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The book has been really helpful. I have created a C# assembly for silverlight that handles all of the scorm calls. Just have to find the time to do the testing on it. (2011)
Another great book by Jeff Rhodes. The title of the review says it all. I have been developing e-Learning, starting in ToolBook, since 1995. Later I moved on to Flash and now am doing some work in Silverlight. Since Silverlight is not a mature product when it comes to e-Learning development, Jeff's book has been invaluable in the creation of not only module content but Silverlight assemblies, behaviors, and custom controls. I would highly recommend this book to any e-Learning developer using any of the three development platforms covered in this book. (2011)
It's a keeper! Nice job on the book. We definitely want to have one copy for a desk reference. Down the road, we may end up ordering a couple more. (2011)
I am most impressed by your work in "Programming for e-Learning Developers"--your knowledge of all four programs and your ability to draw from each of them to enlighten understanding of the others! (2010)
I have seen so far, it fills a big hole in the eLlearning programmer's universe. (2010)
I just happened last evening to come on to an important discovery through your book. At one point, when reviewing the various means of programming the "Beatles" album line-up, you mention that certain things take longer using the Actions Editor because it does not support dynamic object referencing. Voila! After having built some nested loop structures for just that purpose and having come down to the head-scratching point about how I was going to dynamically set the properties of a matrix of buttons on my screen, I was spared the effort. Can't be done. That saved me a lot of grief. (2010)
Thanks for the great book "Programming for e-Learning Developers." It has been of tremendous help. (2010)
I just finished Jeff Rhodes's new book "Programming for e-Learning Developers." I think it is fantastic and highly recommend it. I have been simultaneously learning ToolBook and ActionScript 3 and his book falls right into place. It explains, in simple, easy to understand language, how the same e-Learning events are produced in not only ToolBook and Flash, but Javascript and Silverlight as well. Even if you have no plans on learning another programming language, his ToolBook examples and explanations (both Actions Editor AND OpenScript) alone are worth reading. (2009)
Jeff, I think you did an outstanding job with "Programming for e-Learning Developers." I have been learning both ToolBook and ActionScript 3.0 at the same time and your approach has me firing on all cylinders. What a great idea to show and explain the various methods of each type of authoring! I don't know if the market would be big enough to warrant the production, but this would translate nicely into a Learning & Mastering type training tool. Imagine, hands-on! This book is "elegant." (2009)
Your book came today and it looks like a ray of sunshine after a long cloudy winter! (2009)
This is a book that should be in the library of any organization that is doing in-house development of e-Learning. I would even recommend it to those who are using rapid development tools, just because of the information on using JavaScript and Flash. (2009)
If you are new to development, I would suggest starting by placing a bookmark near the back of the book, at the beginning of the session on OOP. You might even read through it quickly first. But then go to the front of the book, and work through it in order. Don’t skip around. You can trust Rhodes. He isn’t going to leave you high and dry. (2009)
Probably my favorite parts of this book are the chapters on dynamically loading graphics, reading XML, and making SCORM calls. In my opinion, these three chapters alone are worth the price of the book. I don’t know that you will find the content on making SCORM calls from Silverlight anywhere else. (2009)
Another good feature is the way Rhodes points out unique features of each tool. For example, he is very helpful in showing how to use the Popup in Silverlight as an alternative to the Message Box. In doing this, he manages to still take things in order from simple to complex. The further you go in the book, the more complex and lengthy the code examples get (good thing you don’t have to type them in yourself!). (2009)
I particularly like the way Rhodes deals with the usual things that are hard to explain and get right. He is, for example, very good about giving the reader warnings about things that can go wrong. He even addressed practices that open JavaScript up to script attacks – something every developer needs to be keenly aware of these days. (2009)
I believe that a person new to programming will find Rhodes’ examples extremely useful in coming up to speed in any of the four tools. (2009)
Rhodes has done a superlative job, complete with lots of screen shots and code examples. (2009)
I had to let my Flash programmer go recently so I’ve been heavily into trying to understand Flash coding. The book is a perfect primer. (2009)
Your book arrived and we are all impressed, not only on the content, but the way that you have it organized and made so easy to make parallels between the languages. It gives a lot of confidence to “cook” ideas in a tool-independent way. That’s what I think put you light years ahead ordinary references and some common corporate IT thinking. Thanks! (2009)
