+OK 28950 octets Received: from VMS.DC.LSOFT.COM (vms.dc.lsoft.com [206.241.13.27]) by mixer.visi.com (8.8.8/8.7.5) with ESMTP id BAA21896 for ; Thu, 6 Aug 1998 01:01:08 -0500 (CDT) Received: from PEAR.EASE.LSOFT.COM (206.241.12.19) by VMS.DC.LSOFT.COM (LSMTP for OpenVMS v1.1a) with SMTP id <5.1CE39727@VMS.DC.LSOFT.COM>; Thu, 6 Aug 1998 1:58:04 -0500 Received: from PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM by PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM (LISTSERV-TCP/IP release 1.8d) with spool id 24724056 for COMPUNOTES-L@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM; Thu, 6 Aug 1998 01:58:03 -0400 Received: from pgrote.grotehome.com (pm3-5stl34.xtraport.net [209.74.139.34]) by mail1.i1.net (8.8.5/8.8.5) with SMTP id BAA08131 for ; Thu, 6 Aug 1998 01:03:49 -0500 (CDT) Posted-Date: Thu, 6 Aug 1998 01:01:08 -0500 (CDT) Received-Date: Thu, 6 Aug 1998 01:01:08 -0500 (CDT) Approved-By: pgrote@I1.NET X-Priority: 3 (Normal) X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook 8.5, Build 4.71.2173.0 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V4.72.2106.4 Importance: Normal Message-ID: <199808060603.BAA08131@mail1.i1.net> Date: Thu, 6 Aug 1998 00:51:02 -0500 Reply-To: Patrick Grote Sender: "IBM Compatible Weekly Reviews, Interviews, and News - FREE!" From: Patrick Grote Subject: CompuNotes Issue #125 To: COMPUNOTES-L@PEACH.EASE.LSOFT.COM Content-Type: text X-UIDL: 5f9aa5d929c27c2db6aaebf0628a1f3e CompuNotes Notes from The Cutting Edge of Personal Computing August 5, 1998 Issue 125 +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= To subscribe, send an e-mail to listserv@peach.ease.lsoft.com SUBSCRIBE COMPUNOTES-L FirstName LastName To unsubscribe, send an e-mail to listserv@peach.ease.lsoft.com SIGNOFF COMPUNOTES-L For Contact and Other Information See Bottom of Publication! +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= CONTENTS My Notes: 1=> CompuNotes Notes, mailto:pgrote@i1.net 2=> This Issue's Winner! News: 3=> News of the Week, mailto:pgrote@i1.net Reviews: 4=> Product: Peter J. Kovach's "The Awesome Power of Direct3D/DirectX", Book Reviewed By: Songmuh Jong, mailto:songmuh@mci2000.com 5=> Product: Programmer's Heaven (Volume 1), programming Reviewed by: Michael Gallo, gallomike@aol.com 6=> Product: Net Trivia - Internet Trivia Game, games Reviewed by: Tonya Beauregard, mailto:micpute@pipcom.com 7=> Product: Office 97 Annoyances, book Reviewed By: Gail Marsella, mailto:gbcmars@enter.net 8=> Product: Java Language Reference by Mark Grand, book Reviewed By: Doug Reed, mailto:dr2web@sprynet.com +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= Over 10,000 subscribe free to NEAT NET TRICKS, a light-hearted (not too technical) collection of computer and internet tips twice monthly. You can see why, by visiting the web site at http://bounce.to/jteems; or go ahead and take the plunge -- subscribe with e-mail to majordomo@majordomo.net and indicate in the message body 'subscribe neatnettricks' (without quotes.) +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= --- BEGIN ISSUE 1=> No News this Week! 2=> Winner! This week's winner: gb245@CLEVELAND.FREENET.EDU. <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< Free business presentation and speech material to capitvate your audience or customers. Touch people's hearts with daily heartwarmers! Whether it's for business, or to escape from the daily grind or share some humorous and inspirational thoughts with family or friends, heartwarmers are just what the doctor ordered. Get your free subscription today. Send an email to: heartwarmers-on@heartwarmers4u.com <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< 3=> News and Game Bits, mailto:pgrote@i1.net or mailto:dr2web@sprynet.com The Hoosiers Get Net2 . . . http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,24970,00.html?st.ne.fd.mdh Someone Please Put Ralph Nadar Back in the Ziploc Bag ... He is Starting to Smell . . . http://www.news.com/News/Item/0,4,24975,00.html?st.ne.fd.gif.k The Digital Divide ... So What . . . http://www.msnbc.com/news/185379.asp?st.ne.fd.mnaw The Chinese and Domain Names . . . http://www.wired.com/news/news/technology/story/14242.html Labelled a Spammer is Horrible ... This Guy Fights Back . . . http://www.wired.com/news/news/politics/story/14213.html Virtual Ads ... So Real You Would Can Hear the Copy Boy . . . http://www.abcnews.com/sections/tech/DailyNews/virtualads980804.html NT Beta 5.0 Only 100 Bugs Away from Release . . . http://www.zdnet.com/pcweek/news/0803/05ent.html <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< Free Stuff! Cool Links! Lotsa