 | Community |
| Site Info |
| Resources |
v1 site content
| About VTdotNET |
Dedicated
Hosting provided by Alentus Corporation
site design & maintenance by:
Julia Lerman
|
Member Book Reviews
Technical Note: This page uses datalists with databinding. The
reviews are hosted in a
telerik r.a.d.panelbar control. I am still waiting to work out one
issue in FireFox which is that the text of the reviews does not wrap. Sorry 'bout
that.
.NET Compact Framework Pocket Guide
Wei-Meng Lee
(Publisher:
O'Reilly
Add Review
|
| The pocket guide starts with a concise overview of what's out there for mobile devices.
It then describes the differences in what's available to the developer for the user interface when designing mobile device applications rather than smart client applications.
The book includes three nice little example projects, with code examples. Finishing up with a discussion of deployment. Not bad for a small little pocket guide. Good starting point for anyone interested in playing with development for mobile devices!
|
|
|
|
|
.NET Enterprise Design with Visual Basic.Net and SQL Server 2000
Jimmy Nilsson
(Publisher:
SAMS
Add Review
|
| First off, I feel I need to justify why I purchased Jimmy's book. Many of you may not know Jimmy, but he's helped me out of a couple of Windows DNA jams. He's even taken the time to respond to my emails when I need a quick hand on architecture direction. Of all the books on .NET, I fell Jimmy's will be worth reading from front to back. Why, because he's not rehashing anything. He's doing what other writers fear, making recommendations on various approaches from project discovery to deployment. I'll submit a full review when I'm finished with the book. |
|
|
|
|
.Net Web Services: Architecture and Implementation
Keith Ballinger
(Publisher:
Addision Wesley
Add Review
|
| I just finished reading .Net Web Services by Keith Ballinger. Before I started reading this book I felt pretty comfortable with Web Services, but I felt it wouldn't hurt to make sure that I don't have any cracks in my knowledge.
Overall, I really enjoyed this book, it was pretty easy reading, and it was, what I feel, a complete guide to .net web services, and web services in general for that matter. He presented some material in a way that I haven't thought about, and he really had me thinking. For example, he talks about this idea of, "The WSDL First! Movement". The idea is writing WSDL before you write your web service code, and the argument that he makes is that our implementation should not dictate our interface. I never looked at it that way, .Net makes a lot of the web service interface transparent, so it's not intuitive to see it like that.
The bread and butter of this book is definitely chapters 3-6. These chapters really show what .Net has to offer for web services. The chapters cover, creating web services with ASP.NET, creating the clients, xml serialization (this chapter alone is worth the price of the book), and extending web services. The rest of the chapters cover the basics of web services, i.e. SOAP, WSDL, and Xml Schemas. It also covers a few of the WS-... protocols, including WS-Security, WS-Routing, and DIME.
|
|
|
|
|
A Practical Guide to eXtreme programming
David Astels, Granville Miller and Miroslav Novak
(Publisher:
Prentice Hall
Add Review
|
| This is a comprehensive book that covers implementing Feature-Driven Development in an organization.It does a good job of combining advantages of model-driven techniques in order to aid development teams deliver a successful project or software system.In terms of project management, most eXtreme Programming principles aren't really new, or earth-shattering,
but more like an extension, combination of different methodologies and common sense.
The basic principles this methodology are 1) Work with your Customers
2)Use Metaphors to describe difficult concepts 3)Plan 4) Keep Meeting short 5)Test First 6) Keep it simple 7)Program in pairs 8)Code to Standard 9)Own it collectively 10)Integrate continuously 11)Refactor
12)Release in small increments 13)Don't burn out 14)Embrace change
For those experienced in UML (Unified Modeling Language),
or OOD (Object Oriented Development), you might find overlap in several of the concepts. However, it's not to heavy on the process.
Definitely a good read for anyone interested in the process of development or want to implement an organization process. |
|
|
|
|
A Programmers Guide To .NET
Alexei Fedorov
(Publisher:
Addison Wesley
Add Review
|
| Decent Book For Beginners (Joe Crawford Jr.: 10/8/2002 )
I have been looking over this book, it is good for beginner to intermediate levels.
This book reviews everything from how the CLR works to building web services.
I found this book to be an informative resource, the only drawback is the examples are very basic and don't contain
the code they used to create the example.
This book is based more on the information about each topic rather than digging deep and building applications.
