Rating: 
Summary: The best C# book for visual Studio
Review: Note to Amazon staff:Please take down the review by:
Reviewer: alleyrat001 from Watervliet, NY United States
March 6, 2004 "alleyrat" is obviously talking about a different book for C++ not c#. You must clear up with him which text he is referring to but it is obvious that none of the page references even remotely match. This erroneous low score is dragging down the overall review rating. I liked the book so much that I took it upon myself to help right this wrong. PERFECT FOR BEGINNERS! I bought about a dozen C# books from a store that does close-outs. For a few dollars I stocked a full C# reference library with all the major titles. I may not be an expert but if there is a C# text I have read at least parts of it. Even though it is not a reference text and they do not go into some fancier stuff in too much detail, the way the authors explain and properly use the power of Visual Studio is so good that I wind up using this book more than any other. I may dig more for speciific examples in other ref. books or on the net(who doesn't) but if I want to get the solid explanation I start here. You cannot write productively .net code without VS! when you see a book that says in the the Intro that you can whip out your ole' Notepad and go just keep going... Those are the geeks that will keep you going in circles with cryptic explanations of a term that include three or more new never previously defined terms. Ole' Notepad is like a flight instructor coming to class and saying: "You can fly from Houston to Seattle and you can also walk so class, put on your walking shoes and bon voyage!" "But sir, what about flying?" "Well we'll get into that when you walk back from Seattle." So if you do not want to walk( or crawl) with .net you have to start with the Visual Studio IDE right off the bat and this book does just that best. Even though I had a whole shelf of other books already I had to pay full price for this one and it was worth every penny. Cudos!
Rating:
Summary: The best C# book for visual Studio
Review: Note to Amazon staff: Please take down the review by:
Reviewer: alleyrat001 from Watervliet, NY United States
March 6, 2004 "alleyrat" is obviously talking about a different book for C++ not c#. You must clear up with him which text he is referring to but it is obvious that none of the page references even remotely match. This erroneous low score is dragging down the overall review rating. I liked the book so much that I took it upon myself to help right this wrong. PERFECT FOR BEGINNERS! I bought about a dozen C# books from a store that does close-outs. For a few dollars I stocked a full C# reference library with all the major titles. I may not be an expert but if there is a C# text I have read at least parts of it. Even though it is not a reference text and they do not go into some fancier stuff in too much detail, the way the authors explain and properly use the power of Visual Studio is so good that I wind up using this book more than any other. I may dig more for speciific examples in other ref. books or on the net(who doesn't) but if I want to get the solid explanation I start here. You cannot write productively .net code without VS! when you see a book that says in the the Intro that you can whip out your ole' Notepad and go just keep going... Those are the geeks that will keep you going in circles with cryptic explanations of a term that include three or more new never previously defined terms. Ole' Notepad is like a flight instructor coming to class and saying: "You can fly from Houston to Seattle and you can also walk so class, put on your walking shoes and bon voyage!" "But sir, what about flying?" "Well we'll get into that when you walk back from Seattle." So if you do not want to walk( or crawl) with .net you have to start with the Visual Studio IDE right off the bat and this book does just that best. Even though I had a whole shelf of other books already I had to pay full price for this one and it was worth every penny. Cudos!
Rating:
Summary: The best C# book for visual Studio
Review: Note to Amazon staff: Please take down the review by:
Reviewer: alleyrat001 from Watervliet, NY United States
March 6, 2004 "alleyrat" is obviously talking about a different book for C++ not c#. You must clear up with him which text he is referring to but it is obvious that none of the page references even remotely match. This erroneous low score is dragging down the overall review rating. I liked the book so much that I took it upon myself to help right this wrong. PERFECT FOR BEGINNERS! I bought about a dozen C# books from a store that does close-outs. For a few dollars I stocked a full C# reference library with all the major titles. I may not be an expert but if there is a C# text I have read at least parts of it. Even though it is not a reference text and they do not go into some fancier stuff in too much detail, the way the authors explain and properly use the power of Visual Studio is so good that I wind up using this book more than any other. I may dig more for speciific examples in other ref. books or on the net(who doesn't) but if I want to get the solid explanation I start here. You cannot write productively .net code without VS! when you see a book that says in the the Intro that you can whip out your ole' Notepad and go just keep going... Those are the geeks that will keep you going in circles with cryptic explanations of a term that include three or more new never previously defined terms. Ole' Notepad is like a flight instructor coming to class and saying: "You can fly from Houston to Seattle and you can also walk so class, put on your walking shoes and bon voyage!" "But sir, what about flying?" "Well we'll get into that when you walk back from Seattle." So if you do not want to walk( or crawl) with .net you have to start with the Visual Studio IDE right off the bat and this book does just that best. Even though I had a whole shelf of other books already I had to pay full price for this one and it was worth every penny. Cudos!
