In the first section or two of all our books, we present the core content for the book, which includes a complete subset of usable skills. After the core content, each section of the book is designed as an independent module. This means that these sections don't have to be taught in sequence. As a result, you can customize your courses by assigning just those sections that you want to teach.
Whenever possible, each of the chapters is also designed as an independent module. When this is true, you can assign just those chapters that are right for your courses. This approach also makes the chapters better for on-the-job reference later on.
Unlike many competing books and products, most chapters in our books have a unique top-down design that moves from the simple to complex. This makes it easier for trainees to learn. It also means that you can present the topics at the start of a chapter to make sure everyone understands the essential details, without presenting all of the topics in a chapter. Then, your trainees can learn the other topics on their own or as they're needed on the job.
If you page through one of our books, you'll see that all of the information is presented in "paired pages." In each pair, the right page is a figure that contains the syntax, guidelines, and examples, and the left page is text that contains the perspective and extra explanation.
One benefit of this format is that it lets trainees learn at their own pace. If, for example, you're a novice, you'll probably want to read the text on the left as you refer to the figure on the right. But if you have experience, you may be able to get all the information you need from the figure. Either way, our customers tell us that they love this presentation method because it helps them learn faster and better.
On-the-job performance is the measure of a successful course. And our paired-pages format makes it easy for your trainees to access all the information you've covered long after the course is over.
Instead of having to dig through the text or handouts, they can use the expanded table of contents or the index to find the topic they're looking for. Then, the figure on the righthand page will give them the details they need to apply what they learned in your course.
This type of quick reference is absolutely essential when you're working with the hundreds of classes, methods, and properties of an OO language like Java, Visual Basic, or C#...and yet no other books offer this unique format.
The exercises for our books give trainees a chance to get valuable, hands-on experience without wasting any time. That's because we provide the starting code, either from our web site or the Instructor's CD, so that trainees don't have to enter routine code that they already know.
Sometimes, these exercises guide the trainees through the application of what they've just learned. Sometimes, they challenge the trainees to apply what they've learned in new ways. And you can assign the exercises so your trainees do them in class or on their own.
Incidentally, unlike other books, our exercises never present new skills or information. As we see it, this is the only sensible approach to text and exercise design. Curiously, though, the exercises in some books do present new skills. Unfortunately, this means that (1) trainees who don't do the exercises don't learn the new skills, and (2) there's no easy way for trainees to find the information they need if they're having trouble since the skills haven't been covered yet.
From the first book we published in 1974 to the present, all of our books teach by presenting complete, real-world applications that include design, code, and all related components. These applications help your trainees get started quickly and also help them reach new skill levels. As we see it, studying applications like these is the best way to learn how all of the parts of an application work together, so this is an essential part of the learning process.
Unlike other books, ours are designed and developed by a small group of staff writers and editors. As a result, we can and do coordinate the structure and contents of our books so they work together for a series of courses.
This means that you won't get unnecessary duplication in two or more of our books. This also means that you can be sure that one of our beginning books really does provide all of the prerequisites for one of our advanced books...because we designed them that way.
For instance, our COBOL, CICS, DB2, and JCL books are commonly used for a series of courses that teach programmers how to develop mainframe applications. Our two Java books are used to teach programmers how to develop web applications with Java servlets and JSP. And combinations of our .NET books are used to teach programmers how to develop either Windows or web applications with C# or Visual Basic.
Also, because all of our books contain sections that are treated as independent modules, you can combine a few sections from one book with a few sections from another in a single course. For instance, you can combine the first two sections of our Visual Basic 2008 book with the first three sections of our ASP.NET 3.5 with VB 2008 book for a great course on ASP.NET web programming.
Of course, once your trainees use one of our books, they're going to be asking for others. That's why you're going to be glad that our books are carefully coordinated. (The biggest complaint we get is that we don't offer more books on more subjects!)
If you review the instructor's materials that come with the Instructor's CD for one of our books, you'll see that our CDs provide everything else you need for an effective course...except the busywork. That's why you should be able to plan and implement a course that's based on one of our books in record time. Once that's done, our books and instructional materials will help ensure the success of your course.