Jokes! Contest Info! Sign up for the ALL-NEW - "laugh-your-ass-off" - It's Daily subscribership grows faster than my jockstrap in a girl's locker-room. Just Click Below and sit back! jokemeister-on@mail-list.com or why not visit their website and sign up from there. I'm there now giggling! Click Here - http://www.laugh-your-ass-off.com CYA! <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>< 4=> Product: Peter J. Kovach's "The Awesome Power of Direct3D/DirectX", Book Reviewed By: Songmuh Jong, mailto:songmuh@mci2000.com Requires: Working knowledge of Visual C++, and preferably a Pentium PC running Microsoft Visual C++ v4.0 or higher and Autodesk 3D Studio MAX. Reviewed on: Pentium 166MMX, 64MB RAM, 2MB Video Card, 16X CD, Windows NT Server 4.0, Microsoft Visual C++ 5.0. MSRP: $54.95. This is a book targeting programmers that are interested in 3D graphics using Direct3D/DirectX. The topic is fascinating but is also one of the most difficult area in programming. It's fascinating because its principles can be applied to advanced GUI designs. It's difficult because 3D graphics used to require complex calculation from the programmers' part. Microsoft's DirectX tries to ease some of the barriers programmers face. Because it is one of the fast-moving area in the programming frontier, the documentation is also very dynamic and scattered on the Internet only. The author's book is a welcomed compilation of related documentation and his working samples. Chapter One gives a very lucid introduction to Windows device independence and DirectX components. Direct3D is one of the six components of DirectX, and provides direct low-level access to 3D graphics hardware. The high-level Retained mode API of Direct3D is developed for Win95 programmers while the low-level Immediate Mode of Direct3D is for DOS programmers who wish to use the code they have developed. Other components of DirectX will also be used. For example, DirectDraw will be used to display graphics on the screen. I mentioned working samples, but the samples came with the book's CD actually did not work in my first try. The filename mentioned in the book did not match the one that came on the CD. Fortunately, I discovered the author's web site (listed at the end of this review). On that site, the author has the missing files available for free downloading. After installing the missing files, I successfully compiled the first sample program in Chapter 2--a skeleton Windows program for developing 3D programs discussed in subsequent chapters. Chapter Three discusses the codes that are required to make a program Direct3D application, i.e., 3D data structure, rendering functions, Clipper objects, color model, setting up hardware drivers, creating the device, scene, and Viewport. The author also explained the camera frame, viewing frustum, perspective projection, foreshortening, dithering, as well as system checking to ensure that the system supports Direct3D. You might think that after the above discussion of topics and techniques, one would have a 3D graphics running. Not yet! The 3D world rendering routines are ready, but we need additional features in order to see something on the screen. That's the topic in Chapter Four. The author discusses the lighting models in this chapter. Indeed, a 3D world will not be seen without proper lighting effects. Direct3D has five types of lighting. Using combinations of these lighting types, one can create realistic virtual scenes. Chapter Four also introduces the fundamentals of graphics, including object transformation, translation, rotation, scaling, frame transformations, and frame motions. Chapter Five discusses the topic of loading objects from files. Although one can create objects inside the program, it is far more easier to have the objects pre-built and then load them into the application. This is where you need Autodesk 3D Studio MAX to create 3D objects and export them to the DirectX format. Chapter Six adds keyboard and mouse control to the application. Chapter Seven creates objects on the fly instead of loading from pre-built ones. Chapter Eight adds textures and material to the 3D scene. Chapter Nine adds Joystick control. Chapter Ten discusses collision detection. Chapter Eleven adds sound effects using DirectSound. This is another DirectX component. Chapter Twelve discusses animations and fog, a graphic method to hide the distant portions of the scene. Chapter Thirteen discusses graphics accelerators and the performance of 3D application briefly. Chapter Fourteen summarizes the Direct3D features and creates a sample application. Chapter Fifteen presents another sample application