FBeginner

[LooseCaboose]

Very nice. I do have a few constructive criticisms though:

1. I think the chapter layout is a little confusing for beginners. You introduce FreeBasic's compatibility with C before you explain how to add two numbers together for example. A better layout (IMHO) would be: Numeric data types, Arithmetic operators, Converting numbers. The chapter on C compatibility could even be moved to an appendix: it isn't really necessary in a beginners book for FreeBasic. When it is necessary to explain some of the C compatibility (Zstrings for example) it could be noted in the text that further information is available in the appendicies.

2. You don't introduce strings until chapter 10. Most introduction to programming books explain strings early on since they are fairly important in holding the readers interest since they can write programs which produce interesting output. I would probably split the string chapter in two, having a basic string chapter early in the text and an advanced chapter later explaining things like Zstrings, Wstrings and pointers to strings.

3. You don't appear to have a chapter on logical constructs (yet?). A chapter covering if, while, for, etc should probably be introduced early on (possibly just after the chapters on using numbers). Again you could split this into a beginner and advanced chapter, with the advanced chapter explaining things like the switch statement and nested loops.

4. You also lack a chapter on functions and subroutines. They are introduced briefly in the introduction to FBIDE however a more indepth coverage would be nice.

5. Some of your sentences are a bit hard to follow. Occasionaly you use too many commas. For example:

Since FreeBasic uses the runtime library, you can use it as well in your programs, and there are a number of useful functions available.

Could be rewritten as:

Since FreeBasic includes the runtime library you can use it in your programs. The runtime library provides a number of useful functions.

Note that the comma after library is not necessary (or correct). Commas are need when joining to independant clauses (see here and here). It would probably be a good idea to list a few of the useful functions after the second sentence. There are also a number of instances where ", and" would be better replaced with a fullstop and a new sentence.

Aside from those things (apologies if I sound harsh) the book is looking great. The introduction is very easy to follow and the examples and caution notes are very helpful. Keep up the good work.