Rating: 
Summary: Totally agree with bscis99's review.
Review: ...P>--This is NOT a book to learn basic computer programming on.
If you have never written any program before STAYAWAY! C++ itself is already a poor choice the 1st language to learn. If you never programmed before, try a book that holds your hand more and this book is NOT it. --This is NOT a book to learn C++ on.
Even though 1/2 of this book looks like its trying to teach C++ the bare bone language it does not do so. The author tires to teach C++ and the addition/deletion Microsoft made to C++ to make VC++. Too bad the language can't be taught in 263 pages, without sounding like a rush and thats what the 1st 1/2 reads like. If you are a C programmer this might be perfect for you, but you are still gonna find part of the sample code the book just doesn't explain at all like bscis99's review pointed out. If you are a C++ programmer already like myself the 1st half of the book will be mostly useless except for a little here and there about the difference between Unix C++ and Microsoft C++. But it is too little of here and there and I too find myself being asked to type codes that I like to be explained to a bit more. Unix programmers will find the 2nd 1/2 of the book the be perfect and exact thing they were hopping to find: "How the hell do I make GUI and make consumer software instead of corp/school software?" --On to the good parts. The page layout are very clean and easy on the eye. Code font is easy to tell apart from book text font which a lot of famous books fails to do. The idea of introducing the whole language using console programming and old-school C++ thats universal through all platforms before introducing Microsoft only C++ and techniques is a very GOOD IDEA! A very well orgainized book that fell on its face due to lack of detail or allowed size by publisher. The 1st half to a beginner it looks like it's for an expert. For and expert it looks like a poorly written beginners book without much use. 2nd half of the book is good but only for those who understood the topics covered in the 1st half.. ...
Rating: 
Summary: What's the target audience?
Review: First off...the reviewer who criticized the editor for having the wrong book is the one who is wrong:this is C++, not C#. So that reviewer's dismissal should be dismissed. Second, as the editor pointed out, some reviews were for the wrong edition: they too should be dismissed. However... I do not recommend this book for beginners. A lot of its "teaching" is done by cookie-cutter programming: find this line of code in the program...don't worry about what it actually means...now type these things under it...now compile. The reader gets working programs without fully understanding what x, y, and z mean. And the authors don't know how to teach step-by-step, despite the book's title. It's as if they can't decide what their target audience is. Are they writing a step-by-step book (as the title implies) that gradually walks beginners through from beginning to end, holding their hands and easing them along? Sometimes. Or are they writing a book for people who already know C++ and just need to learn how to apply it to .NET? Sometimes. The worst part is that while it is possible to do both in one book, I don't feel the authors managed to do either. Beginners will be confused by the disorganized introduction of material (pointers and classes in chapter 2) and lack of explanations, while already-proficient-in-C++ programmers won't learn enough new stuff to make the book worthwhile (unless they are new to programming .NET with C++: then the later chapters will give them new stuff). Here are some details, looked at from a newbie's perspective. *********************************
"... (the endl stream manipulation operator inserts a new-line character in the stream.)" (p5)
********************************* What the heck is a 'stream', an 'operator', and a 'new-line', and what in the world does it mean for an operator to manipulate a stream? A newbie could be confused already...only 4 pages into the book. ********************************
"How does the compiler know which function should be called first? ... The rule is that the compiler will always generate code that looks for a function named main. If you omit the main function, the compiler reports an error and doesn't create a finished executable program." (p6)
******************************** That alone is not a problem. The problem arises when the rest of the book violates the rule just provided, without explaining why! Only the first program in the book - the trivial "Hello World!" program -- uses Standard C++ (iostream, cout, etc.). The second and subsequent programs don't include a main() function! The book has the reader "blindly" begin typing the second program on page 20, and that program contains several non-Standard C++ entries and omits several of the most common Standard C++ elements. (1) The program does not have a main() function but does have a _tmain(). What exactly is a _tmain() function anyway? The book doesn't say. (2) The program does not have the typical #include directive but does have #include "stdafx.h". So what exactly is the "stdafx.h" anyway? The book doesn't say. And why is this one surrounded by double quotes instead of by angle brackets? The book doesn't explain that either.(3) The program does not have the typical using namespace std; statement but does have #using . What exactly is the ? The book doesn't say. And why is the typical using statement (such as using namespace std;) not prepended with a pound sign while the program's #using is? The book doesn't say.(4) Related to the above, the program has a using namespace System; statement. So what exactly is the System namespace? The book doesn't say. Here's another newbie-stumper. ***************************
"To access the member variables and functions, you have to dereference the pointer in one of two ways. You can use the dereferencing operator, an asterisk (*) followed by the dot notation - for example, (*cat).legs. " (p23)
*************************** Dereferencing a pointer? What the heck is a pointer? What the heck is dereferencing? The book hasn't explained either yet. And why in the world is the book already talking about classes? Functions haven't even been covered, nor have variable types, looping, selection, scope, pointers, etc. ***************************
"The lifetime of an object instantiated from the class will be managed by the .NET Framework's garbage collector. When the object falls out of scope, the memory used by the object will be garbage-collected and no explicit calls to delete will have to be made." (p22)
**************************** What the heck does "fall out of scope" mean? A newbie wouldn't know from reading the book. What the heck is delete? And should the book really be discussing topics like dynamic memory allocation on the heap and memory management when less than 2 dozen pages in? Now note the difference between these two. ****************************
Console.WriteLine("Animal 1"); (p25)
**************************** and *****************************
Console::WriteLine(S"Welcome to your friendly Investment Planner"); (p49)
***************************** Why does the second one prepend a capital 'S' to the string while the first doesn't? The book doesn't say. So far I've been disappointed with several of the Microsoft Press books I have purchased. It is almost as if MS is just pumping books out one after another...each one quickly thrown together...just to get presence on the shelf (or to flood the shelves with their books): knowing that people are more likely to by an authentic Microsoft book on Microsoft products.
