Rating: 
Summary: Be better called Programming Windows GUI with C# :)
Review: This book is for neither .NET/C# programming language nor Windows Operating System. It focuses on Windows GUI programming.
It only spends about 40 pages on C# language basics, and also, it never mentions COM/COM+, which are very important features for Windows platform.
This is the best reference book for windows forms and .Net GDI+ programming. It spends 1200+ pages to introduce all those Graphic and UI stuff in a C# way. If you are a UI programmer, this book is nothing but a must buy! It includes everything you need to know about .NET/C# GUI programming.
But, if what you are looking for is some C# language reference, please refer to C# Primer: A Practical Approach by Stanley B. Lippman or Progamming C#. If what you want is a detail look into .NET platform/CLR, refer to Compiling for the .NET Common Language Runtime.
Rating:
Summary: another excellent book
Review: As with previous Petzold's Programming Windows books, this book tells you the nuts and bolts of windows programming, in C#. In details explained real well. I especially enjoy the little pieces of history as introduction in each chapter. Petzold even give you a brief math lesson when explaining Bezier curves. But this book does not give you a real-world-app, but the knowledge of details that make you build one. The appendix of math and string class will be helpful for anyone doing real programming.
Rating:
Summary: Great Book, Again!!
Review: Like all of his earlier books, this is the one you must have if C# is the language and Windows is the platform.
Rating: 
Summary: Programming with Windows Forms
Review: If you carefully examine the list of "Topics Covered" given by Amazon, you will not be disappointed at how Petzold does it. No one covers what Petzold chooses to write about more thoroughly and clearly than Petzold. The book definitely assumes familiarity with a C-family language. What is absent is information that his previous "Programming Windows" books gave about the underlying Windows environment, and about interprocess communication. I suppose this is because you can simply link to other code without much work in the new framework. But he does not cover the structure of .NET; the word "Assembly" is not even in his reliable comprehensive index, nor is "Component" or "IComponent." Disposal of resources is only mentioned with regard to graphics objects. The book covers Windows Forms programming, very well, and that's all it is meant for. By all means get this book, but get other books for other purposes.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent if you want to write GUIs with C#
Review: While most C# books tend to focus on :
- basic C#
- XML
- ASP.NET
"Programming Windows with C# " simply teaches you all you should know about GUI programming with C#. It looks obvious, but try to find good references in this subject and you'd be disappointed.
Not most programmers can afford Visual Studio NET and also not all programmers want RAD tools. Actually what is great with C# is that it allows the programmer to do everything manually and avoid automatic code geration. While it could delay your work, it certainly make it clear. The Forms API for C# is considerably simpler compared to MFC or WIN32 API Programming. Java programmers like me will find it usefull because its similarities with the Swing API.
The author is an excellent technical writer and make everything easy to read. And like he said "I prefer to type the code by hand and then I will learn it".
If you aim to write Windows GUIs for C#, get this book. It is a complete reference in the subject. The author does not mention it, but there is an open source and free IDE for .NET development name Sharp Develop. I use it and so far I haven't gotten many troubles. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Update of Standard "Programming Windows" Text
Review: This is an excellent book for learning to "Program Windows Using C#". Note the title, PROGRAMMING WINDOWS WITH C#. If you are looking to program web applications, XML or databases, or for a C# reference, don't even consider this book. If you want a comprehensive reference, consider O'Reilly's "C# In A Nutshell", it has everything. The author has written identical books for Programming Windows using originally C, then C++ (they were classics). This current version is merely an update to the earlier texts implementing MS's new Visual C#. While I do agree with other reviewers that the text is somewhat simplistic, that is what I expected, and don't feel misled from the title. Petzold's writing style is easy to understand, and follows methodically in describing the language features, class usage and applications to the .NET SYSTEM and FORMS NameSpaces and their usage. It does an excellent job at describing graphics GDI+ usage (find another current C# book that well documents the .MeasureText method or the lack of XOR drawing modes, I have found no others), images, form element, file handling, etc. I am about 2/3 of the way through (the reason for 4 stars), and am thoroughly satisfied with this work so far. Also, you can't beat the price, this one costs the same as Wrox, SAMS or Prentice-Hall books one fifth the size.
Rating:
Summary: Great book on Windows Forms
Review: This book provides a good, short introduction to C#. It was my first book on C#, and I did not feel like I needed another after reading it.
After those couple of chapters, it provides rather wordy coverage of Windows Forms and drawing graphics with .Net. The title should reflect this more clearly, in my opinion. The book does not talk about programming Windows in general (assemblies, threading, XML, etc.); it focuses solely on the graphical aspects, with some brief look at file I/O.
The coverage of Windows Forms and drawing is great, if a somewhat verbose.
Rating: 
Summary: WOW!
Review: I'm not sure why I've seen so many good reviews for this book.......I see it as 1200+ pages of wasted paper. Microsoft recommends this book as study material for their exam? Rest assured..... this book doesn't cover anything but drawing pretty little circles, lines, text, and who could forget the cute little spiral, lol! This book contains a lot of useless information regarding the many, let me emphasize that MANYMANYMANY ways of drawing shapes.
Unless you plan on writing applications that produce arrays of wonderful shapes on your screen, this book is not for you! Take the time to head down to your local book store and review the content before wasting your money.
Rating:
Summary: Programming with Windows Forms
Review: If you carefully examine the list of "Topics Covered" given by Amazon, you will not be disappointed at how Petzold does it. No one covers what Petzold chooses to write about more thoroughly and clearly than Petzold. The book definitely assumes familiarity with a C-family language. What is absent is information that his previous "Programming Windows" books gave about the underlying Windows environment, and about interprocess communication. I suppose this is because you can simply link to other code without much work in the new framework. But he does not cover the structure of .NET; the word "Assembly" is not even in his reliable comprehensive index, nor is "Component" or "IComponent." Disposal of resources is only mentioned with regard to graphics objects. The book covers Windows Forms programming, very well, and that's all it is meant for. By all means get this book, but get other books for other purposes.
Rating:
Summary: Good for what it covers...
Review: I have been using C# for some time now but almost exclusively for web applications. I am now exploring Windows Forms programs using .net, so I began shopping for some books. I have always enjoyed Petzold books on Windows going back to the early days when we only had the Windows API. So I thought this would be THE book to have, i.e., the one book that will guide me through this period of getting up to speed on writing Forms programs. Sadly, it isn't that book, though it still is very worthwhile. I was very surprised at what wasn't in the book- specifically, no mention of database access. You won't find database, SQL, Access, anywhere, even in the index. That was a major disappointment, because all of my Windows apps are doing just that - accessing a database. While the ASP.NET data access material more or less applies, there are differences in how it is done and I was hoping to have a text to help sort that out. This text does not do that. Also omitted - anything to do with XML. What this book does is the normal, core-Windows stuff such as drawing/painting, keyboard control, mouse, timers, fonts, images, bitmaps, menus, brushes, pens, etc. There is a very good chapter on printing. Also covered well is file input/output, drag and drop, various controls and so on. It's a good library addition but I just wish there was some data access material in it to make it a great book. I have found this book to be a good one to keep on the shelf
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