that runs in full screen instead of windowed. By this time, all the discussion of Retained Mode of Direct3D is complete. How about the Immediate Mode? Most of the commercial software are written using the Immediate Mode due to the large code base inherited from the DOS world. Chapters Sixteen to Eighteen follow a similar sequence of discussion for the previous chapters and will not be repeated here. Chapter Nineteen is a summary and gives some thought about the future direction of game application and virtual reality. The other half of this book is a reference listing of all the Direct3D functions and interfaces. In summary, this book is very well organized in the topics it presents. The subject is also one of the most fascinating aspects of programming and fills the needs of many programmers. However, it is full of grammatical errors and often stops the reader from continuing reading the book. Most of the sample programs cannot be compiled without errors. Even after I download the missing files from the author's web site, the only program that gets compiled well is the one for Chapter Two. Other programs still generate errors in Visual C++ v5.0. For a book that is published in 1998, it is interesting that a revised edition is already out after this reviewer received the first edition. However, its well-organized discussion of 3D graphics programming is still worth the patience of reading. Manning Publications Co. Product Website: http://cjc1.tiac.net/direct3d/ 5=> Product: Programmer's Heaven (Volume 1), programming Reviewed by: Michael Gallo, gallomike@aol.com Requires: Windows, CD-ROM, ?5MB HD for Explorer and Winzip MSRP $24.95 Programmer's Heaven (PH) is a programming reference and toolbox product. The amount of information contained on the CD-ROM is very extensive. There are over 8,700 zipped files on the CD! The amount of information on the CD is too much to go into any real detail. This review will provide a summary of the content that is available and some of the more interesting things I found on the CD. I would characterize this product as one big archive of public domain information and shareware tools and information for systems level and application programmers. The CD comes bundled with a web browser and WinZip program. I appreciated the publisher's thoughtfulness by providing those programs. That's like the manufacturers who include batteries with the new toy you just purchased. The bundled Web Browser is Microsoft's Internet Explorer Version 3.02 with a separate update. If you already have a browser installed you can use that one instead. The CD is indexed using HTML index files and contains summary information about all the files on the CD. One quirky note: Even though the browser's mouse pointer changed to indicate that I could click on a file name, I could not get the browser to go to that file. I had to use Windows Explorer to call up the individual files. It may be just my system. I don't know if it was the browser that had the problem or the HTML index, but it's no big deal. PH broadly covers the following major categories: Programming theory, programming languages, graphics, sound, networks, hardware and other miscellaneous topics. The scope of information is very wide. Programming languages covered includes C, C++, PASCAL, Assembly, Visual Basic(including VB4,but not VB5), and Delphi. Programmers can get information on several microprocessors including x86(up to Pentium), the Motorola 68000 series, Z80, 6502, and several others. This is serious programming stuff! For instance, the CD-ROM includes the INTEL 386 Programmer's Reference manual circa 1986 (an 880K text file!). There are many utilities sprinkled throughout the CD depending on the topic you are exploring including source code editors, hex editors, diagnostic utilities, and assemblers and disassemblers. Remember, some of these programs might be dated. Be sure to check the author/source on the Internet to see if a more recent version of the utility is available. Programmers will also find tons of sample code and libraries they can link with their compilers. Information about programmer's heaven is also available on the Web. Point your browser to www.programmersheaven.com According to the web site a second volume is also available with an MSRP of $29.95. I suggest reader visit this web site because it contains the entire list of files and the index for PH. I do have one major gripe about the product. Almost all the files on the CD-ROM are zipped. That's great for maximizing the amount of information that can be packed on the CD-ROM, but I find it's a pain to have to unzip the files before