As i have been reading i have found that this is a great tool for learning .NET, they clearly talk about alot (if not all) of
the properties for each control. Reading this book from cover to cover maynot be how you want to use it. I have found this to be
a good reference as it describes each control in depth. |
|
|
|
|
Applied XML Programming for Microsoft .NET
Dino Esposito
(Publisher:
MS Press
Add Review
|
| I read this book from cover-to-cover and it moved along very quickly. It contained much more textual narrative than code, but it did contain a good downloaded code accompaniment of winforms xml samples. It was my 4th book on XML and it was probably the most advanced I've read. Even having read 3 prior books (listed on this review page) I kept thinking "Iiiii don't get this." Then I'd read a few more paragraphs and think, "Iiiii don't get this either." And after a few pages, "I don't get this at all." I think my problem was that when the book covered a specific subtopic, it presented a code snippet of perhaps a couple of lines, but only enough to show that subtopic item. Back in the days when Wrox ruled, a page or more of code was presented with explanatory information following. More code, less talk I always say. I'll definitely be re-reading this book again and will be going through the sample code, but I thought I'd get more out of the initial read. [Currently listening to Higher Intelligence Agency -- Taz.] |
|
|
|
|
ASP.NET - Programmer's Reference
Jason Bell, Mike Clark, Andy Elmhorst, Matthew Gibbs, etc...
(Publisher:
WROX
Add Review
|
| All in all - a very good resource. I purchased this book previous to the final release of the .NET framework; so the book is currently under revision/breakdown into C# and VB.NET editions based off the .NET Framework 1.0 release. As far as being a good read - I wouldn't want to read it cover-to-cover. The chapters follow the classic "learn more as you go" approach; but in many cases I found that there was too much information presented in a given chapter to sit down and read it through in one siting. It almost seems like they were trying for a hybrid reference book/learn more about the language guide. I wouldn't recommendit to a new developer, but it has its merits if you are an ASP developer delving into the world of ASP.NET. It did a very intuitive job of tying in the old ASP ideas I once used and applied that knowledge to the newer technology.
Its strengths over the other books I've looked at thus far are its ability to cover a wide variety of topics without reading like a reference manual, presented the ideas clearly and to the depth I need as an ASP.NET developer (it isn't meant to be an "all encompassing encyclopedia of all things .NET"), and organized the topics and ideas into an easily browsable and useable index.
Topics covered in the book are: The major ASP.NET specific namespaces; caching (not as in-depth as I would have hoped); server and framework configuration for handling ASP.NET applications efficiently; services (a rather broad range of information); many of the useful .NET Framework namespaces as applicable to ASP.NET; web data access (ADO.NET, etc.); beginner topics in application security and authenticating ASP.NET appications(I would have hoped for a much more in-depth reference of Framework-wide security issues here; but I'm a tad on the pessimistic side when it comes to security); and some great examples of XML/XSLT use and integration.
The samples and examples used are fairly concise; explaining the idea at hand without overstepping into other topics. Unlike many other books - screenshots are provided in many cases to illustrate how a change in your code should affect your output; rather than just describing what you should see.
All in all - a book I'm glad to have on my shelf. I'm hoping to get the C#-specific version when it comes out; though having the VB.NET code to look at has its uses. Since this book was written based on the Beta 2 code there are a few allusions to potential changes in the future with the 1.0 release. The upcoming revamp of the book should clear up any questions to these "gray areas" and correct the occasional erratta that could be found in the code and text. |
|
|
|
|
ASP.NET Developer's Cookbook
Steven Smith, Rob Howard
(Publisher:
Sam's Publishing
Add Review
|
| I blogged about this book when I first started reading it and was very excited. I think Steven Smith and Rob Howard are two of the great ASP.NET minds in the biz and that they could write a book which would fill 10x's as many pages as this 400 page volumne if they wanted to.
My "ehh" summarization was due to the fact that, while broad, there was no depth. This was, of course, the point, hence the title: Cookbook. For a beginner, this book could be a great treasure, but not of much value if you've been at it for a while. But still, a beginner might instead consider THE CLASSIC OF ALL ASP.NET BOOKS: Its a WROX (of course), titled "Professional ASP.NET." It is equally broad as this cookbook approach yet goes into great detail on its subjects. (Coincidentally, Rob Howard was one of the authors of this WROX classic.)
To conclude, this is a good book for beginners, but not the spine-worn, dog-earred pages tome for the masses. I should have said "a good book for beginners" in the subject line, but I was too stuck on the "ehh" word today. I don't get to use that word nearly as much as I like. I can live it though. But I digress...
|
|
|
|
|
| Another Great book for beginners. Plenty of examples. Covers topics used in real world situations. |
|
|
|
|
ASP.NET Developer's JumpStart
Paul D. Sheriff, Ken Getz
(Publisher:
Addison-Wesley
Add Review
|
| I have referenced a lot of books on Visual Basic and .NET and found this book to be concise but loaded with information. I have seen Ken Getz
training video tapes(AppDev) in the old days of Visual InterDev and found him to be very informative and good teaching approach.
