Application Development Using C# and .NET

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Tutorial
Review: "Application Development Using C# and .Net" is an excellent introduction to the .Net framework. This book is for the experienced developer with knowledge of an object oriented language such as Java or C++. The first part of the book gives a quick introduction to the basics of the .Net framework. The next three chapters give a rundown of C#. Three chapters is hardly enough to explain any programming language in any detail but the book provides enough detail to make a Java/C++ programmer feel comfortable with the language. The remainder of the book covers using C# to develop programs in the .Net framework. ASP.NET, windows forms and ADO.NET are all covered with a running case study. Building assemblies is given a good amount of coverage as is security. Web services are also explained with examples showing how to use WSDL to generate client proxy classes. I especially appreciated how all the pieces were demonstrated through the VisualStudio IDE. This was the first book I read on .Net and after having finished it I felt that I had a good, if basic understanding of the various parts that make up the .Net framework. You should note that the index is almost useless. For example, there is not a single entry for SQL in spite of the book having a chapter on using ADO.NET to access relational databases. As with most introductions, this book does not work as a reference. But as a learning tool, this book excels.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Tutorial
Review: "Application Development Using C# and .Net" is an excellent introduction to the .Net framework. This book is for the experienced developer with knowledge of an object oriented language such as Java or C++. The first part of the book gives a quick introduction to the basics of the .Net framework. The next three chapters give a rundown of C#. Three chapters is hardly enough to explain any programming language in any detail but the book provides enough detail to make a Java/C++ programmer feel comfortable with the language. The remainder of the book covers using C# to develop programs in the .Net framework. ASP.NET, windows forms and ADO.NET are all covered with a running case study. Building assemblies is given a good amount of coverage as is security. Web services are also explained with examples showing how to use WSDL to generate client proxy classes. I especially appreciated how all the pieces were demonstrated through the VisualStudio IDE. This was the first book I read on .Net and after having finished it I felt that I had a good, if basic understanding of the various parts that make up the .Net framework. You should note that the index is almost useless. For example, there is not a single entry for SQL in spite of the book having a chapter on using ADO.NET to access relational databases. As with most introductions, this book does not work as a reference. But as a learning tool, this book excels.

Rating:
Summary: Good code, bad writing
Review: I would use two analogies to describe this book.

1 - Have you ever talked to someone who is really bright - a doctor, a scientist, a computer geek - who you could tell was really smart but who could not communicate clearly and coherently in plain English?

2 - Have you ever heard the expression "it makes sense if you already know the answer" as applied to an explanation which is convoluted and confusing but ultimately right?

Well that's what this book is like to me. From the sections I've read these guys are not authors but they are experienced developers. They are not good at explaining things. They cannot lay out something simply in a one, two, three order. They jump from here to there and their writing looks like somebody cut and pasted some different sections of text together.

They do present a sophisticated code example which exceeds what you get in most technical books, however.

So I would say this book is not a good book if you are reading it for an explanation of C# and .NET. It could be useful if you are an experienced developer (and are used to dealing with people with poor communication skills) and are looking for some good code examples.

Rating:
Summary: Extremely Well Written
Review: It's hard to categorize this book. You not only you get an overview of C#, detailed emphasis on some aspects of application development, but it also provides an overview of .NET technologies, like various other .NET "Programming" books. So it's like one and a half books in one. You should certainly study a beginner's book on C# before reading this (mine was C# Primer Plus, which I recommend), though read this you should, because it's extremely well written and covers many aspects of .NET with crystal clarity, surprisingly so for a book of this scope. About 3/4 of the book covers core C# and overview of technologies, and then two or three chapters are dedicated to core .NET issues. So it's more of a "Programming/Overview" type of book than anything else; the best one I've read though. I would've preferred more emphasis on .NET fundamentals, and application design development. Nevertheless, I'm impressed.

I'll keep an eye out for future books from this author!

Rating:
Summary: Incoherent presentation of topics.
Review: The authors never seem to stay focused on the topic at hand for more than three or four sentences. Constantly branching back and forth in a GOTO type logic that makes you loose enthusiasm for the topic. Mentally unpleasing. Especially on the ADO.NET interface. Cannot seem to give a healthy grip.

Other may argue that you need to be an expert to appreciate this book. If your are that expert, then you do not need the book to begin with. If you cannot enjoy the sequence of presentation without feeling mentally taxed, then it is not a book that you want to read. At certain points, you feel that your are reading a dictionary of term and concepts.

I found other books far more superior in presenting an expert opinion in a very straightforward manner, staying focused, complimenting the theory with a good advice.

This book is not worth the ink that it is written in.

Thanks

Rating:
Summary: Covers all the major points of .Net
Review: This an excellent book covering major topics of .NET ranging from C# syntax to web service. I recommend it for mid level programmers who need to learn .NET quickly.

