First of all, every sample program in this book ran perfectly for me except for one (at the bottom of p. 264), and the JavaScript programs at the very end (for some reason, JavaScript did not work on the system I was using). Everything else - hundreds of examples - worked great, and required no reference to any outside source. The quality of the 'Dummies' books is variable, but this one is a winner. It is very well organized, and answered a lot of questions I have had about general programming for years, clearly and concisely. Wang is not only a talented programmer. He is a talented programmer who can communicate effectively to a general (but serious) audience, in English. The sample code is very clear and illustrates the topics under discussion beautifully. This is a great book for learning about programming in general, from scratch.

I bought the expanded with the 7 books in one reference and I mean it was only reference and a lot of stupid yuppie jargon and really did not understand it..., till I went online on free info and training in HTML HTML5 PYTHON ect...... I waited 3 weeks for the book and paid $ 27.00 with the so-called fast 7 day shipping. I learn more online than the damn Book.....the book is for nerds ..,not Dummies that are not hip too this World of programming..... Thank God for the internet !!!

Book is positive and enthusiastic and entertaining and a complete waste of time since you will waste hours trying to figure out why the C++ examples don't work; yes, author intros the basics of programming in a constructive manner, and I like the direct comparison between languages, but I would definitely choose a different book until the C++ disaster is fixed. Since this issue was addressed here years ago (see comments): black eye for all involved

Who uses Liberty BASIC anymore? Worse yet, the software on the CD is too old to run on any machine running Windows XP or newer. It does not cover any sort of object oriented programming in detail, because it was written during a time when text based OS's were the standard. Since Visual BASIC is the preferred flavor for anyone even thinking about using BASIC anymore, this text is inadequate. Might have been useful about 20 years ago, but for anyone recently thinking about purchasing this book: DONT.

I typically like the dummies books for introductions into subjects. For basic concepts, this book does very well. However, the programming language examples are in a couple different forms of BASIC, C++ and a mac compiler.I don't know if it's the book itself or the accompanying cd, but NONE of the C++ programs work properly. I've been forced to try and learn how to correct some of the most basic mistakes off of the internet, but it has really hampered my ability to learn this programming language, especially as the programs get more complex.This is the 4th and most recent addition. I would assume that enough sales to quantify four iterations would qualify this book for a technical editor, not just someone with a firm grasp of English.Wiley Publishing, please stop making computer study aids edited by people that don't understand the technical terms and programs. I've wasted hours just trying to figure out what's wrong instead of actually LEARNING.

Excellent service, the book is as described. My student has been using it with great success.