The sample files can be downloaded from their website. I am new to
.NET and web development but found book easy to follow. It covers
everything from using with Visual Studio .Net, Framework classes,
controls, debugging, authorization, and of courses all important web services and XML.
Up to now I have liked Deitel/prentice hall book, very detailed, and Wrox press books, more concise but limited subject.
|
|
|
|
|
| I have referenced a lot of books on Visual Basic and .NET and found this book to be concise but loaded with information. I have seen Ken Getz
training video tapes(AppDev) in the old days of Visual InterDev and found him to be very informative and good teaching approach.
The sample files can be downloaded from their website. I am new to
.NET and web development but found book easy to follow. It covers
everything from using with Visual Studio .Net, Framework classes,
controls, debugging, authorization, and of courses all important web services and XML.
Up to now I have liked Deitel/prentice hall books, very detailed, and Wrox press books, more concise but limited subject.
|
|
|
|
|
| I have referenced a lot of books on Visual Basic and .NET and found this book to be concise but loaded with information. I have seen Ken Getz
training video tapes(AppDev) in the old days of Visual InterDev and found him to be very informative and good teaching approach.
The sample files can be downloaded from their website. I am new to
.NET and web development but found book easy to follow. It covers
everything from using with Visual Studio .Net, Framework classes,
controls, debugging, authorization, and of courses all important web services and XML.
Up to now I have liked Deitel/prentice hall books, very detailed, and Wrox press books, more concise but limited subject.
|
|
|
|
|
| True to the title this book brings you quickly up to speed with the various facets of ASP.NET. As a "wannabe" .NET programmer I find this book to be very straightforward, thorough and real-world oriented. |
|
|
|
|
|
I liked the book as it covered every topic required to build a web application.
The best part of the book was the topics that involved with generating controls and customising them.
I haven't done that with ASP or other web apps in the past.
Although there was no CD with the sample codes, I kind of got used to keying in the code and trying out the scripts.
This helped me to learn the visual studio better.
I wouldnt have got this experience if I were to copy code from a CD.
I definitely recommend the book to amateurs in the field of web development for .Net. |
|
|
|
|
| Ken suggests that if you do want to avoid typing all the samples that you can download them from the URL listed in the book |
|
|
|
|
| I am using the book, along with the sample code downloaded from the author's web site, to produce my first web site. The only assumed knowledge is application programming. I appreciate the overviews of .NET, ASP.NET, XML, and especially chapter 5 - "Introduction to Internet Programming". |
|
|
|
|
| Author does an excellent job of bringing you up to speed on ASP.NET very quickly with a minimum of verbage.
My only caveat is that the author seems to have an aversion to the controls that the user-interface automatically generates for you and spends a fair amount of time showing you how to code them yourself.
I highly recommend this book.
|
|
|
|
|
ASP.NET E-Commerce Programming: Problem - Design - Solution
Kevin Hoffman
(Publisher:
Wrox
Add Review
|
| Unlike many technical books which offer a rehash of the online docs or too much overlap with five other books in your library, this starts right off with a full-blown Container Managed Persistence (CMP) implementation as the core of an E-Commerce site. This is a pattern that is used extensively and successfully in the Java world, and Hoffman provides the first implementation that I've seen for .NET. While it may appear to be overengineering for many projects, the pros and cons are clearly spelled out; and as the spectrum of data sources broadens to the web services world, this pattern is definitely worth a look. The rest of the book is an "all killer, no filler" construction of an e-commerce site, and it's clear that Hoffman brings real-world experience to his comments and strategies. This one is definitely worth your time, even if your goal isn't necessarily to build a commerce-based site, as the architecture guidance and attendant sample code are worth the price of admission. |
|
|
|
|
ASP.NET For Web Designers
Peter Ladka
(Publisher:
New Rider's
Add Review
|
| This book runs through all the typical code structures and techniques for programming in ASP.NET and all examples are given in VB and C# and have an associated screenclip too.
The pages are well laid out and the progression in coding is well thought out. The book has lots of useful information and good sample code to get started with. It doesn't serve as a reference but is more of a learning tool. It users example code throughout the book to demonstrate concepts and the code was not buggy at all. One proplem, though, was that the sample code incluede all necessary code in the aspx files and thus there was hardly a mention of code behind files or how to use them.
I found the book to be useful for helping me code sql database accessing web pages using datagrids adn datalists as well as the entire range of ASP.NET page objects. The book also discusses form-based security issues, state management techniques, and xml inclusion too.
