Reader reviews

Outstanding. I kept finding reasons to come back to it.

This is the third book I have read on game programming this year, and it is comfortably the best of them. A few of the examples could be more realistic, but the underlying points come across clearly. There is a section near the end that ties several earlier ideas together in a way I had not seen before. This is the book I wish had existed when I started working with game programming.

A genuinely enjoyable read that also taught me a great deal.

I had been on the fence about this one for a while, and I should have bought it sooner. The early chapters move quickly through material I already knew, but the later sections were genuinely new to me. The author is unusually honest about where the simplifications break down, which I appreciated. I have already recommended it to two colleagues and will recommend it to more.

This is the one to get if you are serious about programming.

I picked this up after getting stuck on a project and it turned out to be exactly the right book at the right time. The explanations are careful without being condescending, which is a difficult balance to strike. The progression from chapter to chapter is well thought out; nothing feels out of order. The writing is direct and does not waste space on filler, which I value in a technical book. This is the book I wish had existed when I started working with programming.

This is the one to get if you are serious about graphics & design.

I read this over a couple of weekends alongside a small side project, which turned out to be the ideal way to approach it. The book rewards careful reading. Skimming it would be a mistake. The chapters on graphics & design are the strongest — the examples are stripped down but complete, and I could follow along without constant guessing. Worth the money and the reading time, without hesitation.

The clearest explanation of analytics I have come across.

I have been working with analytics for a few years now and I still found plenty here that was new to me. Some of the material is available elsewhere, but rarely presented this clearly. A few of the examples could be more realistic, but the underlying points come across clearly. The exercises at the end of each chapter are worth doing — they caught a few misconceptions I did not know I had. Worth the money and the reading time, without hesitation.

A few useful pages, but mostly material I had seen better elsewhere.

I came to this book already familiar with the basics, and it still had plenty to offer. The author is unusually honest about where the simplifications break down, which I appreciated. The code samples assume a particular environment, which took a bit of fiddling to get running properly. The balance between theory and practice is well judged; neither side dominates. Two stars. The subject deserves a better treatment than this.