The magazine of the Melbourne PC User Group Learning To Program - for the bookshelf Major Keary

Wallace Wang: Beginning Programming for Dummies 3/e ISBN 0-7645-4997-9 Published by Wiley, 412 pp. + CD, RRP $50.95 incl. GST

Perl

Probably the most widely used scripting language is Perl, which as been ported to all platforms and has an extraordinarily extensive body of literature. The text that I recommend to anyone wanting to learn Perl is Elements of Programming with Perl.

It is exceptionally well written, probably because the author has a humanities background as well as teaching programming. The author of Perl, Larry Wall, also has a humanities background-in linguistics, which explains why Perl "has the qualities of a natural language".

The style is formal, but-as one reviewer observed-"straightforward enough for use by the casual reader but complete enough to stand alone as an excellent first learning tool". There is no assumption of any prior knowledge of programming; the introductory part is an excellent overview of programming in general, the art of writing structured code, and coding style. Hands-on programming quickly follows, using didactic code to produce working examples.
 
The next part of the book explains the essential elements: datatypes and variables, control structures, functions, and so on. The rest is an excellent, well structured tutorial. Programming novices will find the terminology and concepts clearly explained.
 
If you like your technical documentation to be straightforward, lucid, and well structured, this is well worth examining. Of course, there's a lot more to Perl than contained here, but this provides the essential foundation for further study.

Andrew Johnson: Elements of Programming with Perl ISBN 1-884777-80-5 Published by Manning, 352 pp., RRP $69.95 incl. GST

Python

Python is another widely used cross-platform language that lends itself to small-scale scripting through to large-scale programming and integration with high-level languages. Its GUI toolkit is easy to use and should make it attractive to Windows users.

The Dummies title mentioned above comes with the Python program on CD. The Quick Python Book is a more formal text; it assumes the reader is already familiar with some other programming language. If you want to use Python, but have no programming experience, I suggest the Dummies book as an introduction to programming concepts and for hands-on practice. This title is highly recommended for readers who have mastered the basic concepts of programming.
 
The introductory part of the book deals with installation issues and "the absolute basics"; from there the water gets deeper, so to speak. Example code is used extensively, but the narrative (it's far more extensive than annotation or commentary) and margin notes explain in clear language what the code does. The author presents a very thorough tutorial.

Linux users will be familiar with Python, at least in name. Many Windows users may not realise it has application in the Windows environment. A chapter, Python, Windows, and COM, discusses Python's application in Windows (automating Office, for example). There is a chapter on using Zope, which is "an open source application server and portal toolkit used for building high-performance, dynamic web sites". Zope is written in Python.

Daryl Harms and Kenneth McDonald: The Quick Python Book ISBN 1-884777-74-0 Published by Manning 422 pp., RRP $79.95 incl. GST

Beginner's Guide To C++

If you want to learn how to program with C++, or simply acquire a working knowledge of the language, this book is a sound resource for self-teaching. Throughout the text are progress checks and mastery checks, which are questions for self-assessment; answers to the progress checks are provided in footnotes, and answers to the-more detailed and extensive-mastery checks are on a companion web site. The code examples can also be downloaded from the web.

No previous programming experience is required, but would be a help. This is not an easy, no-effort-required, tutorial. The reader has to consciously take on the role of student, and pay attention. Do that, and you will master the fundamentals of C++. The author says, "this book is just a starting point", but it lays an essential foundation and shows the student the proper way to code with C++.

The code examples work with modern C++ compilers, including Visual C++ and Borland's C++ Builder.

Instead of conventional chapters the book is divided into 'modules', each of which is a self-contained lesson on a concept. The format is to state the specific skills covered in a module followed by a discussion and tutorial with illustrative code. Exercises in the form of projects provide the student with hands-on application. The example code is accompanied by annotations that explain the particular programming techniques.
 
A thorough and well-organised training program for anyone who wants to learn C++; it will also serve as an ongoing reference during any further study of the language.

Herbert Schildt: C++: A Beginner's Guide 2/e ISBN 0-07-223215-3 Published by McGraw-Hill/Osborne, 552 pp., RRP $44.95 incl. GST

Assembly Language

Assembler was widely used during the first half of the 1960s. It relied on mnemonic codes (such as MOV and POP) that were translated into machine language; assembler was the tool used for writing CP/M and early DOS utilities. Since then assembler (or assembly, its a matter of choice) has quietly come a long way; modern implementations handle 32-bit x86 architecture. Assembly is not part of the popular repertoire of programming languages, but is used in various forms, can be interfaced with high-level programming languages, and is used as a teaching tool.
 
There is some literature on assembly language, but many of the titles are out of print. A search of Amazon returns several pages, but the most recent text is from No Starch Press, which has published a comprehensive and thorough manual-cum-tutorial, The Art of Assembly Language.

A companion CD contains the HLA program, its 'standard library', and "over 50,000 lines" of documented sample code, and further documentation. A group of PDF files contain drafts of the first several chapters of another (work-in-progress) book, Windows Programming in Assembly Language.

The resources on the CD equip the reader to put the book's information into practice. However, don't expect to find a neat, ready-to-run executable file that installs everything; HLA is something like an all-singing-all-dancing computer desk from Ikea: everything is there, but you have to put it together yourself. There's plenty of documentation, especially an HTML readme file (in the CD's root directory) that describes installation in detail.
 
Readers are assumed to have some familiarity with programming in languages such as C++ or Pascal.
 
The author gets down to business very quickly. The first example code appears on page 2. The writing is concise and direct; explanations are not truncated, but there is no hand-holding. For programmers coming from another language the book says everything they need to know, but does not waste words. Programming is in the context of the Intel 80x86 CPU family, including those with the MMX instruction set. It caters to both Windows and Linux programmers.
 
This is a large (over 900 pages) book that is comprehensive and detailed. I have seen many books that have been, in one way or another, padded out for the sake of appearing substantial. There is no padding here. The author and publishers have done a remarkable job of packing so much in without making the explanatory text terse.

Randall Hyde: The Art of Assembly Language ISBN 1-886411-97-2 Published by No Starch Press, 903 pp. + CD, RRP $115.00 incl. GST

Reprinted from the October 2004 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia

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