Rating: 
Summary: -5 Stars is the rating
Review: ...If you like the type of author's that just talk about the "OLD DAYS" like they are your Grandfather sitting on their lap listing to them gable about "When I Was Your Age" stories then this is a book for you. But, if you'd rather start learning about .NET then find another book. And David S. Platt is totally wrong about Java.
Rating: 
Summary: Platt made a liar out of me!
Review: After loads of research, I decided no one could tell you what .NET is all about, because it's just too big. Anyone who tells you what it's about is really just telling you his or her narrow perspective of a much larger concept. Platt proved me wrong. If you want to understand .NET, start here!
Rating: 
Summary: Finally A Good .NET Book From MS
Review: After purchasing the previous 3 .NET books from MS, I gave them one last chance. I wasn't disapointed. Finally, a book that goes beyond just explaining the marketing hype.
If you want to learn about .NET app security, the GAC, and how the CLR really works, then this book is a good read. Although Professional ASP.NET also does a great job of explaining these things in more detail, this book was out first so I recommend it.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting but frustrating
Review: As a manager who has worked across many technologies over the years but recently in the Java world I found this book both interesting, and useful to get an overview of .Net, but also frustrating because it was superfical in some areas and then dived into too much detail occasionally. Also whilst I quite liked David Platt's humour I also found the sniping at Java irritating. .Net is not new - everything in it has been done before - what MS bring to play is their marketing muscle and their knowledge of development tools. Much was made of first mover advantage in 97-99 but we have a saying at work that the second mouse gets the cheese. That is what I think MS will do with .Net and why for managers with a technical bias this is a good read to see where MS are going
Rating:
Summary: Good introductory information
Review: As a programmer, I get a lot of books, esp. when looking at new technologies, like .NET. From my viewpoint, right on the bleeding edge, this book is a bit too simplistic. If you have been working with .NET since the PDC beta, this is probably not the book for you either. Now, before you step away, let's put this in context. Mr. Platt has not written a book for those of us who have been on the bleeding edge of this technology for the past year (well, almost). This book, instead, is written to give a good overview of .NET for those who are just starting out. Who is this book for? This book is aimed for anyone who wants a 20,000 foot view of the .NET Framework. While there are code samples, this is not designed to be a tutorial as much as an overview. Overall, I would recommend this book as a nice overview. As much of the information in the book is overview, most of this one, unlike the MSDN books recently released, will still be applicable in a few weeks. Looking at the MSPress site lately, even Microsoft is embarassed at the MSDN books, as even an ISBN number will not pull up the books. Unfortunately, even some of the info in this book may change before the gold release of .NET. One good sign, is the fact that the author points out which sections are likely to change. This type of honesty is unusual in the seemingly cutthroat business of computer book publishing. Summary: This book is definitely a beginner's book. If you are already developing .NET applications (playing with .NET), you will not find a great deal of new information. If you are looking for a developer's book, pass on as well. If you would like to know more about what .NET is, however, this is a good choice. My Rating: I feel this book is a 4 in context with the audience it is aimed for. For developers, I would subtract a star. For those already working in .NET, I would take off two. For those who have really worked through .NET, I would say 1 star is about all of the value you will get out of it.
Rating:
Summary: It's just beginning, see it here first, wonder if MS wins
Review: David Platt brings a good sense of humor to the .NET Framework and helps the reader get through the annoying fact that the specs are not stable. His introduction to .NET covers the essentials, Visual Studio.NET, the Object architecture, ASP.NET, Web Services, and Windows Forms, points out what is incomplete, where dangers will crop up, and what the manager or programmer can expect to be doing while MS reaps in the dollars. While this is an MS Press book, Platt takes his shots at MS for short-sighted implementations, but it is clear that a lot of power will be coming from this package and MS might just take control of the whole net (see recent concern over smart tags and passport authentication for some of the ways MS will steer where you go today). .NET sounds a lot like the promise that Java evanglized (write once, run everywhere, as long as MS gets its cut), and the Intermediate Language that is produced is conceptually Java and Visual Studio is just doing what Metrowerks Codewarrior did years ago. The battle call is sounded and the future of the net is going to pit .NET versus everyone else. Hopefully the winners and losers will make some money fighting for the world's eyeballs.
Rating:
Summary: Beware of the word "Introduction"!
Review: Firstly, I have been working with .NET since early Betas so have seen through a number of .NET stages of life. And the author David Platt teaches Harvard graduate courses. Recently I went through a week long training with the author and that is how I was introduced to this book and to him.
So, what I would like to say is that in this book, even though the author calls it an introduction, that is so very humble. Any developer working on Micro$oft's toolset will realize that a book, which in its first chapter, goes through COM Interop and gives working samples of using COM components in .NET and vice verca cannot be called a manager's introduction. Now, for those guys who still think that is a "manager's introduction", may I ask how many "typical development" managers can just go in and understand the ins and outs of a COM interop sample? COM by default, has been hard, and from what I have seen, typically managers avoid understanding the "real" details of the same. (e.g. how IDispatch really works with or without type libraries or what are the 18 or so OLE interfaces used in an Activex control or how DCOM talks over internet and what is the difference between a COM+ component and an MTS component etc.) Then the author gives very interesting and practical examples of using ASP.NET authentication/authorization and *encryption*. Again I guess most books on just this one topic ASP.NET may spend several times the volume of this complete book and still not cover this level of details effectively in such a small set of pages. Then let me give another example. David in chapter 4 gives some excellent inside information about web services and gives a very interesting sample of using chunkiness in web services. Again, this is not for the light-hearted as most books on .NET with a lot more pages in them don't cover details any more than basic how to write a web service (Which is trivial as it can be made via a wizard or else one can write one in 5 minutes or lesser by hand!) And btw, I love its samples because they are all very interesting considering that the author has worked closely with Microsoft on technical documentations.