Overall, I like this book as a learning and sample code tool but I still need to refer to other places for reference information. I would have preferred to see some examples with using code behind techniques but was satisfied with the results I achieved using the techniques discussed. I would recommend this book for an intermediate level programmer who needs a comprehensive review of programming in ASP.NET (using VB or C#). |
|
|
|
|
Asp.Net Unleashed Second Edition
Stephen Walther
(Publisher:
SAMS
Add Review
|
| One sentence says it all. The Bible for asp.net covers all topics from basics to web services and mobile devices. A need to have for a developer. |
|
|
|
|
ASP.NET Web Developer's Guide
Mesbah Ahmed, Chris Garrett, Jeremy Faircloth, Chris Payne
(Publisher:
Syngress
Add Review
|
| I've had this book for a little while and initially jumped right into a later topic that I was coping with. Initially I was less than impressed because it only covered this particular topic in its basics and didn't address the problem I was having. I then decided to start at the beginning (even though it was information I already knew) so I could be confident I would write an honest review.
As I proceeded, I actually warmed to this book more. Sure, there were grammatical errors that never should have seen the light of day (missing verbs, etc). Sure, there were features of ASP.NET and the .NET Framework that weren't covered when I thought they should have been. Perhaps the fact that at least eight people are listed inside the front cover as contributors exacerbated this problem. Still, an after-the-fact consideration found the book to cover many topics beyond the basic topics that so many authors stop with. Besides, can any one book cover all the configuration options for machine.cfg and web.config?? Do I really expect a book to? My answer: not really.
Having come to that resolution, I lowered my perfectionist expectations and began learning more about caching, XML documents and debugging as well as picking up some nice tips & tricks. I'll have to depend on books that specialize on focused ASP.NET topics before I can expect expert (full) coverage of a particular need.
In the final analysis, while the audience for this book is definately someone with either ASP experience or some newbie experience with ASP.NET, those at the intermediate level will also find this a "good read." |
|
|
|
|
ASP.NET: Tips, Tutorials and Code
Steve Walther, Doug Seven, Donny Mack, Chris Payne et alia
(Publisher:
SAMS
Add Review
|
| I bought this book when I was just embarking on .NET after sitting in Borders for 3 hours browsing through a LOT of books. But I didn't really find a use for it until after I had been doing ASP.NET for a few months. Now when I'm doing something and I don't know how to make something work, I have learned to reach for it FIRST rather than any of my other resources. Often, it shows me how to do what it is that I need to do. This is not a book that I chose to sit down and read cover to cover. But now it has found its place on my desk. Two of the guys on this book (Seven and Mack) are the principles for DotNetJunkies.com. The others are also pretty well known in the industry as well. This makes a difference to me also since dotnetjunkies has become my favorite place to get help on the web. That site is almost an extension of the book. As they learn more, they use the site as a place to share it. |
|
|
|
|
Building Web Solutions with ASP.NET and ADO.NET
Dino Esposito
(Publisher:
Microsoft Press
Add Review
|
| Many say this book is all about the DataGrid. There's some truth to that, but the DataGrid examples provided good information on using the ItemDataBound, ItemCreated, and other databound control events. The book includes an e-book, which is good but would be better if searches returned actual code rather than the text-only with code hyperlinks. There are good code examples on the CDROM. If you've been working with databound controls for awhile, there's not a lot new here. If you want to know more about databound controls, then this is a good read. Still, its well-written, has ample screenshots to clarify code results, and authored by Dino, Dino, Dino!!!! |
|
|
|
|
C# Bible
Jeff Ferguson, Biran Patterson, Jason Beres, Pierre Boutquin
(Publisher:
Wiley Publishing, Inc.
Add Review
|
| I am always leery of books whose introduction begins “This book was written with both the novice and experienced developer in mind.” I find that such books seldom do justice for either audience. As an experienced developer I also dislike paying for information that I already know. With that in mind, I began my review a bit skeptical.
In general I found that the book was comprehensive in its coverage of topic. It did indeed cover the basics of the language and, a very nice addition, pointed out where C# differs from its earlier relations, C and C++. The book starts with the fundamentals and moves onto object programming, advanced topics in C# and then developing .NET solutions with C#.
There are some disconcerting elements about the C# Bible that give me pause.
In general I found the explanations too concise and not in logical sequence. For example, the postfix operators “++” and “--“ are presented in the section on Primary Expressions while their counterpart prefix operators are presented in a later section, Understanding Unary Expressions, 13 pages later. I would like to see these covered in the same place. Furthermore, the subtle difference between the postfix and prefix versions of these operators is buried in the third paragraph. Again, I think this is better presented in the first paragraph, if not the first sentence.
I found that the text doesn’t always flow well. Looking again at Unary Expressions the opening paragraph lists 8 operators with a promise to discussion each one in the following sections. Only 5 are discussed here with no reference as to where to find the other 3. The index was not much help, listing only 2 of the 3 missing operators.
