Rating: 
Summary: Small but complete
Review: This is a real good book for you to get started with the .NET framework if you have a foundation with any object oriented programming language such as C++ and Java.
This book starts with theories. In the first three chapters, the book starts with the design goals of the .NET framework and the background theory on how the .net framework works. A few simple examples then show the power of object oriented programming features and the language interoperability of the framework.
Interoperability with COM and COM+ were then mentioned with a few easy to understand example.
The next few chapters come with the 4 corner stones of the .net framework, namely ADO.NET, Web Services, Web Forms and Windows Forms. The magic of the book is the authors successfully help the reader to understand the key concept of the section with less than a hundred lines of code for each example, and build it up step-by-step. These short and to-the-point examples help you to understand everything in a short time.This book mainly uses C# as the language for illustration. One more good point of this book is its small-size which allow me to easily read through it on a bus.
Rating: 
Summary: An excellent second book on .net
Review: This review is based on my experiences and those of two friends who have also bought the book. Although I am only chapter 5, I felt compelled to warn people who might be attracted to the book as an introduction to .net based on the glowing reviews posted here. Don't get me wrong - this is an excellent book. Its appeal (as stated elsewhere) is in its brevity - it cuts right to the chase both in content and in the sample code. The downside of this is that it assumes a familiarity with a lot of sophisticated programming concepts. If you are not already familiar with things like garbage collection, P code, virtual machines, client server and OOP you will battle with this book. You will also need at least a passing familiarity with C or Java in order do follow most of the examples. My two friends have not fared as well as I have. Both have got stuck early in Chapter 2. One is a mainframe programmer who wants to make a move to PC development. She got found it very detailed and difficult to understand. By comparison, she loved Introducing Microsoft .NET by David S. Platt and Keith Ballinger. The other friend is an analyst, with little programming experience and he has had similar difficulties. Both were looking for a book that explained the concepts in broad terms, and provided a starting point for playing with code. As a VB developer with 6 years experience, I have found this book great so far. The only exception being the bit on COM+ services (due no doubt, to my lack of experience in the area). Not a good first book on .net, I think, but an EXCELLENT second book for when you want to know what happens under the hood. It gives a broad overview of the whole framework, with very specific examples that are extremely well targeted.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent second book on .net
Review: This review is based on my experiences and those of two friends who have also bought the book. Although I am only chapter 5, I felt compelled to warn people who might be attracted to the book as an introduction to .net based on the glowing reviews posted here. Don't get me wrong - this is an excellent book. Its appeal (as stated elsewhere) is in its brevity - it cuts right to the chase both in content and in the sample code. The downside of this is that it assumes a familiarity with a lot of sophisticated programming concepts. If you are not already familiar with things like garbage collection, P code, virtual machines, client server and OOP you will battle with this book. You will also need at least a passing familiarity with C or Java in order do follow most of the examples. My two friends have not fared as well as I have. Both have got stuck early in Chapter 2. One is a mainframe programmer who wants to make a move to PC development. She got found it very detailed and difficult to understand. By comparison, she loved Introducing Microsoft .NET by David S. Platt and Keith Ballinger. The other friend is an analyst, with little programming experience and he has had similar difficulties. Both were looking for a book that explained the concepts in broad terms, and provided a starting point for playing with code. As a VB developer with 6 years experience, I have found this book great so far. The only exception being the bit on COM+ services (due no doubt, to my lack of experience in the area). Not a good first book on .net, I think, but an EXCELLENT second book for when you want to know what happens under the hood. It gives a broad overview of the whole framework, with very specific examples that are extremely well targeted.
Rating:
Summary: Useful condensed reference
Review: Though hardly a place to learn the .NET framework, I found this little book a very useful reference to keep by my computer. (Of course I also have the great books by Liberty ("Programming C#") and Troelsen ("C# and the .NET Platform) next to my computer as well and they should both definitely be purchased before this book.)
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