viewing/using them. CD-ROM disks are cheap. I think the publisher should break up the file and put them (unzipped) on multiple disks. As a final comment, let me also say that I like the WinZip program very much. Even though I was irked that the files on the CD-ROM were zipped, WinZip allows the user to open a zip file, and then double click on the files contained in the zip file. WinZip will automatically unzip the file and run the associated program for that file. That does make things a little bit more convenient. Just as most programmers have a library of reference books they keep handy to help them do their job. Many times a book might be useful because of only one chapter or section. Programmers can easily spend hundreds of dollars compiling all of this information in print. I would recommend Programmer's Heaven as a helpful companion/alternative to those reference books. Synchron Data Programmer's Heaven Product Website: www.programmersheaven.com 6=> Product: Net Trivia - Internet Trivia Game, games Reviewed by: Tonya Beauregard, mailto:micpute@pipcom.com Requires: Win 95, Intel Pentium 75 or higher Win 3.1 66mhz processor, dos 3.3 or higher Both require 8MB Ram, 2x CD, VGA video, 8MB Hard drive space, mouse, 14.4 modem, internet access Recommended: 16 MB Ram Reviewed on: Intel 166, 64MB Ram, 24X CD, Win 95, cable wave MSRP: $14.99 If you are looking for a fast paced, interactive, multi-player trivia game then this is the product for you. Net Trivia by Expert Software will test your trivia knowledge in lots of different categories while giving you the opportunity to interact with other players from all over the world. Installation is a breeze with this program. Simply pop it into your CD and it auto loads. After a couple of Okays to confirm certain specifics and you are off. Even the registration form is easily sent via your modem. After making sure that you are connected to the internet you can select the program from your start menu, enter your chosen username and password, and you are ready to play your first interactive trivia competition. Net Trivia offers you a choice of 13 different categories to choose from. They have everything from science and music to television and sports. There is even a kid's category. Choosing a new category is made easy for you simply click on the category box on your screen and choose a new category from the list. Immediately you are taken to the room of your choice where you can start to answer questions and accumulate points. With choosing a category made this easy there is no reason not to try them all. Scheduled tournaments start every hour and last for forty-five minutes with fifteen-minute intervals between each one. You score points by answering the questions. As the seconds tick away the point values drop, so the faster you type in your answer the more points you get for it. You can gain bonus points by being in the top three scores at the end of each tournament. Scores keep building monthly and you get rated on your overall score against the other members of that category. Top score for the month gets into the hall of fame on Quiet's Net Trivia page. On the first day of each month the scores are reset to zero giving everyone the opportunity to start fresh in their quest to be added to the hall of fame. Scores do not get carried over from one category to the next, they remain with the category they were earned in and rank you accordingly there. Another advantage in this game that I have yet to encounter in others is the fact that you can submit questions of your own. You can also submit what is referred to as bad questions. If you feel a question has a wrong answer or is just plain bad you can submit it with your reason for review. This gives the player the feeling that they are participating in the over all make up of the game and questions. Chat options is another advantage in this game. You can chat openly with everyone in your category by typing in the upper left side of your screen. However if open chat is not what you are looking for then there is the ability to whisper, direct your comment to someone specific or page someone in another category. If none of these meet your needs you can write the other person a note and leave it in their mailbox for the next time they come in to play. There are status boxes that place all the information you may want with in a clicks reach. These boxes show the top scores for each category, all players scores in any specific category, configuration for all your personal preferences, who's on line playing, and a help button amongst others. If despite all these you cannot find what you need