What They Say, Part Two

I heartily recommend that everybody buys a copy of this book. Not only does Matt cover the breadth of all of the features in RB, but he also covers them in depth, including real world examples. - Andrew Barry (creator of REALbasic)

The book is WONDERFUL, everything we all expected and more - gems in every chapter, and my 3-year-old alpha-tester is especially grateful for the IsPlaying examples on p. 511. Easily Matt’s finest work since his article on the Antigone in Classical Quarterly for 1990.

There is really only ONE decent book about REALbasic and Matt wrote it. Although the RB manual is “decent”, I have come to think of Matt’s book as the REAL manual. There have been numerous occasions that the index didn’t steer me correctly, and Matt’s references to page numbers and chapters has been a HUGE help to me. I don’t know how anyone could learn RB more effectively than to buy a copy of “REALbasic: The Definitive Guide”. My copy is dog-eared already, and I may have to buy another copy to keep at work.

This book’s pretty darn fabulous!

A very informative, fog-clearing, practical-minded effort, and stylistically a cut above your average tech opus (who else quotes Plato in a computer book?). Yet it’s decidedly not “high-brow”; it is, in fact, so accessible I found myself reading it like a novel when all I wanted to do was look something up. The book also has a great explication of OOP. P.S. It’s refreshing to see that the semicolon is alive and well.

Matt Neuburg’s definitive guide to REALbasic is an excellent example of good pedagogical writing - he “exposes” the layers of concepts embedded in the OOP paradigm along with the way REALbasic handles them, and discusses his examples in that context - what is really happening here. There are no chapters that can be ignored because the “whole” hangs together (and I don’t even use REALbasic, I just enjoyed the book and found that it substantially enhanced my understanding of SuperCard, JavaScript, and other OOP languages as well). After 30+ years of teaching engineering in universities, I have found that there is always a portion of a class that wants “recipes” for everything - to them engineering is a database with algorithms. There is another portion that wants to understand - to form an intuitive model of their own for what is going on. These are generally the more creative folks - for them, it’s all just basics, not material pigeon-holed into courses. No exposition can satisfy both crowds. Matt’s book is for the “basics” crowd

I pick it up to look up something, and two chapters later I remember that I’m supposed to be working…

It’s a good book for any level. I read it cover to cover, and now it’s my main reference.

Since it operates as a complete reference, it’s useful even to the expert if you get into an area you haven’t worked with before (i.e. sockets or printing or whatever), and it’s also great because it documents bugs or limitations of REALbasic. For instance, I consider my copy paid for because it helped me fix one bug in my program that was driving me nuts.

Even when I knew enough of RB to do what I was trying to do, TDG helped me a lot (learning about type casting, memory blocks, and resource forks come to mind of what I have used it for). It also frequently seems to not only provide a code reference, but also information on the exact problem I am trying to solve. I would highly recommend it to any RB user.

The book is an indispensible must-have.

Don’t think you can get by without it - you will be reinventing many wheels.

Exceptionally well written. He’s one of the few authors I’ve read on programming languages where the material is ENJOYABLE, and the pleasure does not come at the price of efficacy.

It is the REALbasic bible. No believer is without it!

If you’re the kind of person who likes well-written, complete handbooks with lots of real-world examples, I guess it’s ok.

I received your book in the mail yesterday and haven’t put it down yet. The book does an exceptional job at pointing out some of the “what’s really going on here” situations that can leave you dumbfounded or searching through archives to find the answer. Very comprehensive and well thought out. I think I have already used your book more in 24 hrs. than the more expensive programming books I have bought over the years.

Your book arrived here today! I’ve read a couple of chapters already and it’s EXCELLENT. Even better than I dreamed it could be. Great job!

Great Book. I have been using RB since January 99 and find your book to be just what I needed. As a general contractor (building) I have written several apps that I use everyday. Your book has filled in the gaps in the RB docs and I find it very easy to comprehend and use. I am a former teacher that may be teaching some classes to junior high students again soon and I plan to use your book extensively.

The world of computing would be a better place for everyone if all programming books were this well written.

Very very insightful and helpful. Great job!

i received my copy from bn.com yesterday, and i’m very pleased with it. i think it makes an excellent complement to the documentation and tutorial included with REALbasic.

I would like to congradulate your on your book - it has been very informative and useful.

I must congratulate you, this is one of the best programming books I have seen. I have already been struck by a number of ideas as to how I might do things better or in a rather more elegant fashion. I’m certain that I will be referring to it frequently in the future.

I picked up your book yesterday. I found a pile of information that I didn’t know and a pile more that I didn’t know that I din’t know. I am really impressed

I want to congratulate you on a fine work. You write very well and its truly a service to the REALbasic community.

I am very impressed with your book. I share your enthusiasm for REALbasic. I am a retired engineer who has used C for some serious aerospace programming. The fact that REALbasic frees me from building the GUI is wonderful.

I can’t recommend it highly enough. In a few short minutes, it’s answered several plaguing questions and has been worth the money in the time it’s saved me from beating my head against a brick wall. The book is well written, easy to read and full of helpful examples and tidbits. Well done Matt - thank you for writing it!