Rating:
Summary: When Platt met .NET...
Review: For those of you who are still afraid to admit that .NET is here to stay - fear no more - David Platt's "Introducing Microsoft .NET" can help you pick up with Microsoft's latest invention. The four core chapters of the book - ".NET Object", "ASP.NET", ".NET Web Services" and "Windows Forms" give an overview of what each technology is and how you can put it to work right away. Each chapter talks about the "Problem Background", technology's "Solution Architecture" and always gives a "Simplest Example" - an ideal construct. The author then elaborates on the major particularities of each technology and explains how they all tie together. Written with no bias towards any part of .NET, after finishing this book you'll have a fair idea on which topic you want to read more. The generous 2" wide margins are full with conclusions and bookmarks (of the kind "The sample starts here", etc) to ease your search through the book. Frequent diagrams, screenshots as well as notes and warnings (on a gray background) add to the readability of this book. The majority of the samples are in Visual Basic .NET and however much this may displease the C++/C# fans, let's admit it - this makes the samples just a few lines long, they fit nicely on one page and they reduce the size and weight of the book by a whole lot. The author has only included the relevant pieces of code in the book, leaving the rest for you to download from his website. If you ever read a book on Win32 with declaration of the same "WinMain" and "WinProc" on every fifth page then you'll find this simplification very useful. You can familiarize yourself with the style of the book by downloading the source code and a chapter on ADO.NET from http://www.introducingmicrosoft.net/. Reading this chapter will give you an idea of where the book is headed. You'll need the .NET Framework to run the samples, available on Microsoft's MSDN website. Visual Studio.NET is also available thereat if you have the MSDN Universal Subscription or (as of this writing) have it shipped to you for $12.95 (4 CDs). An adaptation of the topic from this book on ".NET Objects - Interoperability with COM" was also published in the August 2001 issue of the MSDN Magazine, also available online on the MSDN website.
Rating:
Summary: Good Intro to .NET
Review: From the foreword: "a high level and easy to understand overview of a subject with some code...funny to read and very informative, with lots of interesting code...about teaching you the mindset of .NET."
As a hobbyist/beginner programmer I found Platt's book very interesting and very easy to read.
One question I've had is just what is this '.NET thing' and what does it hold for the future of computer usage/programming?
.NET has been for me an elusive something that even Microsoft seems to have difficulty defining in an easy and succinct way.
Platt has provided just that, an entertaining and informative overview of the .NET mindset. He provides an introduction to .NET objects and the good code needed to run on various platforms and solution architecture, IL and JIT and .NET Namespaces, OOP features and memory management.
ASP.NET pages, web controls, and secuirty. .NET Web services--writing web service clients and the WSDL file. Windows forms--controls and events, hosting ActiveX controls are all looked at in easy to understand--hey that makes sense to me!-- language.
Platt uses a problem background--what problems does MS.NET solve? and solution architecture with simplest example method of exploring the 5 topics covered. He covers a single topic from the top down in each chapter, starting simpler and then progressing into greater technical detail with a minimum of jargon and a maximum of wit. Platt uses many detailed diagrams and analogies and clear explanations along with code samples--written in VB.NET--more samples are provided on the book's web site.
When I finished this 200 page easy to read book I learned enough about this development platform to understand a little better the future of software as a service and what this '.NET thing' is.
Let me recommend this book as an excellent introduction to the 'mystery' of what .Net is all about.
Rating:
Summary: Good Intro to .NET
Review: From the foreword: "a high level and easy to understand overview of a subject with some code...funny to read and very informative, with lots of interesting code...about teaching you the mindset of .NET."
As a hobbyist/beginner programmer I found Platt's book very interesting and very easy to read.
One question I've had is just what is this '.NET thing' and what does it hold for the future of computer usage/programming?
.NET has been for me an elusive something that even Microsoft seems to have difficulty defining in an easy and succinct way.
Platt has provided just that, an entertaining and informative overview of the .NET mindset. He provides an introduction to .NET objects and the good code needed to run on various platforms and solution architecture, IL and JIT and .NET Namespaces, OOP features and memory management.
ASP.NET pages, web controls, and secuirty. .NET Web services--writing web service clients and the WSDL file. Windows forms--controls and events, hosting ActiveX controls are all looked at in easy to understand--hey that makes sense to me!-- language.
Platt uses a problem background--what problems does MS.NET solve? and solution architecture with simplest example method of exploring the 5 topics covered. He covers a single topic from the top down in each chapter, starting simpler and then progressing into greater technical detail with a minimum of jargon and a maximum of wit. Platt uses many detailed diagrams and analogies and clear explanations along with code samples--written in VB.NET--more samples are provided on the book's web site.
When I finished this 200 page easy to read book I learned enough about this development platform to understand a little better the future of software as a service and what this '.NET thing' is.
Let me recommend this book as an excellent introduction to the 'mystery' of what .Net is all about.
| 