there are two sysops Topcat and Quiet. Otherwise there are what are called Trivops. The Trivops are volunteers assigned to each category to help new players get going and to answer any players questions that might arise. Quiet has a page dedicated to Net Trivia and is responsible for the Hall of Fame you can view her page at http://web.idirect.com/~quiet. Expert Software Inc. has put an MSRP on this product of $14.99 however it can be downloaded for free from http://www.nettrivia.com/nettrivia/index.html. The download gives you a 21-day free trial period where as the CD version gives you three months. However with either version you must sign on with Internet Direct at the end of the trial period for $29.00 US per year. For information on Internet Direct please go to http://www.idirect.com. In summary Net Trivia is a great internet trivia game that allows you to test your knowledge while interacting with people from all over the world. This program is easy to install, user friendly, and full of options. It's fun, it's fast, it's competitive and it's addictive. Net Trivia definitely gets thumbs up from me. Expert Software Inc. Net Trivia Product Website: http://www.expertsoftware.com/nettrivia2.htm 7=> Product: Office 97 Annoyances, book Reviewed By: Gail Marsella, mailto:gbcmars@enter.net MSRP: $24.95 There are a lot of novice computer books, and a lot for computer professionals, but very few for the intermediate user - that person already skilled and comfortable with computers, but ready to learn more without being subjected to unnecessary handholding on one side, or incomprehensible jargon on the other. O'Reilly has started filling that gap nicely with its line of "Annoyance" books. The one reviewed here, "Office 97 Annoyances", joins similar books on Excel 97, Word 97, and the original classic on Windows 95. You don't have to be a propeller-head to read any of these, but no one assumes you're a dummy, either. The authors concentrate on the productive rather than the entertainment features of Office (the latter is dismissed as demoware - suitable only for marketing presentations to journalists). Their point of view is made clear in the preface: "Face it, Office is amazing when it's not being so blasted annoying..." and they stick to that. Interestingly, the authors spend almost as much time on the good points of Office as the bad. (They really have to - a book entirely of complaints would be tough slogging no matter how well written.) In the first chapter, they defend the enormous size of Office (different people will use different subsets of features, so they all have to be there), the new HTML features (they do more than just fancy Web pages), and the macro virus protection (it's for your own good). Then they define three categories of Chapters 3 and 4 go into considerable detail on the VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) feature that comes built into Office 97. Why? Because a lot of the workarounds for annoyances require a little programming. Many examples appear here (with the code available on their Web site) and the discussion is elaborate and thorough, but clear. You may have to read some of this twice, but only because it's so densely informative. Chapters 5, 6, and 7 on "hard core office" and "strategies" are essentially a skilled user tutorial in new features and necessary workarounds. The book finishes up with a chapter on where to get help, and includes information on magazines, newsletters, listservers, and Web sites. In short, this is a superb book for the Office user who wants to get real work done with a minimum of stress and then go home. The authors - who all work for PC Computing - like Office well enough to care about improving it, and they're good at capturing the essence of it for the competent user. Company Name: O'Reilly and Associates. Product: Office 97 Annoyances, by Woody Leonhard, Lee Hudspeth & TJ Lee,1997, ISBN 1-56592-310-3 Product Web Site: http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/officeannoy/ 8=> Product: Java Language Reference by Mark Grand, book Reviewed By: Doug Reed, mailto:dr2web@sprynet.com MSRP: $29.95 The Java Language Reference is the latest book on Java published by O'Reilly, publishers of the world-renowned Java in a Nutshell. The Java Language Reference is intended to be the second in a series of books that O'Reilly wants to be the definitive Java documentation series, "a complete set of independent reference books on the language and the Java core API." The first was Exploring Java, a book designed as an introduction to Java for programmers already familiar with C++ (and reviewed by