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Review
Book: REALbasic Visual Quickstart Guide
Issue: 2.1 (August/September 2003)
Author: Marc Zeedar
Article Description: No description available.
Article Length (in bytes): 3,790
Starting Page Number: 10
RBD Number: 2107
Resource File(s): None
Related Link(s): None
Known Limitations: None
Full text of article...
Many newcomers to REALbasic are looking for a simple, easy-to-read book that will teach them the langauge as quickly and efficiently as possible. While there are several REALbasic books available, this is the one if you're intimidated by large, complex manuals.
10
No description available.
Dr. Dobb's editor Michael Swaine's new REALbasic for Macintosh: Visual Quickstart Guide takes a unique visual approach to teaching REALbasic.
Since it's visual, you expect a lot of pictures, and you get them: but there's a great deal of valuable text as well. Every page consists of a narrow column of text on one side and a series of related screenshots on the other.
The text is excellent: Swaine does an excellent job of walking you through the basics, while throwing in sidebars (in gray boxes) for more advanced features and tips that even intermediate users will find helpful.
The book actually steps you through building several applications. For instance, in chapter 2 you build a simple HTML editor. This is a good example because it teaches you about code, menus, editfields, and files, yet it's still simple enough to not intimidate beginners. Each task in a lesson is broken into a series of numbered steps, making it easy to follow even if you've never programmed.
Each project is designed to teach you certain skills. For instance, chapter 3's GuestBook app explains properties, and for chapter 5's object-oriented lesson you build your own spreadsheet class by creating a subclass of a listbox.
Other chapters include a focus on files, graphics, animation, databases, and Internet communications. There's also a chapter on extending REALbasic via scripting (RBScript, AppleScript, and Shell Scripting in Mac OS X).
The book has an impressive 13-page index which is worth the price right there: too many reference books include poor indexes making them difficult to find a topic when you need help.
The book is targeted at those who are new to REALbasic, or those who don't have time and want to learn the basics quickly. Despite the book's title and that the screenshots are all Mac, the book should still be valuable for Windows users who are new to REALbasic and want a quick way to get going.
If the book has flaws, it's simply that it's not designed for advanced users (the sample projects are relatively simple), and the screenshots and text don't reflect changes in REALbasic 5. But with REALbasic being aggressively updated every six months, it's impossible for any book to keep up (that's what REALbasic Developer is for). The book is inexpensive and even if you've been using RB for a while, you should check it out. If you're just starting out, you need this book.
In Brief Product REALbasic for Macintosh: Visual Quickstart Guide 441 pages
Manufacturer Peachpit Press Price $21.99 Contact Info http://www.peachpit.com http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0201781220/zeedarspicks/
Pros Great approach for beginners or those looking for a quick way to learn RB; excellent index. Cons Doesn't cover advanced examples; screenshots are dated; doesn't fully cover RB5 features and changes. Rating (1.0-5.0): 4.7
End of article.
Article copyrighted by REALbasic Developer magazine. All rights reserved.
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