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Graphics Programming with Microsoft C 6 by Mark Mallett Recommended

ISBN: 0-13-363235-0       Publisher: Prentice Hall       Pages: 500pp       Price: £22-95

Categories:   graphics

Reviewed by Peter H Milne in C Vu 4-3 (Mar 1992)

The first section gives an overview of the tools library, display platforms, coordinate systems and colours available, and covers CGA, EGA and VGA displays.

The second section introduces the user to low-level graphics with the drawing of polygons, circles, arcs, ellipses, and how to use text and images.

Presentation graphics are described in the third section and covers the display of charts including bar, column, pie, line and scatter graphs. This is the most useful chapter for newcomers to the graphics library and gives numerous C source code examples, together with eight pages of colour displays to show the output. All the graphics library routines are summarised in Appendix C giving the function type and usage with useful comments to assist the user. The fourth section is for advanced programmers who wish to develop their own SUI (Simple User Interface) Library and discusses specific kinds of user-interface elements; fill-in fields, selection buttons and menus, in connection with either the keyboard or a mouse.

The book is comprehensively illustrated with a total of 26 source code examples discussed in the text, together with a total of 19 full program listings in the Appendix A covering a total of 163 pages. A disk is available direct from M&T in the States for only 20 US dollars, which is a bargain. I have run all the programs and they compiled and ran easily indicating great care in their development by the author. Where data was required, screen prompts were given to guide the user in the correct nomenclature. Examples of hibbert curves, snakes and stars mean that spectacular graphics can be produced very quickly.

The book is well presented with an easy style and clear examples of the different graphics functions. I can thoroughly recommend it to C6 graphics users though I suggest you also buy the disk to save time.