Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!mcsun!ukc!cam-cl!news From: nad@cl.cam.ac.uk (Neil Dodgson) Newsgroups: comp.graphics Subject: Re: Graphics Gems Message-ID: <1991Feb20.092455.12695@cl.cam.ac.uk> Date: 20 Feb 91 09:24:55 GMT References: <1991Feb19.193857.15697@ccu.umanitoba.ca> Reply-To: nad@cl.cam.ac.uk (Neil Dodgson) Organization: U of Cambridge Comp Lab, UK Lines: 63 In article <1991Feb19.193857.15697@ccu.umanitoba.ca> yackob@eeserv.ee.umanitoba.ca (Kerry Yackoboski) writes: > I've heard a lot about this book, and on the strength >of how often it's mentioned, I'm considering ordering it. >Can one person who uses the book give us a short description >of what the book contains? Is it mainly code, or are the >algorithms well-explained? Or is there no code? What language >are the routines written in? Designed for a certain machine? >I hope nobody takes a lot of time to review it - a few lines would >help greatly. > thanks, Kerry. 600 pages of text explaining algorithms, techniques and useful little snippets of information. This is followed by 200 pages of C code implementing the algorithms. If you work in computer graphics then it is worth buying it --- but don't buy it if you know only a little about graphics, spend your money on something like Foley, van Dam, Feiner and Hughes first. A review for Graphics Gems is to appear (or has appeared) in "University Computing": ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Glassner, the editor of this 800 page tome, says "I have wanted a book like this for a long time". In it he has collected over a hundred gems of wisdom from over fifty of the leading lights in the international graphics community. His aim was to produce an anthology of short notes, each explaining the nuts and bolts of the programming and implementation of some detail in the field of computer graphics. The result is a large, well-presented volume brimming with useful information and hints for every graphics programmer. While there is certainly no way a single book could hope to cover the details of [italic]all[enditalic] computer graphics techniques, [italic]Graphics Gems[enditalic] still manages to cover topics ranging across the whole spectrum of computer graphics, and the gems themselves are generally well written and of good quality. With such a large number of authors one could hardly expect a consistent writing style across the gems but Glassner aimed to make the [italic]presentation[enditalic] as consistent as possible. I found that this consistent presentation, accompanied by excellent design and layout, made the book a pleasure to read. Another outcome of fifty-three different authors is the differing depths of the gems. I found that most of them are easy to read and comprehend but a few go quite deep into their subject and a couple of these probably go deeper than is necessary in the context. Quite a number of the gems are too terse to be useful to a novice. Having said that, this book is not designed for a novice. Nor is it a graphics textbook. Rather, it is a reference handbook for a graphics programmer and I believe that it will make an excellent addition to any existing library of graphics books. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer for people in the U.S., where there are too many lawyers: I have no connection with either Academic Press or Addison Wesley, I just like the books. Neil Dodgson, | nad@cl.cam.ac.uk Computer Laboratory, | Pembroke Street, | Cambridge, U.K. CB2 3QG | Brought to you by Super Global Mega Corp .com