Rating: 
Summary: An excellent Winsock API Reference
Review: I thought the book well laid out and easy to read. My main intrest in this book was to get a better Winsock reference, so I skipped over the first several chapters of this book. I found that it did much better job of addressing EACH of the Winsock API functions than any of the documentation I've seen to date. I'm a C/C++ programmer, not a VB programmer, and I thought the examples were clear, practical, and generally better than most. It was just what I was looking for.
Rating: 
Summary: 2nd edition concentrates on sockets
Review: I was surprised when I got this book. I had seen the first edition, which covered, in addition to sockets, NetBIOS, Mailslots, and Named Pipes. In the second edition these last 3 "Legacy APIs" are moved exclusively to the CDROM that's included. It seemed strange to me for a book's back cover to claim that it covers those legacy APIs, yet it not to be covered in the hard copy. And it seems especially strange, since the only mention of this is in the book's introduction: says they were moved there "because of space considerations". Yet I have two other books from MS Press that also retail for [same price] and are well over 1000 pages. Anyway, I just wanted to warn anyone that maybe had the same expectations that I did.Nevertheless, what's in the book is good, up-to-date information on Windows sockets, including new stuff on Windows XP, IPv6, and a chapter using C#.
Rating: 
Summary: Not a clear, practical guide to MS Net APIs.
Review: I'm a VB programmer desperately seeking information on the NETAPI functions. There is nothing on the web, Dan Appleman has nothing to say about the the NetAPI and there's definitely nothing in this book on it. The VB world needs someone, like Appleman to go through and document this scarcely documented topic.
Rating:
Summary: Good book complete coverage.
Review: If you need to do network programming on the Windows platform I strongly recommend you get this book. This book provides very complete coverage on the subject with good explanations and nice code samples. NetBios, Mailslots, Named Pipes, and Winsock are all covered, with the vast majority of the book devoted to Winsock. This is dense reading so expect to spend time with this book. But the payoff is a detailed understanding of network programming on the Windows platform. This book is for intermediate to advanced programmers only, beginners stay away. I hope this helps J.
Rating: 
Summary: OK for a newbie, otherwise very lame
Review: If you've been programming Windows for about a year, that's a good book, especially if you're about to dabble in sockets programming. But if you've been working with Windows for years, this book is of no use whatsoever--most of the stuff you probably already know, while those few truly new items that it touches upon, it covers inadequately. A couple of examples: IP helper library and RAS client. All you have on these very mysterious API areas is a lame rehash of what's available (for free) on MSDN. The MSDN docs are confusing and inconsistent, yet this book doesn't make it any better. So what use is it? So, I have to say it's one of those orange-cover series super-superficial books that cover everything and nothing at the same time. If interested, peruse it in a bookstore first. I bet you'll put it back on the shelf.
Rating: 
Summary: Still the definitive guide to the Networking APIs
Review: In this book Anthony and I chose to strictly cover networking APIs such as Winsock, Named Pipes, Mailslots and NetBios where an application can transmit data from a client to a server over a network. We do not cover the Microsoft Lan Manager (LanMan) Net API and the Windows Network (WNet) API that is used for managing network services in a Microsoft network. The LanMan and WNet API cannot be used to simply move data from a client to a server. We also included a chapter on the Remote Access Service (RAS) client APIs that can enhance an application's ability to communicate to a remote network using the networking APIs described in this book. There are numerous C/C++ code samples included on the companion CD. Most of the samples are also written in Visual Basic. We hope you will find this an extremely useful resource for developing network applications on Windows platforms.
Rating:
Summary: Scatter-gather approach
Review: Patience is a virtue, Avatar. You'll need a good deal of patience while reading this book. While there is an enormous amount of valuable information in the text, I'm not sure that the book itself was actually edited. Several of the descriptions seem to drag on continuously, while a fair amount of bird walking is done in other places. I don't fault the authors with this, though. As I understand it, one of the editor's jobs is to make sure a book is grammatically correct and easy to read. Another problem that I've noticed involves incorrect chapter references. For example, the SO_CONNECT_TIME referenced in chapter 7 (p. 205) refers you to chapter 6 (p. 177) for an explanation. Chapter 6 refers you to chapter 5. Are these guys doctors? Will my insurance cover this? :) Programming in C# minor. 12 pages here. There really is a chapter 13. Don't flip too fast; you might miss it. Now, granted, I'm not a C# programmer, so I haven't thoroughly looked at the contents of the chapter. However, judging from the skimpiness alone, I imagine that a lot more could have been covered. In fairness chapters 5 - 12 are packed with some very useful information, and the C# chapter was probably just icing. So, overall I would recommend this book. However, the book's organization and overall appearance (no shading of code samples, tables, etc.) are lacking considerably. These issues and the poor editing earn a generous 3 stars.
Rating:
Summary: Scatter-gather approach
Review: Patience is a virtue, Avatar. You'll need a good deal of patience while reading this book. While there is an enormous amount of valuable information in the text, I'm not sure that the book itself was actually edited. Several of the descriptions seem to drag on continuously, while a fair amount of bird walking is done in other places. I don't fault the authors with this, though. As I understand it, one of the editor's jobs is to make sure a book is grammatically correct and easy to read. Another problem that I've noticed involves incorrect chapter references. For example, the SO_CONNECT_TIME referenced in chapter 7 (p. 205) refers you to chapter 6 (p. 177) for an explanation. Chapter 6 refers you to chapter 5. Are these guys doctors? Will my insurance cover this? :) Programming in C# minor. 12 pages here. There really is a chapter 13. Don't flip too fast; you might miss it. Now, granted, I'm not a C# programmer, so I haven't thoroughly looked at the contents of the chapter. However, judging from the skimpiness alone, I imagine that a lot more could have been covered. In fairness chapters 5 - 12 are packed with some very useful information, and the C# chapter was probably just icing. So, overall I would recommend this book. However, the book's organization and overall appearance (no shading of code samples, tables, etc.) are lacking considerably. These issues and the poor editing earn a generous 3 stars.
Rating: 
Summary: Two Stars. Not a Fraction More.
Review: The best I can say is that this book looks like it has a lot of information. But what good is it if you have to wade through words "up to here" just to get at it? Do they pay these guys by the word? It's just not an efficient book. If I couldn't teach any better than this I'd get another job.
Rating:
Summary: concise and pretty helpful
Review: The book has been written in an easy style. The first few chapters in particular have been written in a simple and easy to understand manner. Not the kinds that drives away beginners. The book makes a good attempt at being complete, it covers a good deal of IPV6 along with IPV4. Most examples are easy to follow and good to go - I copy pasted a lot of samples and they just worked. Though it covers the basics of many protocols, given the impact that HTTP has on the internet, I think the book can dedicate a few more pages detailing HTTP mechanisms and Winsock based HTTP apps... Otherwise, this book is really good to have.
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