The Shepherd's Man is truly a worthy sequel to The Shepherd's Path. It picks up where the Shepherd's Path left off, chronicling the saga of a world where being a Christian is against the law and those who refuse to deny Christ, no matter what the cost.

Paul Sinclair is a wonderful modern-day parallel to Saul of Tarsus, who God converted from a persecutor of those who follow "the Way" (Christianity) to Paul, greatest of apostles. Sinclair was a high ranking agent in the Bureau of Religious Affairs, and had spent many of the past years arresting members of "underground churches," and even killing some simply for believing in Jesus Christ. Stripped of his job and his life by circumstances beyond his control, he is determined to get back on top. He sees his opportunity to do so by pretending to be a Christian and infiltrating the Shepherd's Path. His goal is to learn all he can about it, and then tear it down from the inside. He believes that once he does that, no reward is beyond his grasp.

Paul's journey with a group of Christians on the lam proves to be educational. He begins to question his hatred of Christians, even as former FBI agent Jeff Anderson discovers his true motives and tries to defend his brothers and sisters in Christ against this threat from within.

Like the Shepherd's Path, this book gets a bit preachy at times. However, the truths contained within can't be denied. This story contains good examples of how we as Christians are to love our enemies even as we show kindness to those who are kind to us. And it also demonstrates that, no matter how hard the devil presses against us, he is a defeated foe thanks to the blood of Jesus.

A professional programmer is one who knows not just how to do things, but also why. In this regard, Visual C++ Programming is an excellent choice due to its comprehensive coverage of all aspects related to Windows programming. It discusses in detail the underlying mechanism of Win API and MFC providing invaluable tips and insights for true professionals. However, it's not confined to theoretical concepts exclusively but also explains how to use the debugger, class wizard, AppWizard, resource editor - all of which are integral parts of the Visual C++ environment. New features offered by Visual C++ 6.0 such as IntelliSense, edit and continue, and auto complete are described as well.

The book is not targeted at a particular level of expertise. It can serve as an excellent guidebook for both novices and accomplished programmers, who would like to broaden their knowledge and skills in Windows-based programming with Visual C++. Mind, however, that prior knowledge in C++ is a prerequisite.

Visual C++ Programming is your ultimate companion for working with Visual C++ 6.0. It is unquestionably a five-star winner.

The most important aspect of this book is that it is very readable. You can get through it cover to cover. The simple fact is that MFC is too big a topic for one book, or one author. I've had to use three books to learn it. My method has always been the same.

1. Find a book to read just to get a high level idea of what is going on. Normally, about a quarter to half way the high level book, it becomes superficial. In this case, that book was Teach Yourself Visual C++ in 21 Days.

2. Start reading a more complete book that will tell me what is going on. Originally, I started reading the Prosise book. Don't get me wrong, Prosise is a great reference, but its too detailed. MFC is too broad to learn every nuck and cranny. I shifted over to Programming VC++. It's perfect. It goes over every thing I need to know. If I need more detail, I use Prosise for reference. But this is the book I read cover to cover.

MFC is tough. This book might not teach you everything. But it will give you enough information to know what to look up in Prosise.

A professional programmer is one who knows not just how to do things, but also why. In this regard, Visual C++ Programming is an excellent choice due to its comprehensive coverage of all aspects related to Windows programming. It discusses in detail the underlying mechanism of Win API and MFC providing invaluable tips and insights for true professionals. However, it's not confined to theoretical concepts exclusively but also explains how to use the debugger, class wizard, AppWizard, resource editor - all of which are integral parts of the Visual C++ environment. New features offered by Visual C++ 6.0 such as IntelliSense, edit and continue, and auto complete are described as well.

The book is not targeted at a particular level of expertise. It can serve as an excellent guidebook for both novices and accomplished programmers, who would like to broaden their knowledge and skills in Windows-based programming with Visual C++. Mind, however, that prior knowledge in C++ is a prerequisite.

This book is a rehash of older reference material on MFC. Despite the fact that MFC has changed very little over the course of the last several years, 29 out of the book's 35 chapters cover MFC. Material covering managed code is tacked on in the last 6 chapters.

I can't tell you how many times i've sat down with various and sundry texts, ebooks, and website tutorials to learn how to program Win32 apps in C++. Every time I was incredibly frustrated that the author would simply walk through the implementation, without explaining any of the reasons why. I'm a C#.NET programmer and I come from a background of "academic" C (i.e. for school), Python, and Java programming.

The thing I like about the author is that he takes his time, defines his terms, and has an easy tone to his work. He doesn't get so conceptual (like Bruce Eckel of "Thinking in C++") where you get that itchy "Yeah, this is all nice, but how gonna use any of this?" feeling. This is one author that presents the forest and the trees in a well-balanced combination.

If you're an experienced MFC programmer, this may or may not be your book. It does rehash a lot of MFC and COM theory. But for me, as a programmer entering into Win32 C++ programming as .NET is making the scene, this book helps me to both understand the platform more deeply and make better decisions in my work.

I guess the title might be a bit misleading. With the .NET movement in full gear, MSFT is calling all their products "blah blah blah.NET". That goes for their C++ development tool, too.

I got a copy of this book because "MFC Internals" was very useful. It's by the same author.

This book isn't devoted totally to .NET-- in fact only a third of the chapters cover .NET features. There's information on Managed C++, the CLR, Windows Forms using C++, and integrating C++ code with ASP.NET (all .NET-oriented features). There's also a chapter on writing app Wizards for the new Visual Studio.

Like it or not, ATL and MFC are still around-- and this book is the a decent reference covering the classic frameworks from the new Visual Studio point of view. Also covers attributed ATL. MSFT has moved a lot of things around in their development environment, and this book tells you where everything ended up.

The book is definitely useful for developers coming from the classic MFC and ATL backgrounds who want to move into the .NET space.

The "tutorial" as presented by this book is somewhat difficult to follow. Despite the "Your Turn" prompts, the narrative seems to suggest that the reader should be doing something before getting to the exercise itself. The graphics that are displayed often do not follow the instructions for the exercise, so there is little reinforcement. Furthermore, the "Your Turn" instructions are poorly organized - often mixing hints with actual action commands. Given some time, one can eventually figure out what is supposed to happen on the screen, but why should the reader have to struggle? If you are going to spend nearly $60 on a book, look somewhere else. This has been a very disappointing purchase.

not that specific enough .i need to do my thesis

This book is more of a tutorial than a reference book--the only way to learn procedures is to find the related example and work through it. There are lots of useful widgets on the CD. I was disappointed in the book's production. It looked like it was printed directly from an MS Word file and contained numerous egregious typos and other problems, all of which made me feel cheated after paying $46 for such a thin volume.

What I can say? The best thing in the book was the fine print. If you don't buy books to read, but because the print... you have a nice opportunity