Rating: 
Summary: Visual C# .NET Step-by-Step is a good book
Review: For some reason Amazon seems to think that two different titles: Visual C++ .Net: Step by Step: Version 2003 and Visual C# .Net: Step by Step are two different editions of the same book. Some of the reviews you will read for this book refer to the other "edition". I really like the C# book, but I've never even seen the C++ edition. If you are developing a new .NET application with forms, I can't think of any reason to use Visual-C++. If you have a lot of legacy C++ code that you'd like to port to .NET, then you might want to use Managed C++. The book I bought is Visual C# .Net Step by Step Version 2003 by John Sharp and Jon Jagger. It seems like a really good introduction to programming Windows Forms with Visual C# in Visual Studio 2003.
Rating: 
Summary: Not a step-by-step but an outline book-horrible!
Review: I agree with the critics--this is not a step by step book but an outline of issues. About a couple of pages per issue. As such, it's useful for an overview, but the title is misdescriptive.
This is why it gets one star.
The book tries to do too much: chapters 1-5 "Decision and Loop Statements" !!! Are you kidding me? Spend the first 83 pages on stuff that programmers should already know?
Chapters 6-8: "Inheritance", etc. Ditto.
Chap 9-12: Value types, Operator Overloading, Arrays and Collections. Stop! you're kidding.
Chap 13--Properties (OOP style programming) -- p. 233 - this is where the book should start.
Chap 14 - Delegates and Events--useful
Chap 15+ Using the .NET framework, etc. Rest of book is good AS AN OUTLINE. A few pages or less are devoted to each topic. Don't expect to learn from this book, just use it to jog your memory and to note your progress as you learn these topics from other sources in the future.
Rating:
Summary: A good book
Review: I have just found this book from a Closing Down Bookshop .. for only 24$ AU ... First, I am a C++ programmer who want to learn .NET (I use GCC before and never touch MFC or Visual C++ before). I think this book provide everything I need to know about how to use VS.NET and C++ itself. It is clearly explained and easy to follow.
I have compare this book with several book (C++.NET book)...and I found this book is good enough. The other book about C++.NET I found usefull is Visual C++.NET by Deitell (but too expensive than this book lol)
Rating:
Summary: A good book
Review: I have just found this book from a Closing Down Bookshop .. for only 24$ AU ... First, I am a C++ programmer who want to learn .NET (I use GCC before and never touch MFC or Visual C++ before). I think this book provide everything I need to know about how to use VS.NET and C++ itself. It is clearly explained and easy to follow.
