FAQs
What formats can I get your tests in?
For most of our books, the test banks on the accompanying
Instructor's CD are in ExamView, Blackboard, and RTF
formats. But if you would like to get our tests in another format,
we'll try to accommodate you. Just contact
us and let us know what format you prefer.
Do you provide errata lists for your books?
Yes, but we call them "book corrections." To find the list for a specific
title, just go to our Books
section, click on the title to go to the book's
home page, then click on the "Book corrections" link
at the bottom of the lefthand set of links.
Do your books train students for industry certification exams?
As we see it, there's teaching for exams and teaching the skills that are actually needed on the job. Since the goal of all our books is to teach the skills that are needed on the job, we don't try to analyze (and present) what's needed for the exams.
Nevertheless, one instructor recently told us that 15 out of 17 of his students passed the MTA certification test when he used our SQL Server book as the text. And professionals tell us that using our books alone puts them well on their way to passing the exams, although they may supplement them with one of the exam-preparation books.
Why don't you slow the pace of your introductory programming books?
I usually get this question along with something like: "I think your book is great, but I think it's going to be too fast for my students." My answer follows.
For more than 38 years at dozens of colleges and in dozens of corporations, our books have trained students for entry-level programming jobs. So we know they work for students with programming aptitude. And if our books present more information in 400 pages than competing books do in 800 pages, we see that as a feature of our books. It just means that your students can learn more by reading less and doing less busywork.
Beyond that, we believe that every introductory programming course should:
- Present a complete subset of the language, including how to create and
use business objects for languages like Java, PHP, C#,
and Visual Basic and how to create bulletproof applications
that do data validation and handle exceptions.
- Give a realistic view of the complexity of business
applications so the students will have a better appreciation
of what's going on as they use applications during
their business careers.
- Give the students a chance to test their programming aptitude so they can decide whether they want to become programmers or major in a computing curriculum.
If you agree with these goals, you really should try our books because most competing books don't even meet the first goal, let alone the third. Besides that, there's more to learn than ever before, and the market is already flooded with excruciatingly slow books that frustrate students with an aptitude for programming. We think it's time to raise the level of instruction, and instructors throughout the country are doing that with our books.
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