Rating: 
Summary: For the experienced coder who wants to see all of .NET!
Review: If you've been reading magazines (MSDN, VisualStudio, etc), have been on the newsgroups, and just haven't had the time to really write any code, then this book is for you! It will help 'clean up' your magazine/newsgroup knowledge. It shows all of .NET in a condensed, easy-to-understand approach. Well done, Fergal; keep on writing!
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Summary: I love this approach.
Review: Is there anything finer than a Manning text? Clean design, comfortable style, clear and crisp message. This particular book does many things very well. - I particularly like the example that he chose: a video poker game. It is simple enough to understand, but complex enough to describe some of the more intricate problems. I learn by getting my teeth into a particular problem, and the repeatedly using technology to solve the problem. Grimes takes us through the simple example at first, and layers on complexity until the final result is pleasing. - I love how you can get sample code. The amount of code in the book is not oppressive (partly because he builds on the same example.) It's freely available on Manning's web site. - I love that Grimes doesn't assume I'm a moron from the start. - I love the way that he breaks out so many of the tedious C# details into the appendix. It's a handy reference that doesn't get in the way. - I love the way that I can talk to Grimes directly in his on-line forum at the Manning site. More publishers should pick up this practice. If you need to ramp up on .net in a hurry, get this book. You'll be glad you did.
Rating:
Summary: Buy This .NET Book!
Review: On a scale of "Don't Waste Your Time" to "Buy This Book", this book rates a "Buy This Book!" Grimes does an excellent job of detailing .NET in a clear and concise text. Using a real world example, Grimes covers all the major points of .NET, Win and Web Forms, Web Services, ASP.NET, and ADO.NET. There are also some small details about the layout of the book that I think make the book very reader friendly. The section headings each have a gray bar that easily distinguished the sections and each chapter has a quick index of what is covered and where, which gives readers like myself a cheat sheet to jump ahead to particular topics that interest me the most. And while the book reads well from front to back, it also works well as a reference. I was able to jump around and pick up bits and pieces, kind of like tips and tricks for .NET. The one drawback, if you can call it that, is the choice of the author to go with C# for code illustrations. I actually loved learning a new language, but I could see some hard core VB guys being alienated by the choice. All in all, the book does an excellent job of putting the behemoth of .NET into a nice package that is easily digestible. My recommendation is to "Buy this book"!
Rating:
Summary: Buy This .NET Book!
Review: On a scale of "Don't Waste Your Time" to "Buy This Book", this book rates a "Buy This Book!" Grimes does an excellent job of detailing .NET in a clear and concise text. Using a real world example, Grimes covers all the major points of .NET, Win and Web Forms, Web Services, ASP.NET, and ADO.NET. There are also some small details about the layout of the book that I think make the book very reader friendly. The section headings each have a gray bar that easily distinguished the sections and each chapter has a quick index of what is covered and where, which gives readers like myself a cheat sheet to jump ahead to particular topics that interest me the most. And while the book reads well from front to back, it also works well as a reference. I was able to jump around and pick up bits and pieces, kind of like tips and tricks for .NET. The one drawback, if you can call it that, is the choice of the author to go with C# for code illustrations. I actually loved learning a new language, but I could see some hard core VB guys being alienated by the choice. All in all, the book does an excellent job of putting the behemoth of .NET into a nice package that is easily digestible. My recommendation is to "Buy this book"!
Rating:
Summary: Well-written with a great, pracitcal example
Review: OVERALL ASSESSMENT
This book is aptly named. Not for the beginner, but for the experienced programmer seeking a deeper understanding of .NET development and practical examples of distributed computing, I found this book to be very helpful, very succinct, and very entertaining. Contrary to some of the other titles on the market, Grimes doesn't try to pad the book with 28 chapters, the first 20 of them being the obligatory content explaining the role and function of .NET, what XML, SOAP, and UDDI are, and a primer in coding, and only briefly getting into the core purpose of the book. It gets right into the tough stuff. Grimes instead gives a higher-level viewpoint of programming with .NET, explaining advanced concepts like .NET's garbage collection methodology, memory management, and applications architecture planning, from a best-practices approach. Grimes bases his book's existence on an example that spans the entire text - building a poker game app. Throughout the text, Grimes constructs and expands upon a concept that is simple enough to be relative to everyone yet complex to be an effective lesson in distributed app design. He abstracts this app out to 11 different versions all calling the same app, including a Windows version, a Web-based version, a message queue, a console version accessible through UNIX telnet commands, a mobile version and an XML Web service, which is a great lesson in showing the ease with which .NET developers may create powerful distributed applications. It's beautifully written, well-proofread, and quite comprehensive for only 288 pages (not counting the excellent appendices dealing with an Introduction to C#, and detailed source code for the examples). It's a great addition to the reference library of the advanced programmer, or the intermediate developer looking to take their game to the next level. In short, it's a very disciplined, structured approach to working with .NET. WHAT I DO LIKE - The use of graphics is excellent - easy to follow and nicely arranged.
