Apress / http://www.apress.com/book/view/9781430215905
ISBN:978-1-4302-1-590-5

A Review

I had a chance to review this recently published book and my overall impression is very positive. The author has spent time getting to know the program and how it works.

In a series of chapters he explains each of the components and uses a project paradigm to show the common features of each of the parts of the office suite. This not only shows how the different aspects of each program work with each other, but also gives an idea of a workflow that can be used to develop similar projects. While this workflow may not work for you, it is a base to start from and sometimes getting started is the hardest part.

After starting with straightforward projects he graduates into more complex methods of not only using the programs by themselves, but also how the parts of the office suite can work together. He is very good at showing some of the more esoteric things that can trip you up.
Throughout the book he notes how OO.o differs from Microsoft Office, where they’re similar, and there’s a section that discusses some tests involving importing and exporting files between the two office suites. He finishes up by talking about some of the common extensions that can be used to make life with OpenOffice easier and more productive.

There are a couple of factual errors that I found, but those relate more to cross platform considerations and not so much with the program usage itself.

I will note that the most jarring thing I found that increased the difficulty of reading this book is the lack of “calling out” program specific references (like dialog items, etc) by the use of a different font. For me, it broke up the rhythm of reading the text. I realize that, being a programmer, that may just be a style that I am used to seeing in technical books and it could very well be normal for this kind of application centric book.

All in all I recommend this book for those people that may be familiar with the Microsoft Office suite and are contemplating switching to a freer alternative or to those that are just starting out with an office suite and want a good background in how to use the features of this type of software.

Maybe I should talk a little bit more about what I plan on doing for the book.

I’m writing a book about platform independent programming using C# and OpenGL. I’ll be developing a program throughout the entire book. Each chapter will add a little more to the game and illustrate some point in game programming.

One of the chapters will be about sound and to that end I decided to use a computer voice. As documented elsewhere on my site, I’m a listener of ALICE 105.9 (KALC) here in Denver. I’ve interacted with the show on several occasions and I decided to ask Jennifer Wilde, one of the Morning Show DJs, what it would take to get her to do some voice work for me. She graciously volunteered (as long as I didn’t ask for too much :) and I got the first cut of them today. I asked her to voice about 8 phrases and she did them in a couple of different voices for me.

I can’t tell you how excited I was to get them. I know, it’s a bit (or a lot) geeky, but actually having something in hand that was done for me for the book makes it a little more real in some way.

Evidently Jennifer was cutting the phrases for me this morning after the show and I’m guessing that one of the other folks on the Morning Show asked her what she was up to.  Thus I’m going to be on the show tomorrow, once removed. That is, I’ll not actually be on the show but they’re going to do a bit about Jennifer’s next career move – being a computer voice in a game :)

Oh, if you want to listen (and I heartily endorse them) you can tune to 105.9 on your FM dial if you’re here in the Denver area or you can listen to them online at http://alice1059.com. Then choose Listen Live to catch the number 1 morning show in the Denver area with BJ, Howie, and Jennifer. They’re assisted by Producer Mikey who does a great job of answering the phones even though he doesn’t like counting to 105 :)  To be fair, he does do a bit more. I have enough trouble keeping this blog up to date and he does a blog for the show with all the features and a lot of what they talk about on the show along with MP3 clips of the more amusing stuff.

Right now he has the confidence in me that I don’t (yet.)  I’m just having a hard time getting started. The first chapter is all about getting set up. Since the book is about coding you have to have some tools installed to get working.

Since I’ve already been annoyed at books and articles that say “Here’s what I’m using, if you don’t use this you’re on your own”and I’m writing a platform independent How-To, I feel as if I at least need to show how to set up the environment for the two primary platforms: Windows and Linux.

The problem is this: I’m not the expert on Windows and I have to find a Windows box that doesn’t already have some sort of Visual Studio installed on it already. I should have the virgin Windows box resolved as my work desktop is dual boot system and it’s only been booted into Windows once. It just means that I have to pay very close attention to the steps involved in downloading and installing the free version of VS.

Also, in the book, do I use screen shots? After all, it’s a web page, so it’s subject to change at any time and having pictures of something that doesn’t exist isn’t very helpful. But without pictures, what do I call those areas on the screen?  Since the free versions of VS are targeted to a specific language, the page they show has separate visual areas for each of the choices (VC#, VB, VC++, etc) and you pick your “natural language” (English, Chinese, etc) and then it starts the download.

I just don’t have the terminology to describe what to do on that page.

My mentor says that I should be targeting the book to beginning to intermediate programmers. I don’t have an issue with that, but it’s been a long time since I was a beginner so how detailed do I make the installation instructions? How much do I presume they do (or should) know, and at what point is what they need to do outside the scope of the book?

I really think this will all get easier (hey, you in the back,  stop laughing) as I go on and I start to get a feel for how it all goes together.

Stay tuned, hilarity is sure to ensue.

Some people say I have A.D.D., but I say … “Hey Look, a Chicken!”

I’ve been looking into writing (or rewriting) some sort of game. In fact, I’ve started more than once. One of the drawbacks is that I am intent on being platform independent and I keep finding different tools that seem to fit the bill but I end up getting bogged down in one way or another.

I’ve finally decided on using a combination of C#, SDL, and OpenGL. The problem I keep running into is that all the books and tutorials I’ve run across make the assumption (a valid one, unfortunately) that since most of the readers are using Windows, the tutorial or book can just use Windows specific code and no one will care (or, for that matter, even notice.)

One of the people I work with (in my full-time, bring-home-a-paycheck job) is also the author of several books and when I was complaining to him about this situation he mentioned that it sounded like a good opportunity for a book. So, in spite of the evidence that you get by reading this blog, I’m embarking, with him, on a journey to produce a book with the preliminary title of Platform Independent Game Programming using C#, OpenGL, and SDL.

The main reason that this is a preliminary title is because we’ve not actually talked to a publisher yet.

I’m in the process of defining what the book will contain, and my vision is to produce a basic game that takes advantage of the 3 legs I’m building on to produce a game at the end of the book. When I get real ambitious I also envision the followup book where the game morphs into a 3D version.

So, stay tuned. I’ll be posting up ideas here as we work out the details.