Reader reviews

Useful in parts. Fine as a reference, less so as a cover-to-cover read.

There is a particular kind of technical book that is dense without being difficult, and this is one of them. I particularly liked the way the author builds up from simple cases before introducing the harder material. There is a section near the end that ties several earlier ideas together in a way I had not seen before. Fine, but there are stronger books on the same subject if you look around.

Recommended, with the caveat that it is not a gentle introduction.

A colleague recommended this and I can see why. It does something that few technical books manage: it respects the reader's time. I particularly liked the way the author builds up from simple cases before introducing the harder material. The author clearly knows the subject deeply and has thought hard about how to teach it. The exercises at the end of each chapter are worth doing — they caught a few misconceptions I did not know I had. Solid, and I would buy another book from this author without hesitation.

I have read a lot of books on this subject and this is the clearest.

I had been on the fence about this one for a while, and I should have bought it sooner. I particularly liked the way the author builds up from simple cases before introducing the harder material. It is denser than the page count suggests, and I found myself slowing down around the middle. If you have the prerequisites, this is an easy recommendation. I will be keeping it on my desk rather than the shelf.

Solid and well-organised. A couple of chapters dragged a little.

There is a particular kind of technical book that is dense without being difficult, and this is one of them. A couple of chapters felt like they could have been merged, but that is a minor complaint. The book rewards careful reading. Skimming it would be a mistake. A good addition to a technical library, as long as you know what you are buying.

I got a lot out of this, even if a few sections felt rushed.

There is a particular kind of technical book that is dense without being difficult, and this is one of them. Some of the material is available elsewhere, but rarely presented this clearly. The chapters on game programming are the strongest — the examples are stripped down but complete, and I could follow along without constant guessing. Good value for the price and worth the time it takes to work through properly.

Well worth picking up if you already have the basics.

I read this over a couple of weekends alongside a small side project, which turned out to be the ideal way to approach it. There is a section near the end that ties several earlier ideas together in a way I had not seen before. The explanations are careful without being condescending, which is a difficult balance to strike. The code samples assume a particular environment, which took a bit of fiddling to get running properly. Good value for the price and worth the time it takes to work through properly.