One final example deals with pointers. As anyone who has done C/C++ programming knows, pointers are ubiquitous throughout the language. Apparently in C#, pointers have gone away except when programming in “unsafe mode.” Again, this information was buried under the topic on “Unsafe Coding” while it should have been front and center since it is such a major change in approach.
If you are an experienced C/C++ programmer, I think this book might give you a good start on C#. I am concerned however with the number of shortfalls I discovered in just a quick a reading.
Overall rating: 3 out of 5
|
|
|
|
|
C# Developer's Guide to ASP.Net, XML, and ADO.Net
Jeffrey P. McManus and Chris Kinsman
(Publisher:
Addison Wesley
Add Review
|
| This is my favorite .Net book so far. I find it very readable. It is written for the real world, and with a sense of humor. My favorite section was on the anti-cookie movement. Describing it as being headed by the people who believe "cookies were invented by the same people who track you through the streets using silent black helicopters." and "who believe in little green men".
I found the concepts written in a very clear manner, easily applied to my project. The book seriously helped with my learning curve for asp.net. |
|
|
|
|
C# for Java Programmers
Brian Bagnall, Philip Chen, Stephen Goldberg, et. al.
(Publisher:
Syngress
Add Review
|
| Many years ago (more than I care to remember) I was blogging with a guy named Babbage, or was it Pascal, and he told me that after you learn one language, learning a second is a piece of cake. I guess he was right because over the years I have picked up many different languages and they all seemed to have the same basic primitive structures. Of course OOP advanced programming languages in a way that simplified many of the primitive tasks and at the same time forced programmers to architect their programs, and consequently their thinking, in a new way. C++ and Java were probably the most popular OOP paradigms. Although COM advertised language and platform independence, the platform implementation was mostly proprietary. Java, on the other hand, was one of the first languages to integrate a VM on virtually any platform that cared to implement it. .NET took the idea one step further. It’s version of platform independence has come to be defined as an interface between the CLR/.NET Framework and the binary interface of the hardware that hosts the .NET Framework, making .NET a truly machine and platform independent framework.
C# for Java Programmers walks through the fundamental language constructs of C# as well as the .NET architecture and OOP programming paradigm by comparing and contrasting it for Java programmers.
For those who have learned Java in the past, C# for Java Programmers by Bagnall et al of Syngress@ Press, ‘learning C# should be a piece of cake’, to paraphrase my blogging buddy of a hundred or so years ago.
|
|
|
|
|
C# How To Program
Deitel, Deitel, Listfield, Nieto, Yaeger, Zlatkina
(Publisher:
Prentice Hall
Add Review
|
C# in 24 Hours
James Foxall, Wendy Haro-Chun
(Publisher:
Sams
Add Review
|
| I was really impressed with ASP in 24 hours a few years ago so I figured that C# in 24 hours would do the same for me this time around, but I discovered that ASP.NET in 24 hours is what I was really looking for.
C# in 24 hours does a decent job at reviewing the various features and functionality of the Visual Studio .NET interface and the basic concepts and structures of the C# language. I also adds interesting details on subjects such as deployment and adding icons to your files and executables.
There are chapters on the usual subjects such as mathematical and string manipulation functions, database access (using Jet/MS Access), File I/O, printing & fonts, and, most usefully, controling other apps with C#.
I found that the book does cover a lot of ground but also often limits itself in scope (as they say themselves) so that if you need to go into detail about a subject you will need to do further research form other sources.
The one area I was really intested in getting the patented 24 hours clear, quick and easy review was for ASP.NET using C#, but I found out that this is not a resource for informatio on that subject, perhaps there's a ASP.NET using C# book already out there, and if so, I'd like to see it because I just loved (and still do) ASP in 24 hours.
Lastly, if you are interested in developing standalone apps with C# and you want a book you can go through one lesson at a time, one that you can hold up and read through from cover to cover, and one that doesn't tax your brain too much that this book is an ok deal for you at $30. |
|
|
|
|
C++ for VB Programmers
Jonathan Morrison
(Publisher:
Apress
Add Review
|
| This book is an excellent introduction to C++. It takes the reader step by step through a simple C++ project using Visual C++ and describes everal features of the interface. The author also shows and explains the debugger, memory and registers windows, and the disassembler. He also explains the compiling and linking processes for those of us who have forgotten or never quite understood.
There is an excellent section on pointers and ATL (Active Template Library), COM and DLLs are discussed with sample COM and DLL projects.
The book also shows how to interface with Visual Basic and makes
an excellent introduction to Visual C++. |
|
|
|
|
Database Programming with C#
Carsten Thomas
(Publisher:
Apress
Add Review
|
| This book, written by Carsten Thomas, gives the reader a very good review of the important principles behind programming databases in the .Net environnment. It is best suited for beginning to intermediate users, as it even covers the basics of database; however the author still goes thoroughly through all the classes needed to cummunicate with database in C#.
