I am a computer professional who was being left behind by all the new technology that I was not getting a chance to work with. I needed to upgrade my skills. My company happened to have a Developer version of C++ builder 4 sitting around (I am primarily a C/C++ programmer) and decided to go for this for no other reason as I could get it for nothing! I was also writing some VB code at the time

I surfed the Net for some good doco on the language and I found this book (the full text in the form of a free eBook).

OH JOY!

I love this book. It certainly doesn't tell you everything. But with the richness of a language like C++, the merging of the Object pascal visual components library (VCL) and all the other stuff you need to know these days how can any ONE book possibly do that.

What it does do however is to concentrate on the new aspects of Borland's C++ language which are introduced with C++ Builder (namely the VCL and the associated components). Just what you need if you are already familiar with the older libraries and do not want yet another book that describes libraries that are in every other reference book. Ad infinitum!

I have thumbed through several C++ Builder books in bookstores that simply regurgitate the same old material. One in particular had just a few pages on the VCL. A waste of my hard earned money!

What does this book have that the others don't?: Well besides detailed overview's, explanation's, information, examples and some great trivia (some don't like this 'property' of the author, but personally I find it refreshing ... and often enlightening). HE CONCENTRATES ON THE "VCL". Yay team!

Look to put it bluntly! The man - Charlie - and the language is my dupli-hero! (I have to roll them up into a big ball of enlightenment which is greater than the sum of its parts). With their help I was able to build a plethora (...What is a plethora Jose?...) of useful utilities at work, that actually improved our efficiency and allowed me to go home at a reasonable hour.

I am so grateful for a really useful text that I have decided to purchase a real copy of this book (as opposed to the free ebook that I was using as a reference) as homage to the man. This book is my Bible!

Note 1: His subsequent work covering C++ Builder 3 Unleashed is also a rip snorter (that's Aussie for 'excellent'). Again, this does NOT retrace all the stuff from his previous book, but takes us even deeper.

Note 2: To all you VB programmer's out there ... C++ builder is Visual basic with GRUNT. No. Sorry. I mean MEGA GRUNT!

Gotta go now. See what's in his "C++ Builder 4 Unleashed"!

Thanks Charlie. Hope to thank you personally soon!