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Borland C++ Handbook by Chris H. Pappas & William H. Murray

ISBN: 0-07-881015-9       Publisher: McGraw-Hill       Pages: 940pp       Price: £23-95

Categories:   advanced c++     borland

Reviewed by Eric Richards in C Vu 4-1 (Nov 1991)

Many C and C++ programmers feel the desire to include assembler statements in their code, but are put off by the complexities of Intel assembler- language practice and the number of 'facilities' in the assembler and assembler-related software. This book does a good job for such people, with chapters on 'Getting started with Borland's assembler', 'Assembler language, a solid foundation', 'Assembly language', 'Macros and procedures', 'Characters, strings, and files in assembly language', and 'Binding C and assembly language code', and reference material on commonly-used DOS interrupts. This occupies a quarter of the book and is far more readable than most books on the subject. My only criticism is that Borland's in-line method (which would satisfy many people's needs), is mentioned nearly at the end and is given little prominence.

Some three hundred pages are devoted to C, with a little C++. This is an easier than usual read because many of the finer points are skipped, but at its level it is comprehensive. The language is not fully defined, just illustrated by example. This approach tends to breed users who are unable to understand the cryptic code perpetrated by 'clever' C programmers. The treatment of input and output is particularly thorough. Numerous trivial examples are provided. One of the few non-trivial examples concerns linked lists. All the code is available on disk for 35 dollars. These chapters deserve better indexing to help the beginners in C for whom they are most suitable. A selection of C library routines is briefly discussed, both portable and machine- or compiler- specific. Multiple-source programs are mentioned in a 'getting started' section. Other aspects of program design are dismissed in a few words.

'An introduction to Windows concepts' and 'Writing simple windows programs', provide details of about 150 of the more frequently used Windows functions and help plug a gap in Borland's documentation. There is also a very useful introduction to the use of the Whitewater resource toolkit (its own manual is not very readable initially). A specimen windows program is included. This is as good a treatment as can be expected in just a hundred pages of text and an- other hundred of reference material.

An introduction to C++ is included. Classes are covered in 30 pages. Mention is made of the header files cataloguing functions concerning graphics, DOS, and the bios. As with C, the treatment of input and output is the best part. Only a genius could learn object-oriented programming from this book, as no space is given to providing the necessary background. The book's only C++ example of object-oriented programming illustrates the concept of derived classes by re- visiting the linked list program. You are invited to study the program and see if you can understand how objects are inserted into and deleted from the list. A more suitable example might have resulted in an invitation to study some aspect of object orientation. The Borland package includes a library of object- oriented classes, and actually contains classes for both singly- and doubly- linked lists. It is documented in Appendix C of the Programmers' Guide. The existence of this class library is not mentioned in the book.

The treatment of the debugger and profiler is extremely sparse and virtually useless. The authors say you need at least 640k of RAM and a co-processor. I suggest you need at least 2Mb of RAM to use Windows without undue frustration, but a co-processor is not necessary.

The blurb on the front cover gives equal prominence to all the above topics which are in fact treated at vastly different length. The Skill level guide on the back cover claims it to be for intermediate and advanced levels, but not beginners. It is in fact suitable for programmers just beginning C and will be particularly appreciated by anyone wishing to learn a little assembler too. A good programming style is taught, if only by example. The treatments of I/O are particularly good. If you buy the Borland package for the sake of Windows you will find it a useful starting point with handy extra documentation.

Comment: If you are interested in using Borland C++ as a C++ package you would be better off waiting for reviews of some other books in this area. - Francis Glassborow

Pappas
Application Programming for Windows NT by William H Murray & Chris H Pappas  (Reviewed Jan 1994)
Borland C++ Handbook (Second Edition) by W. Murray & C Pappas  (Reviewed Jul 1992)
C/C++ Programmer's Guide by William Murray & Chris Pappas  (Reviewed Nov 1996)
Complete Reference Visual C++ 5, The by William Murray & Chris Pappas [Recommended]  (Reviewed Sep 1998)
Microsoft C/C++, the Complete Reference by Murray & Pappas  (Reviewed Sep 1993)
Turbo C++ Professional Handbook by William H Murray & Chris Pappas  (Reviewed Mar 1991)
Visual C++ Handbook, The by Murray & Pappas  (Reviewed Jul 1995)
Visual C++ Templates by William Murray & Chris Pappas  (Reviewed Sep 2000)