Well documented advanced .NET concepts such as the object-oriented use of delegates, serialization techniques through XML, and separation of code and content in ASP.NET will be appreciated by the experienced developer.
- The use of the poker game app as a case study was very entertaining and very educational. Unlike other books that try to give case studies focusing on the development of applications from varying industries (i.e., a news center publishing application, a site's statistics tracker, a classroom monitoring app for educators), which tends to disenfranchise many developers not familiar with the precise working conditions of the specific industry, Grimes' poker example is something relevant to 9 out of 10 readers, and fun!
- The app is simplistic enough to show some of the more fundamental necessities, yet complex in its design, dealing with a wide range of probabilities. And you'll enjoy playing it almost as much as you will building it.
- The option to have the text as an eBook is great (and cheaper) for people who prefer to spend even more time on their computers than they already do....This book would be nearly perfect if it appealed to Visual Basic.NET programmers, which it sadly doesn't. The exclusive use of C# as the book's programming language ...Merely translating over the code to VB.NET isn't easy, as the book uses some of the more advanced OOP principles.
Rating:
Summary: Great book for the intermediate to advanced programmer
Review: Stellar book, but not for the faint of heart! This book is targeted for the intermediate or seasoned programmer and provides a fast track for transitioning to .NET. Fergal chose a simplistic, yet appropriate, sample application (poker) that he builds throughout the book. Code samples are plentiful. A good balance of theory and code provides a concise overview of key concepts of .NET. Be sure to note that all of the book's code samples are all written in C#. This was not apparent to me when I first obtained the book, though the advertising of this fact is not hidden. The author promises that a VB.NET version of the book is in progress. He also provides a quick, 30-page overview of C# in the appendix so that an experienced programmer can quickly come up to speed on the language. The book covers simplistic and advanced .NET topics, including assemblies, ADO.NET, remote services, XML web services and web forms. It even addresses programming in IL!
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Summary: A holistic approach to .NET...
Review: Thank You Fergal, for a "steady pen" in writing "Microsoft .NET for Programmers". The use of a FUN case study (Poker client-server) to synergize understanding of .NET principles in a "real-life" application is a boon to communicating such a vast subject. Though this book seems geared to other than beginners (in both C# and .NET), starting at page 1, reading and doing the examples, and maintaining a steady course until the last page, is sure to "enlighten" the .NET inquiring mind. A more global perspective and understanding of this large subject is pretty much guaranteed. One foot in front of the other, put yourself through the paces: Buy the book, download the files, read the prolific and responsive author participation list on Manning, read and practice from cover to cover. Your programming skills in .NET will be enhanced enjoyably for all future .NET ventures. As a bonus, you'll go to sleep at night without that large and uneasy .NET question mark look on your face.
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Summary: Excellent choice - realworld approach
Review: The author does a great job with this book. A variety of technologies (such as Windows Forms, Web Services, ASP.NET, ADO.NET to name a few) are presented in a very readable, concise, no-nonsense fashion. Each chapter is outlined very well. Code and illustrations mingled with the topic that is being discussed (All examples are in C#.) so it is easy to understand what is going on and how to actually do it yourself. I think this book would be good both for the beginner setting out to learn .NET, as well as the C# expert-- it would make a great reference to have on your desk when you need to quickly find an example or explanation of something. I highly recommend it for anyone serious about learning the fundamentals of .NET with a C# tilt.
Rating:
Summary: Clear, concise explanations.
Review: The no nonsense style of this author, and his ability to drive the point home are impressive. The basic principles behind this book are: let's develop a real world application, using .NET, and let's show how a carefully designed component can be accessed from every aspect of this new technology. As a professional programmer, I find this type of "Real Authoring" appealing.
I wanted to get a feel for this new framework, and see how it could be used in an application. Several .NET books I purchased online didn't live up to their promises because they didn't have the depth. This book, on the other hand, delivers comprehensive content, meaningful explanations, and lots of professional quality source code.
Rating:
Summary: Good, very good book
Review: Thin, easy-to-read and very useful book
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