CompuNotes in Issue #58). This series will be followed by another on advanced programming topics such as threads, network programming, and database programming. The introduction to the book states in no uncertain terms that The Java Language Reference is intended solely for serious Java programmers. The name of the book says it all - the book is a reference of the syntax and control structures of Java. The book makes considerable use of "railroad diagrams" - a unique visual format for demonstrating various elements of Java, and one that works surprisingly well. For those not familiar with "railroad diagrams", think back to when you were taking English classes in high school. Remembering diagramming sentences to show the structure of the sentence? If you do, then you know what "railroad diagrams" for programming look like. Actually, the use of "railroad diagrams" in programming makes more sense to me than diagramming ever did back in high school. At least with programming I can see the point in outlining the structure of the constructs and methods. The first chapter in the book provides an introduction to Java, a brief history of the language, a description of "railroad diagrams" and how to use them, and of course the obligatory "Hello World" program. Chapter 2 discusses the lexical structure of Java and the process by which the compiler reads the Java source code and identifies keywords, literals, and operators. Chapter 3 covers the various data types that can be used in Java, while chapter 4 covers the language expressions that can be used in Java and the function of the various operators available to Java. The fifth chapter covers declarations and discusses the object-oriented aspects of Java. Chapter 6 covers statements and control structures in Java, followed by Chapter 7 which covers program structure and describes the two common types of Java programs: applets and applications. Chapter 8 discusses threading and how to use it, as well as how to synchronize multiple threads. Error- handling and exception throwing are the topics of Chapter 9. Finally, Chapter 10 contains reference information on the various classes that comprise the core java.lang package. Typically books that cover this sort of reference material for programming can be so dense as to worry me that at any moment they might collapse into themselves and create a black hole. Mark Grand deserves some real credit for writing in such a manner that the material covered in the book should be readily understandable to anyone with at least some experience in Java programming. For example, when covering the issue of increment/decrement operators in section 4.3, Grand states "The ++ operator is used to increment the contents of the variable or an array element by one, while the - operator is used to decrement such a value by one". Now you may find this hard to believe, but that is the clearest statement of the function of the ++ and - operators that I have found in a book on Java - and I have read a fair number of books on the subject! As I mentioned above, the introduction states The Java Language Reference is intended for serious Java programmers. Usually this means experts, but in the case of this book it means anyone with a passing familiarity of the language who needs a reference for writing Java programs. This book is intended to be a reference for the syntax and structure of Java, a job that it succeeds at quite well. O'Reilly has struck paydirt once again, providing yet another reference that every Java programmer will want to have on their bookshelf. O'Reilly and Associates 103 Morris Street, Suite A Sebastopol, CA 95472 1-800-998-9938 http://www.ora.com +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= Managing Editor: Patrick Grote -- mailto:pgrote@i1.net Assistant Editor: Doug Reed-- mailto:dr2web@sprynet.com Assistant Editor: Robin Nobles, mailto:smslady@netdoor.com Archives: ftp://ftp.uu.net/published/compunotes/ Website: e-mail: mailto:notes@compunotes.com Want to Write for Us?: mailto:writers@compunotes.com fax: (314) 909-1662 voice: (314) 909-1662 +=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= CompuNotes is: Available weekly via e-mail and on-line. We cover the PC computing world with comprehensive reviews, news, hot web sites, great columns and interviews. We also give away one software package a week to a lucky winner for just reading our fine publication! Never dull, sometimes tardy, we are here to bring you the computing world the way it is! Please tell every on-line friend about us! CompuNotes B440 1315 Woodgate Drive St. Louis, MO 63122 notes@compunotes.com (C)1998 Patrick Grote .