Rating: 
Summary: A Software Engineering Foundation
Review: Mr. Lowy does far more than provide a clear and concise explanation of component-oriented programming through disciplined software engineering practices. He simplifies developing enterprise software by narrowing the numerous design choices. Through code examples he demonstrates using the .NET framework in a manner that promotes defensive coding methods and loose-coupled interfaces. Programming .NET Components provides a knowledge base to build upon and a reference point for evaluating other author's material. The IDesign document of coding practices from his web site is extremely useful for reviewing the recommendations of Mr. Lowy and for extending with one's own lessons-learned when developing software.
Rating:
Summary: A rare gem
Review: Programming .NET Components is a rare gem of .NET programming books. I found the content in this book to provide much-needed perspective related to general .NET programming tasks, answering questions like: best practices for interface and class heirarchy design, in-depth coverage of the .NET garbage collector and how to prevent it from hurting your application's performance, and a thorough explanation of delegates and their more evolved counterparts called events.
Many .NET texts explain "how" to do things, but generally don't explain "why" things are done a certain way. This text gives you the breadth of knowledge you need to make optimal use of .NET technologies, and to understand when to use a particular approach to solve a problem when there is more than one possible option.
I have not read all chapters of this book, but what I have read so far has already more than justified its purchase price. And I know it will be a valuable reference book for me in the future, as I explore threads, remoting, etc.
Rating:
Summary: Deep & Clear
Review: The adulations from the previous reviewers here are all well earned. In my opinion, this is well beyond just a great book; it's a must-have! The writing is very clear without being verbose; and it's depth is better than anything I've seen anywhere on .NET. The author not only provides many new insights, but refines and corrects existing ones found elsewhere, even correcting some guidelines from MSDN. For instance he advises in favor of using "lock" to make methods thread-safe, which MSDN does not advise. Given any doubt, I'd trust this author over MSDN. I just wish the book was longer, and covered more relevent topics. It's so good that I want more!
Rating:
Summary: Components are really really cool
Review: The whole goal of .NET is "Do more with less". After a developer works through the initial learning curve of .NET, they'll usually want to learn how to do things better. If 'better' is defined as coding totally reusable code, then this book is for you. It might sound silly, but a lot of time you think you are reusing code only to learn that you really aren't. Three parts really stick out about this book (but that's not to say that the other chapters aren't as good). 1) Security - Yes, the ultimate pain in the butt for developers but an increasingly important topic these days. In all honesty, if you don't want to pay attention to security, then you probably will end up with some serious egg on your face at some point. This alone justifies the price of the book.
2) Events- You can't do much in .NET without getting into events. I will say that his discussion probably caters to more advanced developers, but Events are not a topic for beginners. I really loved this section and I think he makes some superb points and makes them very clearly.
3) Threading- Threading isn't for the weak of heart, and you will not learn how to use it effectively without making a few messes first. However, he does a great job of warning you of the pitfalls and explaining why they are pitfalls. If you are going to do any serious development in .NET, you'll need to understand the threading library. If you are coming from VB 6 (where writing good multithreaded apps was VERY PAINFUL) this will really help you with it.
4)Remoting - This subject has entire books written on it. While this book is by no means the definitive guide on Remoting, it's discussion is very relevant and will definitely pique your interest in the subject. To be honest, I was 'too busy' learning other stuff to worry about remoting until I read this book. Then I felt like an idiot for ignoring it for so long. This book made me want to learn it and got me through the rough part of my learning curve, particularly in respect to component development. Well, there's 30 other reasons to buy this book, but I only have 1,000 words..... but I can assure you that if you buy it, you'll be glad you did.
Rating:
Summary: possibly the best .NET book in the market
Review: This book is introduces developers to the .NET framework, and clearly explains intricate concepts of it, with a lot of stress on the Component based programming model. The insight of the author is commendable. A very good read for any developer, or student interested in learning the fundamentals of the technology.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: This book is simply a great book. I strongly recommend reading this book. Don't buy this book is you're intrested in COM+.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book for those who are serious about object design
Review: This book is surely not for beginners, but it is great for those who have at least a few years of experience in the industry and serious about component oriented programming. I have had this book for a while and I go through this book whenever I get time. Everytime I go over samples, I learn something new and make me have better understanding in object oriented (author reiterates it as component oriented) programming. Juval Lowy is a respected person in the software engineering industry and his book speaks for itself.
Rating:
Summary: most informative .NET book so far
Review: This book will bring you up-to-speed with .NET momentarily. The only prerequesite is knowledge of C# syntax. Very informative, precise technical language, well-structured. I have red few books on .NET. This one is the best so far. The author gives comprehensive overview of .NET key-features and reveals advanced .NET techniques.
Rating:
Summary: Juval Lowy is wonderful
Review: This is a must have book. Although it doesn't talk about component oriented programming, it gives lots of details of .net internals. If you are mid-senior level programmer you must have this book.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent
Review: This is an excellent book and one that should be on the shelf of every experienced .NET developer. Although I use C# and C++, I primarily use VB.NET. The book is in C#, but it is easy to read, as you might expect. You might have heard the author on DotNetRocks. If so, you probably already expect a lot from this book. So far, I have been impressed. It is a book I plan to keep and refer to occasionally. By contrast, there are so many that I buy, read, and then shelve and never use again. Look at the table of contents and enjoy.
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