“REALbasic: The Definitive Guide” is a god-send! As a new user of REALbasic, it is filling in all those gaps and unanswered questions of the manual (even though the manual is pretty good.) I have a feeling I’m going to wear out this copy pretty fast…

I have your book and it is great!

Your book, “REALbasic: The Definitive Guide”, is helping me get up-to-speed quickly, and I want to thank you for doing such a wonderful job.

i just finished reading chapter 7 : the architecture of an application. i have to say that it really opened my eyes (esp. the scope section), and I thought I’d drop you a note to say thanks, in between changing the scope of my ‘spaghetti code’.

Just wanted to heap you with praise, as I’m sure countless others have. The book is BRILLIANT. I picked up more RealBasic minutiae from your book in a week than I have in six months of tinkering and reading the docs. Thank you.

Your book is great! I’m nearly finished with a little program that includes stuff like save, open, undo, graphics, multiple screens, … wow! REALbasic is fantastic and your book is very well written.

Thanks for a great book. It is very well written and has really clarified the whole RealBasic environment. A valuable addition to the RB manuals. You’ve done a fine job!

Been enjoying your REALbasic book. The parts I’ve read have been very clear and almost always include something I didn’t know. Always helps when technical writers have a non-computing background.

I want to compliment you on a terrific job. It is actually fun to read! I very much appreciate that you infuse every page with the philosophical or conceptual approach to using each aspect of the program rather than merely reciting a sequence of steps. This conceptual emphasis is especially valuable to a non-programmer like myself.

After reading only about a fifth of your book and applying it to my long running project, the “light bulb” is really starting to get lit. I’ve understood the concepts of OOP for a couple of years but have always had a very hard time shifting my thought process away from the procedural way of programming and employing the OOP concepts in a helpful way. The methodical explanations and “just right” level of detail in your book has really resonated with me and is bearing fruit in a big way. I can really appreciate the effort you put in and the talent you have for assimilating and organizing all that info on RB and the discipline to get it all down. Not to mention the tenacity of chasing down the details and proving, not just surmising, all the nuances. You have provided a tremendous service to all of us and I thank you.

I just wanted to thank you for your book on REALbasic. I’ve found it incredibly helpful in my efforts to continue learning to program. I studied programming in school (subsequently dropping out, as I couldn’t seem to grasp many of the concepts) and continued trying to learn it these past few years on my own, venturing in to Visual C++, Visual Basic, and a few others. I gave REALbasic a shot just for fun, and was doing ok, but your book has taken me farther in the month since I got it than in the past years. Now, finally, I’m comfortable enough to purchase the full language and have fun with it. Your book is much better than many of the textbooks I’ve been through and other books I’ve purchased for various languages.

Thanks for your well-written book on REALbasic. I always like the O’Reilly books because they always seems to be straightforward and don’t treat the reader like an idiot. Your book fits right in with they’re style. I can’t imagine how much further behind I would be without it! It IS the documentation.

Your book answers most of my questions about REALbasic. It has helped me make great strides in my programming efforts and has given me a “programmer’s insight” as to how programs work and should be structured.

I have found it to be a really great as a guide. Congratulations on the excellent book!

It’s a difficult proposition to write a book that serves both as a learning guide for newcomers, and a definitive reference for programmers with actual experience. I think your book works wonderfully on both fronts. Your writing is clear, and the tone is friendly without being condescending. I also think your examples are very instructive.

I’ve read through every last word in your book(in many cases a few times) and have found it to be incredibly valuable to my development and, really, irreplacable. It is extremely well writen and has allowed us to move much faster with our development than we otherwise could have. I, and the rest of my team, are very thankfull of the time you spent writing this book.

I just wanted to thank you for your book. You have no idea how much time it has saved me. Nice work.

I was stuck. I picked up “The Book” and started searching for the answer to my question. An hour later not only had I found the answer but several others that had been hindering my efforts. Thanks again for a great book.

I’ve just read your RealBasic guide from cover to cover, which says a lot about how clearly it is written (and how entertaining it is as well). You have the gift of writing amusingly without getting on the reader’s nerves (unlike most would-be “For Idiots” authors), and going back to the book for detailled explanations has proved to be very easy, which is the mark of a good textbook. Congratulations.

I’ve been dabbling in Mac programming for years, but have always stopped halfway. Recreating examples in a tutorial has always been painful for me, as I never have any use for them. In addition, the authors aren’t usually very interesting. Thanks to your style of writing and grasp of the subject matter, I’m happily following along… [You don’t] patronize beginners, or leave more experienced folks wondering “where’s the beef”. Too many technical authors are fanatical about their topic, and intolerant of those who aren’t. Your teaching philosophy is accessible and interesting to anyone who’s ever asked themselves “Why isn’t there a program that does _?”.

A big thank you for taking the time to write such a comprehensive book on RB. It has helped everyone (including myself) immensely.

What is so valuable about RB:TDG is that it deals with reality. Without that, no progress can be made.

Just a short note to let you know how much I’ve been helped by your excellent book. Not only have I avoided many of the pitfalls by heeding the advice given in its pages, but there’s also been plenty to chuckle at along the way.

I am specially fond of your writing style, it is very well written and it has some humour (which I find necessary in technical subjects to stay alive). Great book, thanks a lot.

I have had the book in my possession for only two days and have already spilled coffee on it.

It is the best computer book I have read.