Rating: 
Summary: The ultimate companion for Visual C++ programmers
Review: A professional programmer is one who knows not just how to do things, but also why. In this regard, Visual C++ Programming is an excellent choice due to its comprehensive coverage of all aspects related to Windows programming. It discusses in detail the underlying mechanism of Win API and MFC providing invaluable tips and insights for true professionals. However, it's not confined to theoretical concepts exclusively but also explains how to use the debugger, class wizard, AppWizard, resource editor - all of which are integral parts of the Visual C++ environment. New features offered by Visual C++ 6.0 such as IntelliSense, edit and continue, and auto complete are described as well. The book is not targeted at a particular level of expertise. It can serve as an excellent guidebook for both novices and accomplished programmers, who would like to broaden their knowledge and skills in Windows-based programming with Visual C++. Mind, however, that prior knowledge in C++ is a prerequisite.
Rating: 
Summary: disappointed!!!
Review: after several detailed reading the book , I am completely disappointed! I began to learn MFC about three years ago, using this book for my first step. after I finished the book, yeah, I can write some codes, but I really didn't know how the codes run
under the hood! this book just tells you ,click appwizard, click this or that button, click classwizard, then click classwizard again and again! then you finish your program.
the part about COM,OLE is absolutely rubbish! when I first learned COM and OLE using the book, I was completely confused!
I have struggled with COM for three months , the only thing I got from Kruglinski is confusion and angry. until I turned to jeff. prosise's great book:"Programming windows with MFC"( 2nd)
I found myself in MFC programming.
Rating:
Summary: Advanced Tutorial on VC++ Environment (with AppWizard + MFC)
Review: I Just picked up the book from a half price bookstore. It's one of the best buys I made in recent months. The writing style is concise and their explanations extremely clear. A "must buy" for anyone who wants to dive into Win32 programming using MFC. However this is not a book for everyone. It is ideal for intermediate programmers. I'm an experienced C/C++ programmer who wants a quick way of learning VC++ and the Visual Studio 6.0 Development Environment. And this is THE BOOK! I would also recommend the book for seasoned XWindows/Motif programmers who need to learn the popular MFC Windows application framework for porting their applications. It covers in breadth (but not in great details) many topics related to the Win32 environment: Document-View Architecture, ActiveX, COM, ATL, ODBC, Winsock, etc. In essence, it gives a nice capability overview of the VC++ 6.0 development tools. Like some negative reviews posted earlier, I have to warn that the ideal readers should have some prior knowledge about Win32 API or at least some prior exposure to event-driven programming style (Smalltalk experience, also a plus.) A nice companion book for Win32 programming is: "Windows 98 Programming from the Ground Up" by Herbert Schildt. It gives C programmers better understanding of the Win32 API underlying MFC. This is NOT an introductory text, NOR an in-depth reference. It is a comprehensive tutorial that is extremely well written and enjoyable for seasoned programmers who are new to the Win32 environment. I can't wait to start learning DirectX SDK after reading this book. :-)
Rating:
Summary: Finally a Great Programming Book in English
Review: I picked this book up in preparation for the Microsoft Certification in C++. I am only through the 4th chapter but I must say as I go, I feel as though I am learning a lot. That is why I feel compelled to write this review, so that other people know this is actually a book you can learn from. At this point it is hard to tell how much it will help with the actual certification test, but it will give me more confidence in my programming ability with its step by step example of creating dialog boxes and other essential windows components. So far haven't found any bugs in the code either which is good when you are learning. It could be a book for beginners since it reads so easy, but if you never had any programming in C++, it might be a challenge. It is definately better than learn C++ in 21 days which is a total waste of money. Take a look at the book at your local book store and see what you think, then buy it cheap "used" online, which wasn't used at all. This is a really good book for those who want to learn how to actually program, besides it has to be good, the Chief knows!!!
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Summary: GREAT EXAMPLES
Review: I'm a big fan of examples and this book has plenty of them. Also all examples are shown how to develop using the Class Wizard which is what most programmers will be using these days. I use this book 10 times more than all of my C++ books. This is a must have for your typical programmer.
Rating: 
Summary: Good for learning MFC... and that's about it.
Review: Let the truth be said that this book has terrible organization. The authors start off very poorly and constantly refer to SmallTalk as if this has anything to do with C programming! I am a professional and I recommend that this book be a Reference or a THIRD book. But steer clear of it for a First or Second book on Visual C++. The LOW PRICE for the used copies should tell you what the previous owners think about it. I am proceeding to but another book, as I relagete this one to the Reference Shelf for future use. I suggest Programming Windows with MFC by Jeff Prosise (Expensive Though) or Using Visual C++ 6 By Kate Gregory for a beginner with MFC, though prior C++ expertise with Classes and Inheritance is REQUIRED!. The authors of this book were hiding behind the Microsoft Press Logo. This is poor work for a book authored by THREE PEOPLE ! They knew the material but could not just present it in a digestible manner for a learner. Call it Scattered Knowledge is you will. They should all be arrested!
