Foreword to the Second Edition

I was thrilled that Tamar and Ted decided to update their Hacker’s Guide for Visual FoxPro 6.0. The easily understandable style of the Guide will help Fox developers come up to speed quickly on the wonderful new features in VFP 6. I continue to enjoy the way they examine each and every feature, even the potential “gotchas”.

An innovation of the 6.0 Guide is the HTML Help version that comes on CD. You’ll have all the fabulous content of the Hacker’s Guide in the easily searchable Table of Contents and Index of HTML Help. I appreciate the fact that I can still sit in my comfortable easy chair and read straight through the book, and yet I have the Guide’s valuable information at my fingertips when I’m using VFP at my desk.

Tamar and Ted, thanks again for sharing your knowledge with the Fox community.

Susan Graham
Former Visual FoxPro Program Manager
Microsoft Developer Division

Foreword to the First Edition

When I first learned that Tamar and Ted were planning to “take the plunge” and write a Visual FoxPro book, I couldn’t have been more pleased. Tamar’s ability to explain complex concepts is well known, as is Ted’s depth of knowledge about many aspects of the product.

In The Hacker’s Guide to Visual FoxPro for Windows Tamar and Ted make the learning curve much flatter for novice users of Visual FoxPro, as well as for those who are already fairly comfortable with the product. They discuss concepts new to the Xbase developer (such as Object Oriented Programming), as well as old concepts with new guise (no more READs!). They also present a great deal of information in their reference component, which is the heart of the book. However, my favorite section is “Franz and Other Lists” - a collection of lists containing information one can never seem to find in the Help file (it’s usually there, but it can be hard to find). And don’t miss the section on Frequently Asked Questions.

As in the articles they’ve written and in the talks they’ve given, Tamar and Ted provide technical information, strategies and source code on a Companion Disk. They provide clear and concise explanations of complex subjects such as SQL, the new event model and parameterized views. I especially appreciate the real-life examples of why to use a feature in a particular way. It truly aids in understanding.

Even though the content of this book is basically technical, the style of this Hacker’s Guide is informal, quite amusing, and is a particularly easy read. How many of you get the reference in the title Controls and KAOS?

It has been my pleasure to work with Tamar and Ted on the many FoxPro beta cycles I’ve managed over the past few years. (Nobody has read our Help File and docs as thoroughly as Tamar has!) Their insights and opinions have helped us improve each of our products, and this perspective is demonstrated to great advantage in the Hacker’s Guide. This book will be a valuable resource to Visual FoxPro users.

Susan Graham
Visual FoxPro Program Manager
Microsoft Developer Division