I have compare this book with several book (C++.NET book)...and I found this book is good enough. The other book about C++.NET I found usefull is Visual C++.NET by Deitell (but too expensive than this book lol)
Rating:
Summary: Response to Jason E. Trout
Review: I wanted to write in response to Jason E. Trout's review. First, I need to state up-front that I was the Technical Editor on the 2003 edition of this book. The two errors that Jason points out indicate that he is reviewing the old (first edition) of Visual C++ .NET Step By Step. I double-checked the 2003 edition of the book and found that both these errors were caught and fixed. The 2003 edition includes updates that reflect changes introduced with version 1.1 of the .NET Framework and Visual Studio .NET 2003. The chapters on Windows Forms have been entirely rewritten to reflect the inclusion of designers with Visual Studio that create forms coded with the Managed Extensions for C++. This means developers can now create Windows Forms using designers, just like a Visual Basic or C# programmer would, instead of needing to hand code them. Julian also rewrote the chapter on ADO.NET so the sample projects require Access instead of SQL Server. So give the new edition a look if you have the chance. I am confident you will find the updates and new information handy, and that errors like the ones Jason mentions have largely been eliminated. I would have preferred to post this review without rating the book, but Amazon's submission forms don't allow it. Thanks,
Eric Dettinger
Rating:
Summary: Not for beginners
Review: If you already know how to program in Visual C++, you will probably find this book covers new features of C++ .NET rather well, although some of the explanations are very short and terse. The code is accurate and the examples are easy to load, saving you a ton of keystrokes while allowing you to concentrate on the walkthrough of how the program accomplishes it's task. However, for the beginner... look elsewhere. For those that know how to code already, take a look at this: Page 14: A "Hello World" program. Page 15: OOP programming, encapsulation, polymorphism, inheritance, classes and objects. Page 21 begins with a "simple" example. Within that example are classes, public and private members, how to access them, pointers, indirection operators, the garbage collector, managed extensions, functions - including the unexplained Console::Write() and Console::WriteLine() functions that perform string output. Woops! Almost forgot namespaces, #include directives and the "using ". Any beginners know what a .dll file is?Then we move onto page 26... Eeek! And, just to make sure you beginners know you're going to be overwhelmed, here's a paragraph from page 23: "Because of these performance issues, the .NET Framework also supports value types. Value types are objects created on the stack. The variable contains the object itself rather than a pointer to the object. Hence, the variable doesn't have to be dereferenced to manipulate the object, which of course improves performance. To declare a value type class, the __value keyword should be used instead of the __gc keyword. In this case, the variables would have been created on the stack. Instead of declaring pointers for this class and then creating the objects on the CLR heap by using the new operator, the objects would have been declared in the same way as the built-in C++ types and the member vairiables accessed by the dot operator rather than via the dereferencing operator." Got all that? Hope so, because before you reach page 50, he'll cover declaring variables, assigning values, Arrays, Pointers, References, Constants, Enumerations, Typedefs, the String class, arithmatic operators, relational and logical operators, typecasting, the Ternary Operator, the sizeof() operator, bitwise operators, precedence and associativity. Neat huh? Only for experienced, proficient C++ programmers.
Rating:
Summary: The best C# book for visual Studio
Review: Note to Amazon staff: Please take down the review by:
Reviewer: alleyrat001 from Watervliet, NY United States
March 6, 2004 "alleyrat" is obviously talking about a different book for C++ not c#. You must clear up with him which text he is referring to but it is obvious that none of the page references even remotely match. This erroneous low score is dragging down the overall review rating. I liked the book so much that I took it upon myself to help right this wrong. PERFECT FOR BEGINNERS! I bought about a dozen C# books from a store that does close-outs. For a few dollars I stocked a full C# reference library with all the major titles. I may not be an expert but if there is a C# text I have read at least parts of it. Even though it is not a reference text and they do not go into some fancier stuff in too much detail, the way the authors explain and properly use the power of Visual Studio is so good that I wind up using this book more than any other. I may dig more for speciific examples in other ref. books or on the net(who doesn't) but if I want to get the solid explanation I start here. You cannot write productively .net code without VS! when you see a book that says in the the Intro that you can whip out your ole' Notepad and go just keep going... Those are the geeks that will keep you going in circles with cryptic explanations of a term that include three or more new never previously defined terms. Ole' Notepad is like a flight instructor coming to class and saying: "You can fly from Houston to Seattle and you can also walk so class, put on your walking shoes and bon voyage!" "But sir, what about flying?" "Well we'll get into that when you walk back from Seattle." So if you do not want to walk( or crawl) with .net you have to start with the Visual Studio IDE right off the bat and this book does just that best. Even though I had a whole shelf of other books already I had to pay full price for this one and it was worth every penny. Cudos!
Rating: 
Summary: Good Book
Review: Some of the reviews appear to refer to a C# version of this book - don't know why, but it needs to be looked into by amazon. I found this C++ book to be invlauble when navigating the new 2003 VS and associated features. It is not a how to learn C++ book and the title misleading. It s a book hoever for those who know C++ (intermediate level) but need to learn to negotiate (a) the Visual Studio interface and IDE (which has changed from 2002) and (b) get a basic grasp of .net framework, clr etc under their belt. The book is very good at meeting the requirements of (a) in my opinion. It is clear and to the point about how to use the new IDE. The exmaple code is not overly sophisticated either whihc is a boon at many levels if your are a student. In the matter of (b), there isa chapter explainign how COM and ActiveX have essentially been terminted in the new framework. If you don't know COM and ActiveX components, ou will get very little out of it however. My main criticism of the (b) aspects of the book is that they measure up quite poorly against several other excellent MS books covering VB in .net, especially Balena. MS has had a change of heart about C++ and was considering canning it in the expectation that C# would replace it eventually. Despite this change of heart MS have not produced anywhere near the quality of their other 'VS language+framework' textbooks. If you are learnign C++ nad have only Visual Studio 2003 at your disposal then this is a clear text fro gettign going in the IDE. However, if you already knwo C++ and have a grasp of the IDE then the book will give you the bones of .net framework but nowhere near quality of material found in the several other framewark texts. Nevertheless, I give it five stars because it is so clearly written and easy to follow.
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