Review by Billy Barron

"Lingo and Shockwave Sourcebook" by Shah and Musser (Wiley Computer Publishing; ISBNs 0-471-16893-9) is a book about the multimedia programs Lingo and Shockwave. The authors did different sections and it is very obvious from the writing styles as I will explain.

I came into this book wondering what Lingo and Shockwave were since I heard a lot about Shockwave, but have never actually used it. Nowhere on the cover does it indicate that this is not a beginner book. Then I opened the book to Chapter 1 and it says "You should already know the difference between the Stage, the Score, and the Cast. The prerequisite for using this book is that you can use these elements of Director..." I immediately thought I never even heard of the Stage, the Score, and the Cast. I had only heard Director mentioned and had no idea what it was. This means this book is only for multimedia people who want to learn Lingo and Shockwave not for computer people with limited knowledge of multimedia. :-(

That was Shah's work. I went ahead and was less than impressed with his writing. I then skipped over to the Shockwave section which Musser did. It's like reading an entirely different book. It was fun, interesting, and interesting.

I also disagree with the Introduction of the book strongly which stated on programming that "It's definitely not something you're born with." After tutoring numerous people, I am firmly convinced that you are either born with the programming gene or not. Maybe you have the gene and never have activated it, but if you don't have the gene, you'll just never get it.

In conclusion, I was disappointed in this book. If Musser had written the entire book or it had been a beginner level book, I might have a different opinion.