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Rating: 
Summary: I was disappointed
Review: I'm about 4 chapters into Linux Game Programming right now and so far it has been quite interesting and easy to grasp. The problem I have encountered so far is some mildy annoying code flaws, variables that are either not initialized or change case half way through ex: int I = 0; ... i = 2(wow.. when did C become case insensitive?) Also, things like calling atexit() without mentioning that you need to include stdlib.h , I'm sure a more advanced programmer would have caught that flaw immediately, but it gave me problems for several hours. I'm in partial agreement with the other review, This is a great book, and its concepts a easy enough to grasp, but the buggy example code may give problems to those who havent programmed extensively before. If you are an intermediate newbie like me, be sure to take a look at the documentation ... and various example programs around the net.
Rating: 
Summary: Good read, but some minor code flaws
Review: I'm about 4 chapters into Linux Game Programming right now and so far it has been quite interesting and easy to grasp. The problem I have encountered so far is some mildy annoying code flaws, variables that are either not initialized or change case half way through ex: int I = 0; ... i = 2(wow.. when did C become case insensitive?) Also, things like calling atexit() without mentioning that you need to include stdlib.h , I'm sure a more advanced programmer would have caught that flaw immediately, but it gave me problems for several hours. I'm in partial agreement with the other review, This is a great book, and its concepts a easy enough to grasp, but the buggy example code may give problems to those who havent programmed extensively before. If you are an intermediate newbie like me, be sure to take a look at the documentation ... and various example programs around the net.
Rating: 
Summary: This book is...
Review: I've bought every book in the series so far, this is by far the worst book I've ever owned. I'm tired of picking up game programming books that claim to teach game programming but they don't even create a working game. I bought this book for Linux game programming exposure and because it promised to having in-dept coverage of AI. Major areas of AI are basically defined and the only source code that is mentioned / supplied on the cd is for a template for creating a counter-strike bot. The author has a very good writing style because I was lured into reading most of the book; however, the book should actually do what it says and at least create a 2D / 3D shooter of some sort rather then just a hand full of demos. This book should have never been published on the basis that it tries to cover way too much which results in chapters that do nothing more then just cover a broad definition of the topic at hand.
Rating:
Summary: Programming or theory discussion?
Review: I've never been so disappointed with a computer book purchase. This book claims to be about programming games for Linux. However, it falls woefully short of this mark. I will admit it does have some code snippets, but these are very few and extremely buggy. To top things off, the author rapidly skims over most topics in a manner that is more akin to a theoretical discussion than instructional guide. I highly recommend saving your money.
Rating: 
Summary: no fuss, to the point
Review: The author knows what he is talking about and you can tell that he has been there himself. The experiences he shares are invaluable - they save you so much time! This book gets you started by answering the really difficult and important questions: What are the best libraries and tools to use, how do you get the major obstacles out of the way and what are the basic principles in modern game programming. If you have ever strived to write top quality software you will appreciate and undertand the advice in this book.
This won't teach you how to program in C/C++, although there is plenty of good general advice. But it will teach you what you need to know to write games in C/C++.
If you are looking for completed source code that you can tweak a bit to have your "own" game, look elsewhere. If you are a C/C++ programmer, but not very familiar with Linux, graphics, sound, or networking - this is for you!
I loved the authors humour, too, by the way. Excellent reading.
Rating: 
Summary: tries to cover too much too fast
Review: The topics covered should have taken up a volume at least twice the size, so too much was glossed over. Also I found the errors were just too many, not just minor ones as another reviewer noted: e.g. wrong SDL_Init parameters (he lists the correct ones in a table on the same page) or never explaining that to set a video mode you need to add a declaration (I found it in the original SDL documentation). On the other hand trying to get the examples to work taught me a lot...maybe that was the author's intention?
Rating:
Summary: Lacks depth, too short, plagued by syntax errors.
Review: This book is a good overview of what gaming libraries are out there for programming in linux and some fundamentals on getting several of those gaming libraries. But that's it... I've found the book to be extremely lacking in depth or finished code samples. It gives snippets on how to accomplish something then leaves you hanging. Plus there are quite a bit of syntax errors in the code that can leave a beginner quite frustrated. Nothing is worse than cutting and pasting code from a book word for word and not having it compile because of poor book editing. The author tries to cover everything from sound, to video, to AI, to networking - with several different libraries - in a 300 page book. And a good fifty of those pages are concerning the gpl and other licenses. Knowing about the GPL and about open source is great, but not when I spent money on game programming (video, sound, ai). What this results in is less than 10 pages on one particular topic. To sum up: browse this book in the bookstore and then keep moving. Buy yourself a better C++ or OpenGL book instead. Or just go online - better information exists out there.
Rating:
Summary: Don't waste your time or money
Review: This book sucks plain and simple. Code samples are incomplete and rife with syntax errors. You can learn more by doing a Google search for a few good tutorials.
Rating:
Summary: It could have been better.
Review: This book was helpful in many regards. It showed the basic idea of how to use the APIs presented. However, allow me to warn that there are many technical errors. When I went to compile and run the included code snippets _as_they_were_written_ I would run into problems like "unrecognized symbol" because of an incorrect or missing include file or a program exiting because it looked for the wrong return value from a funcition. Sloppiness like that leads me to sum up: it could have been better.
Rating:
Summary: It could have been better.
Review: This book was helpful in many regards. It showed the basic idea of how to use the APIs presented. However, allow me to warn that there are many technical errors. When I went to compile and run the included code snippets _as_they_were_written_ I would run into problems like "unrecognized symbol" because of an incorrect or missing include file or a program exiting because it looked for the wrong return value from a funcition. Sloppiness like that leads me to sum up: it could have been better.
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