only person this book isn't for is an experienced programmer, but why would you be reading a review for this book =P
Rating:
Summary: Should be: Begining Vis. C++ for EXPERIENCED Programmers
Review: The book is very through in it's treatment of Visual C++. But, isn't for the faint of heart. Ivor doesn't present the subject at a level or in an approach that would be readily understandable by someone w/o a strong programming background. (I've found this to be the case for his other "Begining" books as well) If this is your initial foray into learning to program ... don't buy this book (in fact, try another language like VB). You'll be highly disappointed. If you have an extensive background in programming in a Microsoft environment, then this is probably a good book.
Rating:
Summary: A tour of complexity
Review: I bought this book after reviewing the first few chapters and table of contents. It seemed to cover subjects in enough detail and seemed to have what I was looking for. I think 3 stars is generous for this book. It became very confusing after a while and seemed to skip many important details. If I wanted to learn how to get values from an edit box, forget it. I can't find anything straight forward enough to tell me in this book. Another strike is the fact that there is no CD. I would have appreciated a better idex. There must be better books on the market.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Introduction to C++, Visual C++, MFC, COM etc.
Review: This book gets 5 stars because it really does build up your skills from begginer to intermediate - with an even and not too steep learning curve. This book does exactly what a begginer's book should do - give you a strong grounding in the basics and then extend that by giving you a basic course on many different topics to do with Windows programming.
After finishing this book you should fell confident enough to start making real Windows programs with VC++.
Rating:
Summary: One-track mind
Review: Mr. Horton has authored a number of other "Beginning" books, including Beginning C++. In the current volume, he attempts to combine teaching C++, Visual C++, and Windows programming, and doesn't do real justice to any of them. As a primer on C++ the book is easy to read, but quite sketchy. Major features that he expanded on in other beginner's books are covered very briefly ("typedef" and "using" are examples). In terms of Windows programming, the information is well-presented but not well-explained: the reader is told to perform certain actions, but occasionally not why he is performing them. Similar comments hold true when learning about the Visual C++ IDE (Integrated Development Environment). You'll know where quite a few menus are located, but not what to do with them. On the positive side, the book is readable, well-edited, and I didn't notice any actual errors (other than those of omission). That's why the book gets three stars; if it has the information you're looking for, it may be painfully brief but at least it won't be wrong. The final point, and one that pulls the book closer to two stars, is that it has a weak index and shallow definitions, so its use as a reference as you become more experienced is almost nil.
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