2004.02_Books-Software Configuration Management and C++ Gui Programming with Qt3.pdf

REVIEWS

Books

Book Reviews

Software Configuration Management

Software Configuration Management is

all about ensuring that someone is

taking care of the

required elements of

a project, and at the

same time avoiding

adding potentially

harmful elements to

the final version.

This type of quality

assurance can make

all the difference

between success or

failure for a com-

pany, and this in turn

influences job secu-

rity.

Rather than just

being a checklist that

ensures timely completion of a project,

this manual tells you how make sure that

jobs get done without getting in the way

of the programmers. The first section of

the book describes what the job involves

and how you are likely fall into the role,

although it is not part of your job

description. The detail is a little heavy-

handed at times,

but it is better

to labor a point,

and make sure the

reader under-

stands the con

cept, rather than

run the risk of

misunderstanding

and in turn mis-

managing the job.

The second sec-

tion starts by

describing the

tools of the trade

and has a sur-

prisingly good

section on the differences between vari-

ous source control tools. Two; CVS and

MS Sourcesafe are then shown in much

greater detail, taking you from installa-

tion to remote working and using

command line tools. The CVS section is

a good working tutorial, and the ability

to compare it with the proprietary MS

product is useful. As it is quite common

to come across both in the real world,

this alone would prove useful to soft-

ware manufacturers, although the price

is a little off-putting.

The final section of the book deals

with building from source code. Again

there are separate chapters that discuss

Linux in contrast to Microsoft-oriented

software houses. The author clearly

understands the usefulness of command

line tools, discussing how to write auto-

mated build scripts to remove the most

dangerous of all human errors, forgetful-

ness. In the end, I warmed to the book; it

was full of useful detailed sections. But

due to the pricing, this is definitely one

for the company creditcard.

■

Sean Kenefick

440 pages

Apress, 1-59059-065-1

£35.50, US$ 49.99, EUR 53.45

C++ GUI Programming with Qt3

The book is not on sale until the begin-

ning of February, but it would be wise to

order straight away. For anyone who

wants to make the most of TrollTech’s

Qt3, this is the book for you. The style is

very easy to follow with a mass of exam-

ples and screenshots.

Object oriented code is seen as the

new sexy path for programmers to take

and so is becoming a much sort after

skill. The advantage is the speed at

which applications can be built. This is

not a book to start to read when you are

not near a computer. The examples make

you want to jump straight in and follow

them on your own machine.

The book takes you from a novice

writing her first “Hello Qt” program right

through to container classes and multi-

threading. The examples grow in each

step, so you are always building on your

previously learned

new skills. The

book fortunately,

does not assume

you are a kernel

hacking program-

mer, and at the

same time man-

ages to avoid being

patronizing to

those who have

learned a little.

I found the book

easier to under-

stand than the O’Reilly “Programming

With Qt”. This is probably down to the

enthusiasm that the two authors show

throughout the book. Other authors

would do well to read this book and try

to follow the style. The examples build

up nicely and you can see clearly where

they would be used in

real life with code and

screenshots for differ-

ent platforms living

side by side.

It does leave out any

major aspects of Qt3

programming and gives

you the essentials in a

neat package. Every

page is well written.

It teaches exactly what

it says on the cover of

the book. This is defi-

nitely one to buy today.

■

Jasmin Blanchette

and Mark Summerfield

448 pages plus CD

Prentice Hall, 0-13-124072-2

$44.99, US $44.99, EUR 39.52

February 2004

www.linux-magazine.com

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