You've done a really great job on this book. Although I no longer involve myself in programming (I never was formally trained), a book like this allows me to be an intelligent customer for software design services and that is a really important benefit. For those of us running our own production houses, we need to have enough knowledge to detect the bullshit! (2009)
The chapter on the glossary function in Flash was what I was really looking forward to reading. We've struggled for ages trying to figure out how to do pop-ups in Flash. The answer was blindingly simple - and even though I have (had) a programmer who cost me $90k per year it took you to tell me how to do it!. Similarly, my so-called professional programmer took 3 months to produce a drag and drop solution for me. It is so complex and so over engineered that I can't understand how to use it. If only I had had your book to guide me:). (2009)
If you’re worried about your existing code in earlier technology and how to take advantage of new features without breaking the bank - this book is for you. If you’re worried about how to work in cross-software technology to take advantage of all of the new capability that is spewing out of totally different faucets - this book is also for you. Jeff is a man who builds products in all of these different technologies, and now he is sharing his best cross-software approaches with you. (2009)
Thanks again Jeff for writing such a fabulous resource! (2009)
I can't imagine what a process it was to write this for each of the programming environments....what a hellacious challenge! (2009)
The Object-Oriented Programming chapter is a nice way to round off and tackles some poorly understood concepts (poorly understood by occasional or "one language" programmers that is). (2009)
Great stuff. Really useful. I love the SCORM chapter and have not seen this clearly explained anywhere else, so well done. (2009)
I like the concept of teaching the same technique in multiple languages. The reader will gain a much deeper understanding through this compare and contrast approach. All in all, this is a really nice hands-on book! (2009)
I've just finished reading your book. It’s a veritable tour de force! In fact it’s a hugely important reference book for the e-Learning developer; I only wish had read it before we embarked on our latest development work. (2009)
I really like the SCORM section. The book could be on this topic alone and be really valuable. (2009)
Wow, "Hello World!", "Bonjour monde!", "Hallo Welt!", "Hola mundo!" - That's "Hello World!" in four languages, but here I have not let on which language is which:-) Jeff has excelled once again, here we have a book that clearly explains, step by step, how to do the much loved popup box - "This is a test" in ToolBook OpenScript, ToolBook Actions, Flash, Silverlight and JavaScript. But wait, there's more to this book than "Hello World!", Jeff takes us through many examples of easily understood programming tasks detailing how to achieve these tasks using more than one tool. I highly recommend this book to you. (2009)
This book is unique in that it shows you, step by step, how to do the same task using different tools, this provides an insight into other tools that you may not fully understand but you must work with. Even if you don't personally build the Flash content, having an understanding can help you explain to your Flash programmer your specific requirements and if they too had a copy of this book then they would have some understanding of ToolBook. I am confident that you will find this book an invaluable addition to your library. (2009)
This is an absolute MUST HAVE! For many years now training developers have needed to use more than just one tool to build effective, engaging interactive training, few will disagree that there is not one tool that can do everything. So where does that leave us? We need to be "Jack of all and master of ..." This one book will help you understand the different coding techniques and syntaxes between different tools and programming languages. No, you don't need to be a programmer either. (2009)
This wonderful walk through “e-learning Multimedia-Land” is like having a Park Ranger give you all of the details of Banff National Park. Jeffrey has been in the e-learning business longer than most Park Rangers have been in the parks, and this book delivers all of his years of experience – what works and what doesn’t and the how-to’s, like linking up with the big LMS’s, using the right tool for the right job, traversing the old established legacy tools and the new hi-tech tools, and bringing it all together into your final product that will instruct and teach and help others grow. (2009)
Let this book do the translation for you so you can concentrate on the e-Learning product. Quickly find the syntax of each tool for the right job within your multi-tool design. (2009)
Over 100 Sample Listings – what a great learning and reference – both a teacher and a library. The “Index” alone is worth the book. (2009)
The book is crammed full of keen insights and time-saving tips! The reader will benefit greatly from Jeff’s enthusiasm and unrelenting search for answers to the tough questions (i.e., those handy undocumented features). (2009)
This is a hugely good book. It’s focused, pertinent, and authoritative while always remaining clear and easy to understand - a rare combination indeed in books of this sort. I would strongly recommend it to anyone involved in e-Learning development. (2009)
I've scanned your first couple of chapters and am all fired up - I like it! (2009)