Rating:
Summary: Very useful if C++ .net is your development choice
Review: Some of the reviews appear to refer to a C# version of this book - don't know why, but it needs to be looked into by amazon. I found this C++ book to be invlauble when navigating the new 2003 VS and associated features. It is not a how to learn C++ book and the title misleading. It s a book hoever for those who know C++ (intermediate level) but need to learn to negotiate (a) the Visual Studio interface and IDE (which has changed from 2002) and (b) get a basic grasp of .net framework, clr etc under their belt. The book is very good at meeting the requirements of (a) in my opinion. It is clear and to the point about how to use the new IDE. The exmaple code is not overly sophisticated either whihc is a boon at many levels if your are a student. In the matter of (b), there isa chapter explainign how COM and ActiveX have essentially been terminted in the new framework. If you don't know COM and ActiveX components, ou will get very little out of it however. My main criticism of the (b) aspects of the book is that they measure up quite poorly against several other excellent MS books covering VB in .net, especially Balena. MS has had a change of heart about C++ and was considering canning it in the expectation that C# would replace it eventually. Despite this change of heart MS have not produced anywhere near the quality of their other 'VS language+framework' textbooks. If you are learnign C++ nad have only Visual Studio 2003 at your disposal then this is a clear text fro gettign going in the IDE. However, if you already knwo C++ and have a grasp of the IDE then the book will give you the bones of .net framework but nowhere near quality of material found in the several other framewark texts. Nevertheless, I give it five stars because it is so clearly written and easy to follow.
Rating: 
Summary: Not For Everyone
Review: The book strongly relied on C# projects supplied with the included CD. The teach method is to have you open a project and add or change a line or two of code in order to illustrate a concept. If the subject matter were of a less complicated nature (programming), I'd almost say this book was for young children learning C#. At some point, I just decided to skip the examples and just focus on the text until I finally got tired of the book altogether. I also have another .NET Step By Step book and I see that this learning method is common with the entire series.
Rating: 
Summary: confused technical editor
Review: The comments below from Stupified and Jason (the Editor)are both regarding the wrong book. This book is C# and not C++.
How can I purchase this book now knowing the editor is less than detail oriented? I must assume the other readers comments are true if the technical editor cannot respond to the correct text.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointed; mostly a rehash of C++ basics
Review: The first 12 chapters, over 200 pages, discuss the C++ language without a much about C++ .NET. I guess my expectations were too high. This is one rare time that I didn't look at the TOC prior to purchasing a book--lesson learned. Overall, the book is OK, just a little too basic for anybody with a few months VC++ experience. After two days I am almost finished with the book and don't feel much more enlightened about .NET than before I started studying.
Rating:
Summary: Great book but you guys are misunderstanding the purpose
Review: THe purpose of this book really isn't to learn C++, but to learn managed C++ with .net. If you are brand new to C++, id' suggest getting one of the sam's 21 day books.
Rating:
Summary: Incomplete Introduction to .Net
Review: This book is not intended for the beginning C++ programmer. It introduces the .NET Framework Library and Windows Forms, but falls short in the topic of Graphical Output. The reader is most likely looking for some explanation on how to write and read text from a Form, but this book does not provide enough detail. Overall, it is a good introduction to programming in C++ .Net.
Rating:
Summary: goes too fast and don't explain enough
Review: this is maybe good as a second C# book to read and seems sometimes that they expect the reader to know everything already. for example, the authors describe how to "subscribe to an event" but don't explain exactly what an event is or what the c# meaning of "subscribe" is. seems like a problem in a lot of these books...
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