Reader reviews

Good book. The writing is direct and the author is honest about limits.

I was looking for something that would bridge the gap between tutorials and proper reference material, and this does that well. The balance between theory and practice is well judged; neither side dominates. Some terminology is introduced without much ceremony; I had to look a few things up along the way. Worth picking up if you already have the basics. Set realistic expectations and you will get a lot out of it.

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

A colleague recommended this and I can see why. It does something that few technical books manage: it respects the reader's time. The chapters on parallel programming are the strongest — the examples are stripped down but complete, and I could follow along without constant guessing. The author avoids over-explaining, which keeps the pace up but means you need to pay attention. If you have the prerequisites, this is an easy recommendation. I will be keeping it on my desk rather than the shelf.

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

A colleague recommended this and I can see why. It does something that few technical books manage: it respects the reader's time. The index and cross-references are surprisingly good, which matters for a book I will come back to. There is a section near the end that ties several earlier ideas together in a way I had not seen before. Borrow it first if you can, or at least check the table of contents carefully before buying.

A useful guide. The examples assume a particular environment, but that is fixable.

I was looking for something that would bridge the gap between tutorials and proper reference material, and this does that well. The chapters on game programming are the strongest — the examples are stripped down but complete, and I could follow along without constant guessing. The examples are small enough to type out and experiment with, which is exactly what I want from a book like this. There is a section near the end that ties several earlier ideas together in a way I had not seen before. Good value for the price and worth the time it takes to work through properly.

Very good, with a few caveats. The core material is strong.

I have been working with javascript for a few years now and I still found plenty here that was new to me. It is denser than the page count suggests, and I found myself slowing down around the middle. I appreciated the honesty about what the book does not cover — it saved me from expecting things that were not there. The author clearly knows the subject deeply and has thought hard about how to teach it. Solid, and I would buy another book from this author without hesitation.

Genuinely excellent — I finished it in a week and immediately started again.

This is the third book I have read on graphics this year, and it is comfortably the best of them. The book rewards careful reading. Skimming it would be a mistake. The author avoids over-explaining, which keeps the pace up but means you need to pay attention. An easy five stars from me. I look forward to whatever the author writes next.