Rating: 
Summary: Poor Build-Up, Constant Reference to SmallTalk! Why?
Review: Let the truth be said that this book has terrible organization. The authors start off very poorly and constantly refer to SmallTalk as if this has anything to do with C programming! I am a professional and I recommend that this book be a Reference or a THIRD book. But steer clear of it for a First or Second book on Visual C++. The LOW PRICE for the used copies should tell you what the previous owners think about it. I am proceeding to but another book, as I relagete this one to the Reference Shelf for future use. I suggest Programming Windows with MFC by Jeff Prosise (Expensive Though) or Using Visual C++ 6 By Kate Gregory for a beginner with MFC, though prior C++ expertise with Classes and Inheritance is REQUIRED!. The authors of this book were hiding behind the Microsoft Press Logo. This is poor work for a book authored by THREE PEOPLE ! They knew the material but could not just present it in a digestible manner for a learner. Call it Scattered Knowledge is you will. They should all be arrested!
Rating:
Summary: All That (and a Bag of Chips)
Review: Not for the beginner or the weak-at-heart, this book is an EXCELLENT book to have once you've gone through your "Visual C++ in 21 Days" book and know the basics of C++, the VC++ environment, and Windows programming in general. The organization of the book is a bit surprising, covering topics in a slightly different order than you may have seen in other books, but it's all layed out in a logical manner, and the information-density in the book is amazing. There's a bit of everything in this book, and where the material isn't there, he tells you what other book int the series does cover the material. (And, for the FIRST TIME, I've found a book that at least tries to explain the guts of help files! - although this piece could be a little more detailed for my tastes). All this, and at the time of this writing, I'm just past half-way through the book (remaining chapters deal with COM, OLE, ATL, and Database Access). Topics such as ActiveX controls, DLL's, the Document/View architecture are very clear, and a fair amount of background information is given to help you undertand why things work the way they do. This 5th edition still has a lot of references like "Win98 wasn't available at the time this went to press" and "WinCE support was not available in VC++ 6.0", so I can guess that any 6th edition of this book would be even better when these areas are cleared up and expanded.
Rating:
Summary: Good for learning MFC... and that's about it.
Review: This book claims to be teaching almost all aspects of Visual C++ 6.0. In reality, it should be named "Programming VC++ with MFC and Overview of the rest of the technologies.". I read this book from cover to cover and I felt good about it until I got to Part III. After that it was just boring and difficult to read it, because the style of explaination of the topic was far from the one that covered MFC. It just felt that the author(s) were in a hurry fo the deadline. In my opinion, the worst part of this book is the one that attempts to cover programming for the Internet. Thus, for covering MFC I give 5 stars, and 1 start for the other topics.
Rating:
Summary: A Complete Book
Review: This book is not really meant to go over every little step in detail. I have some other MFC books which use 50 pages to help the reader understand Edit Boxes; this book doesn't do that. Don't get me wrong, it is a well written book that does a very good job of teaching the various MFC components through clear, or at least pretty clear example programs, however, simple instruction is not it's purpose. The author is presenting MFC as a complete package by giving not only code snippets but also Windows, ActiveX, and GDI theory among other things(enough to help you understand the idea behind the code - which many books don't do). Here's the breakdown:
Chapter 1: general MFC
Chapter 2: App framework
Chapter 3: View class - Hello World
Chapter 4: Events, Scroll View, Mapping Mode
Chapter 5: GDI interface
Chapter 6: Modal Dialogs and Commmon Controls
Chapter 7: Modeless and Common Dialogs
Chapter 8: ActiveX
Chapter 9: IE4 controls
Chapter10: Win32 memory management
Chapter11: Bitmaps
Chapter12: Messages, Multithreading
Chapter13: Menus,Accelerators,RichEdit,Property Sheets
Chapter14: Toolbars, StatusBars
Chapter15: CPersistentFrame (Reuseable class)
Chapter16: Doc/View architecture
Chapter17: SDI
Chapter18: MDI
Chapter19: Printing/Print Preview
Chapter20: Splitter Windows/ Mulitiple Views
Chapter21: Context-Sensitive Help
Chapter22: DLL's
Chapter23: MFC with no Doc/View
Chapter24: COM
Chapter25: Automation
Chapter26: OLE and data transfer
Chapter27: Storage interface
Chapter28: OLE embedded components and containers
Chapter29: ATL
Chapter30: ATL and ActiveX controls
Chapter31: Databases and ODBC
Chapter32: Databases and DAO
Chapter33: OLE DB templates
Chapter34: TCP/IP, Winsock, and WinInet
Chapter35: IIS and ISAPI
Chapter36: ActiveX servers and the internet
Chapter37: Intro to Dynamic HTML and VC++
Chapter38: VC++ and Windows CE
Appendix of all message handles
So again this book will help your MFC broaden and link it to other MFC uses. It is a good learning tool for both the basics (toolbars, etc...) and with more complex issues. Be aware though this is not so much a book on HTML,COM,ActiveX or DAO as much as how MFC integrates with them.
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