Moreover, the author covers subjects like conception in Visio and user the ide to work on a SQL server database.
For more advanced users, you will find that you want to skip some sections of the book.
All in all, it is still a good book, since the author did a very thorough job in writing it. |
|
|
|
|
Database Programming with Visual Basic .NET
Carsten Thomsen
(Publisher:
Apress
Add Review
|
| This book clearly explains how to work with online databases in asp.net. Although the book is a bit heavy to read from cover to cover it does contain chapters and pages that provide useful information about the subject. I did not have a problem with Thomsen's review of database access via Visual Studio .Net, and do not see pages and pages of useless diagrams. Instead, I was happy to have a book in my hands that went beyond the standard Visual Basic .Net (or C# etc) review and instead covered a specific topic in detail. I found the book useful and a good read, although I did skip around to get this desired result.) |
|
|
|
|
| I gave this book a minimum of 6 sittings before I got really agitated with it and threw it across the bathroom. I mean, who needs 50 pages of screenshots to describe how to manipulate database objects in the VS.NET Server Explorer. And please tell me again what a relationship means? When I went specifically to the chapter dealing with Active Directory for useful tips on a current project, there was nothing I could use. Pfhew! |
|
|
|
|
| If you are new to programming and want to begin with Visual Basic dot Net, or if you haven’t worked with databases before, this book would be a good place to start. It contains an entire chapter on databases. What makes up a database, how it ticks. Then it goes on to describe how you would use Visual Basic dot Net to access and manipulate that data. It provides a good foundation including exception handling and best practices. This book is not for the intermediate or experienced programmer who has ever worked with databases before. |
|
|
|
|
| This is a good book for user with intro knowledge to vb and databases. A bit confusing sometimes but has good references and examples to make your job easier |
|
|
|
|
Debugging ASP.Net
Jonathan Goodyer, Brian Peek, Brad Fox
(Publisher:
New Riders (Peach Pit Press)
Add Review
|
| Certainly, many of you have come across Jonathan Goodyear's ASP.Net column or articles or tips. He is so knowledgable about how to DO things. This book was a joint venture between Jonathan, Brad Fox and Brian Peek. This book surprised me a lot because I had expected it to be just about how to use all of the debugging tools. This aspect of the book of course is excellent, but what surprised me about the book is their approach to just plain old writing good code and thinking through problems. Before they even talk about the actual debugging tools, they share basic concepts about approaching a problem, and about building your code in a way that it makes it simpler to work through a problem. For example, one of the great benefits of compartmentalizing code is that if there is a bug, you can generally track it down to a particular module. If these modules are small and have very explicit purposes, then that makes pinpointing the source of your problem much easier. When you do have a problem, they talk about how best to narrow down the problem. These are the kinds of things that may seem obvious, but really DON'T become this without years of experience. The experience is not that of coding, but that of debugging. From this book you are getting the benefit of that experience - oh and a great guide to using all of the great tools as well. So this book is great on a lot of levels. For newer programmers - the process of approaching a problem is a great lesson. For experienced programmers...a great refresher, or also reminder. Of course, who is VERY experienced with ASP.Net, so all of that which is new information in the book is very valuable. A great book for a read through. By the way, Jonathan Goodyear is now on the INETA speakers Bureau. |
|
|
|
|
| Pretty dissappointing. Sorry, aC dude. Book opens with debugging shortcomings of ASP. Like I needed a refresher?? Then some decent stuff on implementing trace, but any number of dotnetjunkie or other online articles (asptoday.com?) would have provided the same value. Then we get chapters and chapters of examples of various stack dump screenshots that occur when you do this or that particular bad thing. Gee, I never thought to look closely at a .NET generated stack dump before... I was going to make an analogy about stack dumps, but I am already known for bathroom analogies and will thus refrain. |
|
|
|
|
| Debugging ASP.NET applications is much better than traditional ASP is but, because it crosses boundaries to remote web servers and web services, can still be difficult. I was really hoping that this book would help and, to some extent, it did provide some tips. It is an easy read and all examples are presented with C# and VB.NET code.
On the flip side, the title was misleading. This was not about debugging code but about understanding where you will see errors, what they will look like and what they might indicate as the problem. The book addresses more the issues and lack of understanding that people first face and left me still wondering how to do some of tougher debugging of applications such as debugging web services and stored procedures that I needed help on.
The other very annoying problem was that the book is full of typos, punctuation, formatting errors. In some cases, VB.NET code had semi-colons. Some lines had paragraph breaks in mid-sentence. At least once a code function was mentioned but no code was included in the text (ex: ValidateEmail on page 109). There is no reason a book should be published without editors fixing these kinds of problems.
