Rating: 
Summary: Better than nothing... I think.
Review: I got something out of this book, but like the other reviewers have said, it wasn't that much. It was good to see examples of how to use the different controls and make little mini-apps. No problem there. But there were a lot of errors. I wonder if someone actually went through and did all the programs before sending this off to the printer. There were inconsistencies with variable names and it got to the point where half the learning from this book came from the debugging. I must really understand what I'm doing if I can figure out how to fix the errors... The thing that's really nice is that you can immediately create stuff, unlike the Neuberg book, which is more thorough but less practical and too heavy for the novice.
Rating:
Summary: Better than nothing... I think.
Review: I got something out of this book, but like the other reviewers have said, it wasn't that much. It was good to see examples of how to use the different controls and make little mini-apps. No problem there. But there were a lot of errors. I wonder if someone actually went through and did all the programs before sending this off to the printer. There were inconsistencies with variable names and it got to the point where half the learning from this book came from the debugging. I must really understand what I'm doing if I can figure out how to fix the errors... The thing that's really nice is that you can immediately create stuff, unlike the Neuberg book, which is more thorough but less practical and too heavy for the novice.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointed.
Review: I had anticipated this book for a while, and unfortunately it was quite disappointing. Like the previous comment, I had noticed a section where the sample code was a duplicate of the previous chapter. That's an error too large to miss during editing. Another error I noticed was that one of the shortcut keys listed was incorrect. I couldn't figure out why something wasn't working out correctly, until I happened to try using different key combinations. The author had printed control, when he meant the command key.Also, the sample applications listed were a bit too rudimentary. I felt the author had good intentions, but the applications could have been a little more robust. It truly seems like the book was rushed to print. Sadly, ended up returning the book, because it's definitely not worth the cover price.
Rating:
Summary: Needs Editing Desperately
Review: I have never seen a published book with more errors: whole sections of sample code in the wrong places, wrong values in some examples, misplaced order of data entry. Thank goodness I was armed with a general knowledge of REALbasic before I started trying to use this. In addition, explanations are thin, and helpful tips (like cutting and pasting repetitious code) and almost non-existent. The projects are worthwhile, though, if you can get past the poor production of this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Good guide, but only for the beginner
Review: I really wanted this book to be great. I have been looking for up-to-date- info on RealBasic... and while I think this book is fine for the novice or the beginner RBr, in my mind it is a bit too simple. The best example that I can think of is the Chapter on Screen Saver... well, it isn't writing a ScreenSaver, it is in fact code for taking a snapshot of the desktop. The 'Web Browser' chapter is merely an examination of the ShowURL function.... useful for sure, bbut hardly in depth... in fact, the chapter can be summed with ONE LINE. I really wish that the definative guide were current, but I settled for purchasing the second edition in stead. Again, I don't feel like this book is bad, just not really living up to it's name. FH
Rating: 
Summary: Not terribly helpful
Review: I would steer clear of this book. I bought it on a whim at a brick and mortar store, because it was the only bok on REALbasic they had. Caveat Emptor. I wish I could sell this book now, I didn't even open the CD on it.
Content is lacking, full of errors and generally as helpful as a stick in the eyeball.
Rating: 
Summary: This Is a Good Book For Absolute Beginners
Review: If you are brand new to programming, then this is a good book to start with. Think of this book as a RealBasic product brochure with examples. Working through the chapters gives you a quick survey of the kinds of things you can do with RealBasic, and it teaches you the RealBasic programming approach. Once you have worked some of the examples, you will find that you will start having your own ideas for building new programs. If you get a little more serious, then pick up Matt Neuburg's book and look closely at the documentation that RealBasic provides along with the program. The RealBasic tutorials may seem tedious, but they really are excellent for learning the basics of RealBasic programming.
Reading some of the other reviews here would make me think that this book is a lemon. Not so. It has it's place for the beginning programmer, or someone who wants a fast survey of RealBasic. It's not very detailed. It won't help you very much if you want to go beyond the examples, but that's what Matt Neuburg's book and the included language reference are for.
Rating:
Summary: Should be called: REALbad throughout
Review: Out of curiousity, I read through enough of this book in Borders to see that it's in right in line with the [lack of] quality I expect from Charles River Media. Anyone who's mistakenly purchased any book from this publisher already knows what a waste of trees their books are, and now so do you. I give this 1 star because the pull-down menu doesn't have an option for no star at all. If you're already a crack programmer in some language (any at all), get Matt Neuburg's book (O'Reilly). If you're more of a novice to application programming, start with Erick's For Dummies book.
Rating:
Summary: Almost as good as a television sitcom - but has less depth..
Review: Sorry. The predominant view has proven once again to be justified. I'm sorry I let my optimism lead me to purchase this book to find out. It really is a badly edited collection of unexplained and useless gimmicks. If there is a concept presented that has any worth in learning to write your own code, than it is extremely well hidden among the error laden examples. I have every book on RealBasic available now, and the O'Reilly book is the only one that truly helps one learn the product AND programming. On the other hand, Eric's book is good to build confidence without much lasting programming value. This book cannot claim to teach or build confidence - although I found it an interesting exercise debugging and proofreading the text and code - representing perhaps the only real experience to be gained through the use of this text.
Rating:
Summary: Very disappointed
Review: This book is far from its promises. Big fonts and a lot of images... No contents. How to throw away [money]. I did it :-(
| 
