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Anne of Green Gables is the first book in the Anne of Green Gables series. It takes place, as most of L. M. Montgomery's books do, on Prince Edward Island in Canada. This particular story takes place in the town of Avonlea. It follows young Anne Shirley, an orphan brought to Green Gables to help Matthew and Marilla Cuthbert on their farm. Much to Anne's dismay, Marilla tells her that they wanted a boy to help around the farm, not a girl. However, Marilla changes her mind and decides to keep the dynamic young girl who would become Anne of Green Gables.
This novel is incredibly written, with well-developed characters and an intricate plot. I absolutely loved it. I would recommend it to anyone who is looking for a great example of children's literature at its height.
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The religious program that the conservative right wants to set up is anti-gay, anti-choice and, ultimately, anti-woman's suffrage. Lewis writes concerning Dr. Harold Brown a former professor at Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte, NC, "Dr. Brown is on the Council on Biblical Manhood and Womanhood, an organization the espouses 'male headship' in family life and the church, asserting in its mission statement that 'wives should forsake resistance to their husbands' authority and grow in willing, joyful submission to their husbands's leadership.'" (p.44)
This book is a wake up call. The conservative right is telling us ahead of time that they would set up a relegious theocracy in this country. This theocracy is out to undermine the liberal democratic mainline churches. The dissatisfaction and the discord that the conservative right propagates is the primary reason our churches are failing. It is time to respond.
Those who promote that the Bible is inerrant and infallible such as the Promise Keepers' movement undermine both the real authority of the Bible and our very freedoms. The Bible never makes the claim for itself that it is inerrant or infallible. The Bible was written by fallible and errant people. So to claim that it has no errors, historically or scientifically is demonstrably not true, and if not true those who make the claim that it is are not of God.
Wake up America! Wake up women of America! That is the message. I know so many women who continue to go to churches just because that is where they grew up even though that church teaches against them. If you currently support a church that propagates that women should be subserviant to men, that women should not have a choice about their own health, that gays and lesbians are evil then you are also promoting that view. According to the author we have a choice now. We may not have a choice in the future.
I had heard that someone said that A Moment to Decide was not very well researched. That obviously was put out by those who disagree with its findings. For the 107 pages of information there are 33 pages of documentation. It's not an easy book to read because it has so much information. But it is an important book for all concerned Christians to read.
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First off, half the book is wasted on learning C++. Now, it's a great for anyone to learn C++. It's not great if the first time you learn C++, when you're in a Microsoft environment, trying to create something complex like a game. In fact, that's just plain ....
So, since I already know C++, I skipped half the book and got to the introduction to Windows programming. This chapter provided a little hope. He had a very good writing style, his explanations were clear, and I learned something.
Then I went to the meat of the book. One chapter basically explains how to do graphics and rendering and so forth. This is the heart of any game book, and he failed miserably. Instead of giving a top down approach, with small simple example of every aspect of rending and animation, he decides to give you his own program in all its glory. Detail after gory detail. After about 100 pages or pure code, I still could get a rectangle to appear on the screen. It's basically a design document disguised as a learning tool. To add insult to injury, he ends the chapter with a summary that pretty much says, "long chapter, huh?", and that's basically it.
The equivalent would be to teach someone new to computer how to use a computer by giving him or her the source code for an operating system.
It's apparent that the author has not taught a class or written other books before.
About 80 percent of the book is worthless fluff even if everything was explained correctly. It's a shame. It's a huge book (I think 1000 pages or something), and it doesn't even go into 3D programming. About 6 out of the 20 odd chapters contain useful information.
Just avoid this book, please.
I also thought that it was strange that the author teaches about Direct3D BEFORE he teaches about DirectX. Another issue is that some of the programs on the CD from later chapters will not run, but rather will give you a run-time error. A few programs have syntax issues as well.
The content of the book and the teaching style makes up for these errors however. The author writes with a style that explains the details, not giving you the "You don't need to know how it works, just that it does" line LaMothe is famous for. I found the "pointers" section to be very well-explained and it gave examples of situations where they would be useful, which is something I have not seen in other C++ books. The book also gives you complete game examples throughout the book, utilizing many of the covered topics, which I found to be a plus compared to other books which teach you the techniques, but leave you clueless as how to use them. The author also lists his e-mail address and invites you to contact him with any questions you may have, which I thought was a nice gesture.
Overall, I would recommend that you get this book if you have competent enough computer skills to overlook these basic problems. I would also recommend that you have BASIC C++ skills, or that you at least be able to recognize where there is a mistake and be able to work through it.
Sousa offers great lessons on C++, which any newbie can clearly understand, with excellent examples and a marvelous teaching style. There are, however, some problems with the book (hence the 4 star rating). Most of the screen shots aren't anywhere near the code they are supposed to support, and a lot of the notes and side tips don't seem to belong to the text they are paraphrasing/helping.
Also, in some code examples he tends to go about things the round-about way, instead of attacking the problem directly.
All in all, I can look past the problems this book has and say that if you want to be a game programmer, buy and read this book before you get anything else. This book will definitely get you on your way!
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