Summary, don’t buy the book for yourself. Scan the book that someone else has purchased if you need basic help. I’d also be wary in advance of other books from the publisher (New Riders) because of my experience with their proofreading ability.
|
|
|
|
|
Debugging ASP.NET
Jonathan Goodyear, Brian Peek, Brad Fox
(Publisher:
New Riders
Add Review
|
| Debugging ASP.NET applications is much better than traditional ASP is but, because it crosses boundaries to remote web servers and web services, can still be difficult. I was really hoping that this book would help and, to some extent, it did. It is an easy read and all examples are presented with C# and VB.NET code. <br>
On the flip side, it addresses more the issues and lack of understanding that people first face and left me still wondering how to do some of tougher debugging of applications such as debugging web services and stored procedures that I needed help on.<br>
The other very annoying problem was that the book is full of typos, punctuation, formatting errors. In some cases, VB.NET code had semi-colons. Some lines had paragraph breaks in mid-sentence. At least once a code function was mentioned but no code was included in the text (ex: ValidateEmail on page 109). There is no reason a book should be published without editors fixing these kinds of problems.<br>
In summary, don’t buy the book for yourself. Scan the book that someone else has purchased. I’d also be wary in advance of other books from the publisher (New Riders) because of my experience with their proofreading ability.
|
|
|
|
|
Design Patterns
Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson, John Vlissides
(Publisher:
Addison-Wesley
Add Review
|
| When I first picked up this book and browsed its table of contents, I assumed it was a reference only type of book. Granted this book it largely a reference book. The type of book you would browse through when deciding on how to tackle a problem, but the authors do seem to tie in much of the reference material through a narrative sample. The first two chapters are the narrative section of the book and the rest of it is a reference section. The sample app is an obvious choice as it consumes many of the design patterns presented in the reference. I found that while I read the narrative section, it was best to read the design pattern when they appeared in the sample. If you don’t, the sample will not make all that much sense.
Overall this book has some excellent material. The authors seem to boarder line on theory and actual implementation. This makes some patterns questionable on their real use in an actual implementation. If you are a seasoned programmer, you might find that many of the patterns discussed you already use, just with out the fancy names. All in all this is an excellent book, and it can remind even seasoned OO developers of good design patterns.
|
|
|
|
|
Essential ASP.NET with Examples in Visual Basic .NET
Fritz Onion
(Publisher:
Adison-Wesley
Add Review
|
| Fritz Onion’s book is designed for those who want detail on the how and why of asp.net programming. Topics covered include:
• Why ASP.NET is faster
• Configuring web applications before and after deployment
• How the HTTP pipeline behaves
• Performance monitor counters
• A nice discussion on state management including the uses/abuses of each of the four types of state management tools
• Setting and configuring output caching
The detail in this book is exquisite, making it most suitable for those interested in architecture. This book is more about the how than the how-to. That being said, it is interspersed with great examples to illustrate how the engine functions.
To illustrate the nature of this book, the Custom Modules segment of Essential ASP.NET describes, with examples, how to implement an HTTP filter to intercept a request and assign a filter property to its HTTP Stream. In short, the example follows these steps:
1) Create a custom stream class that intercepts response.write
2) Watch our stream for items of interest
3) Once an interesting item is encountered, push our desired output through our custom stream.
4) Lastly add a handler to the BeginRequest and EndRequest events to redirect our web stream to the custom stream and finally close it out once EndRequest is fired.
The example provides a construct for creating a stub to fire off a custom display for a simple ASCII file.
Doubtless an update (to this book) will be forthcoming as the book is based largely upon the IIS 5.0 architecture. With IIS 6.0, HTTP request are handled in kernel mode (HTTP.sys). The kernel spawns worker processes. Additionally many configuration options are moved to the metabase, e.g., number and worker processes what to do if a worker process fails, and etc.
If you need a book that provides information on the architecture and functioning of the ASP.NET engine, Essential ASP.NET is a great choice.
|
|
|
|
|
Essential JavaScript for Web Professionals
Dan Barrett
(Publisher:
Prentice Hall
Add Review
|
| I know how I lived without this book - I spent ridiculous amounts of time tearing my hair out, searching for help on the web and experimenting. This book has specific chapters on how to do those cool things you see on other websites yet have no idea where to start. How to do image rollovers, multiple image rollovers, deal with changing font sizes in different browsers or operating systems, WHERE in your html file to put the darn script, how to do pull-down menus. And more. Don't even bother asking to borrow this book from me!!! Run to your bookstore or favorite on-line bookstore and get it! |
|
|
|
|
Graphics Programming with GDI+
Mahesh Chand
(Publisher:
Addison Wesley
Add Review
|
| This book gives an overview of GDI+ and then goes into more detail,
describing classes objects and the .net framework. Then various
techniques (working with fonts,drawing, manipulating images, etc.)