Rating:
Summary: Outstanding book
Review: This book gives experienced developers all the practical insight they need to build enterprise applications for Microsoft's .NET platform using C#. This book covers important topics in the .NET Framework for experienced programmers. This book is perfect for programmers who have basic knowledge in object-oriented languages such as C++ or Java but no need of prior experience in C#. The self-reliant treatment provides an easy and concrete insight to application development in C#.

This book gives experienced developers all the practical insight they need to build enterprise applications for Microsoft's .NET Platform using C#. A seasoned Visual Basic programmer who has experience in working with objects and components in VB could also read the book.Using extensive code examples and a running case study, the authors cover the complete process of constructing a .NET application: creating a monolithic C# console application; enhancing it with a Windows Forms interface; isolating functionality inside components; adding database access and security; and finally delivering functionality through ASP.NET and Web Services.this book is intended for experienced developers and provide all the practical insight they need to build enterprise applications for Microsoft's .NET Platform using C#.

This book is clearly defined, in-depth and example-rich. The major case study, the Acme Travel Agency, is progressively developed in Chapters 4 through 12. It illustrates many features of C# and .NET working in combination, as they would in a practical applications. The experienced C++, Java and VB programmers become efficient with .NET with the help of this book. 

Rating:
Summary: good book, expansive coverage, but room for improvement
Review: This book has a lot of positive things going for it. The target audience is clearly developers with a little experience under their belts. This is great ( assuming you actually *do* have a little experience under your belt ), because there isn't a lot of wasted bulk in the book covering language syntax details that you can pick up if you have any programming experience. Instead, the book focuses on the meaty topics of app development - e.g., security in the .NET platform, threading, application models, a bit of windows forms, a bit of ADO, a bit of ASP. and a nice section on the built-in debugging and tracing facilities of .NET. The scope of the book is rather expansive, which usually means that the coverage of any given topic is superficial. That is not necessarily the case here; a lot of topics are covered in depth. Of course, any one chapter in the book could easily become a book on its own; however the authors do a good job of covering at least the basics of each topic, and in most cases explain sufficiently beyond the core concepts. The book is a success in this arena - the approach is a "this is how you get your job done" versus "this is how it will theoretically be done after you consult the online documentation".

This book also has a few negatives. The writing can be dense, due at least in part to the vastness of subject matter. I ended up rereading sections over and over again, and at times I've had to resort to other references to make sense of parts of this book; e.g., the section on security is filled with so many keywords and layers of detail that I had to start writing terms and definitions down to keep them straight ( a table or detailed diagram would have been nice ). In this sense the writing is often ... linear, which doesn't take away from the density of the topic. The example-based approach the authors chose works very well, but I personally prefer full source listings to the clips and snips from downloadable example code that are used in most places in the book.

Past those few negatives, there is a lot of useful information in the book and its example code. Recommended; invesigate other options if you want, but you'll definately get a lot of use out of this book if you're working with the .NET platform.

Rating:
Summary: Best value for the time and money
Review: This book is among the best I have read while preparing for my MCSD.Net certification. It explains in very expert and easy to understand way how a real world application can be developed, using different pieces if .net framework. Each code fragment is expalined in detail. It gives reader code tamplates which can be reused in verious projects. Chapter organisation and excerises are also excellent. It also offers console application development without Visual Studio and also through Visual Studio environment. Various aspects of application developemnt using database is covered very intensely. It covers also ASP.NET and Web Service. And last but not least it does not have any typos!
It is a great book have as learning and as reference.

Rating:
Summary: Great overview!
Review: This book is extremely well written, the topics are presented in a clear and logical manner and the explanations are great. It has an excellent introduction to the .NET framework, a C# overview (this is NOT a book for learning C# from scratch), a chapter on UI programming (event handling, menus, controls, dialog boxes etc), Assemblies and Deployment, the .NET framework class library, ADO.NET, ASP.NET, Web Services, Security and more. All these subjects could span thick books on their own but this book explains what they are and ties them all in together, without going into massive detail. This book works best when you use it to learn about the different areas of .NET and how they work together and reference other books or the documentation for an in-depth look at specific topics.

Get this book if:
- you are an experienced programmer who is still wondering "what is .NET?" and wants to get a great overview of .NET programming
- if you have developed applications the "old" way and need to quickly jump into .NET development and get a job done without having to know every detail of what goes on underneath the hood
- if you already know Java or C++ and are looking to learn about the basics of C# and about how you can use it in the .NET framework to get the job done.

Do NOT get this book if:
- you are looking for a total and complete tutorial on C#
- you are a beginner at programming and want to start out by learning the .NET framework (this book assumes prior knowledge)
- you want total in-depth knowledge of how the .NET framework works under the hood
- if you do not already have (at least a basic) understanding of application programming