Since I am a programmer and mainly built applications using visual basic, I always had an urge to master c++ due to the power of this language, but pointers were the only hurdle for me to overcome this goal. I always had bad times understanding MFC offered classes and the way whole infrastructure work, coz they play with pointers alot..and after all learning C++ and coding in c++ is not difficult without pointers but the fact is, if someone really wanna code in C++ they better do it efficiently other wise no need to switch, you should remain on ur currently practice language..This book not only taught me what pointers are but really made my mind think and work like a compiler..I really appreciate the author Micheal C Daconta and his team of putting such a masterpiece into existance, with out this book I simply believe one cannot solve the mystery of pointers coz no other stuff is available that is comparable to this book..
once again I deeply thank the author and his team for their hard work, for simplifing the true power of c++

Zeeshan

Hardly anyone comes out of their first, or even second, book on C++ having the firm grasp of pointers needed to be successful with the language. This book does an admirable job of filling in this gap for you. Every use of pointers in C++ is examined in-depth by Mr. Daconta. I found the chapters on pointers to pointers and function pointers particularly useful, as both of these topics are typically given short shrift in other C++ books.

I docked the book one star because the example code was obviously a very hasty translation from the original C version of the book. Many examples would not compile and run properly without some debugging. However, this should not be your first C++ book, and if you have a firm grounding in the language from one of the good beginner's books on the subject (Stephen Prata's C++ Primer Plus is my recommendation) you should be able to locate and fix these problems.

While I understood pointers I always felt a little uncomfortable with them - this book has made things crystal clear. It has helped me to understand pointer and memory management concepts and pitfalls and has made me a much better programmer. This is NOT the book for you if you are trying to learn C++ or are at a beginner level - this is for the intermediate to heavy C++ programmer who wants to improve his/her coding skills and depth of knowledge.

Published in 1996, "Charles Dickens on the Screen" surveys the filmed works of Dickens from the silent era, including TV adaptaions. The book is rather silm in volume, and not so much a thorough discussion on the cinematic skills employed on the screen as an introduction to the vast field of Dickensian films (more than 100), but still Michael Pointer keeps his book always readable and immensely interesting.

After the brief introduction, the book begins with a discussion about "Dickensian" elements in original books, and their relations to visual media. The agrument at first is a bit too general and obvious, but you should just read on. After the third chapter the writer speeds up his discussion, giving well-researched comments on the films, backed up quotations from various materials. Though the materials might not look rare in the eyes of those who are already versed in film history -- autobiographical writings, comtemporary reviews, the synopsis, etc. -- they help those who do not have knowledge on movie history to gain the historical viewpoint to glance back the current of many films.

Chapters 2-4 are devoted to discussion on the silent films. It is now a nearly impossible thing to make a perfect survey about this era, because many of the films are lost forever (the reason is explained by the words of director Frank Llyod in the book), and considering that fact, Mr. Pointer did a very good job, even though the argument often seems to lack in power, relying on second-hand knowledge. But that cannot be helped.

After Chapter 5, the discussion is about "talkies," and the book gets better and better as you read. His discussion covers the films until the 1993 "Edwin Drood," and, instead of displaying tedious scene-to-scene analysis which might have done harm to the book by its slow tempo, he gives each film concise summery of its characteristics and his opinions about it, which may disagree with yours, but mostly fair and to the point. Mr. Pointer does not neglect the more recent TV products, and gives fair judgement on them. There is even a section where the author deals with parodies! (such as British cult TV series "Avengers" -- remember Mrs. Emma Peel?")

The book also contains a list of films (until BBC's "Martin Chuzzlewit"), which is now superceded by our internet source like imdb. Of more interest is the cluster of clear stills (21 in all) which includes a rare one that shows Charles Laughton as Mr. Micawber in the 1935 "David Copperfield." After one-week shooting, he left the film, and as you know, W.C. Fields took the part. Though not a perfect book, since so many have been released after its publication, "Charles Dickens on the Screen" is a good book to know more about the area of filmed classics, which should be given more attention from both academic and non-asademic people.