are described. There is plenty of code samples in the book and
techniques are shown for working with and customizing Windows
forms and GUIs. Many examples are shown and explained. An
excellent book in my opinion. |
|
|
|
|
Implementing B2B Commerce with .NET
Lyn Robinson
(Publisher:
Addison Wesley
Add Review
|
| If you're looking for the basics of putting together a B2B project, then this book is for you. Lyn steps you through putting together the project plan and deploying the solution. Most of the example are pretty basic, but easy to understand. |
|
|
|
|
Mastering Visual Studio .NET
Ian Griffiths, Jon Flanders & Chris Sells
(Publisher:
O'Reilly
Add Review
|
| This book grabbed me within the first 10 pages. Many books of this nature that I read often start at the newbie level and (sometimes) proceed to the intermediate level. That's not the case this time. The authors' professinalism and expertise shine through from the start.<br>
This book takes different topics and digs into each option that can be used, describes their function and then makes best-pratice recommendations. These topics include "Solutions and Project", "Files", "Debugging", "Web Projects", "Databases", "Setup and Deployment", "Integration", "Automation" and "Wizards". There is also a nice set of appendixes.<br>
Time for true confessions: I hadn't even read that far into the book before I knew this was a keeper and that I could recommend it so highly.
I highly recommend this book, especially to those who think they know how to use the IDE. My reading so far has proven I certainly don't. |
|
|
|
|
MCAD/MCSD Self-Paced Training Kit
Microsoft Corporation
(Publisher:
Add Review
|
| The book as a whole is a good training book with lessons (4-stars) Be advised...the CD test that comes with this kit is very limited; it does not allow you to choose the number of questions. |
|
|
|
|
MCAD/MCSD Training Guide (70-315): [Dev. Web Apps with C#]
Amit Kalani
(Publisher:
Que
Add Review
|
| I spent a great deal of time researching study approaches and resources for the .Net exams and was dismayed by the reviews of existing study guides, often criticizing their lack of depth. Lack of depth is not something that you will find in QUE's new study guide for 70-315. The "Developing and Implementing Web Applications with Visual C# and Visual Studio.NET" study guide is written by Amit Kalani, an MS Certified Developer and Trainer. It follows the MS certification study outline to cover all of the exam objectives, and provides good depth in each topic with ample coding exercises throughout. The reviews by the development community so far help bolster this books position as the best preparation guide out there to date. |
|
|
|
|
Microsoft® Visual Basic® .NET Step by Step
Michael Halvorson
(Publisher:
Microsoft Press
Add Review
|
| Basic, straightforward introduction to .NET for those coming from earlier platforms. Although I find it highly instructive, the more experienced developers may find this too basic. This book is great as a 1st primer for those looking at the benefits of the .NET platform. |
|
|
|
|
| a little confusing on the path to follow but, once you figured it out it's very basic and intuative. Good examples I would recommend this book for any beginner. There is a new version for .net 2003 out there if it follows the same pattern one might want to learn directly in the new version. |
|
|
|
|
Murach's VB.NET database programming with ADO.NET
Anne Prince, Doug Lowe
(Publisher:
Mike Murach & Associates, Inc.
Add Review
|
| This book is more for those just starting out in ADO.NET along
with VB.NET and ASP.NET. This book can also be used by more seasoned devlopers as a quick reference to the basics. The book is concise with larger font that makes book easier to read and is from Sql Server database
point of view.
I was impressed with breadth of material covered and blends together
with examples and downloadable code. Basic SQL/Schemas, Datasets(both typed and untyped), DataAdapters, bound and unbound controls, data views, parameterized queries, database classes, dataset schemas, XML schemas, and also the basic of ASP.Net web programming.
The book was excellant in presenting material from both the wizard/properties setting and via writing code for more control.
Each section covers basic topics but with some fine detail or tip
I have never gotten from many other .Net topic books. The right
half of page gives summary description and examples and list of most
common properties or methods used. |
|
|
|
|
Pragmatic ADO.NET
Shawn Wildermuth
(Publisher:
Addison Wesley
Add Review
|
| We've had Shawn at a meeting in 2002 so I expected great things. I wasn't disappointed. The book is presented in 3 parts: ADO.NET basics, 150 pages on datasets, and special topics regarding ADO.NET (XML, data binding, scalability, migrating from ADO). This is a very easy book to read since it assumes nothing yet gets to some very practical issues. It was easy to pick up this book and quickly find some great help on some particular problem we were facing right at the moment I had the book. I would say that this does not focus on advanced issues but that just means that a person new to ADO.NET will have a great time with the book. |
|
|
| | |