Microsoft Visual Interdev 6.0 Enterprise: Developer's Workshop (Microsoft Programming Series)

Rating:
Summary: A basic overview of MS web enterprise principles and tools
Review: Duthie has produced a readable survey of the basic concepts of enterprise development as they relate to Visual Interdev 6.0 (VI6).

"This book is designed to give the reader unfamiliar with Visual InterDev 6.0 a brief introduction... some background on Web development for client-server application developers.... The real thrust of this book, however, is in describing the challenges faced by the Web developer...."

The above excerpt, from the Introduction, captures the essence of the book. I suspect that the potential reader would have been better served had the title and its MS Series suggested a more introductory level of material. If the reader is experienced with solution architectures, and familiar with VI6, then the book is likely to be a disappointment. On the other hand, if the reader is completely unfamiliar with VI6, the book does not offer sufficient detail to get up and running in VI6. Despite a Web application example used throughout the book, the discussion remains mostly at a bird's eye view. A great number of significant enterprise issues are raised and their theory discussed. Too few are tackled at a practical level.

WEAKNESSES: The target audience for this substantial book is not apparent from its selection of material, nor from its title. It is not basic enough for beginners. It is too basic and generalized for experienced developers. That leaves a group in the middle that may find this a perfect melding of theory and pragmatism.

With an entire chapter on MTS, I expected more than the usual recitation of MTS features and benefits. It really needed a number of explicit examples of the right way to create components for MTS. The chapter on MSMQ was equally theoretical, but experienced VB developers have fewer MSMQ pits to fall into than they have with MTS.

The chapter on "Optimizing Data Access", though well done, focuses on SQL Server techniques, to the exclusion of other DBMSs. Some of the techniques may be applied to other data sources, but the optimization tools are SQL Server only.

STRENGTHS: This really is a wonderful survey of the principles of enterprise development on the Web. For a reader with moderate experience using VI6, and little exposure to enterprise concepts and solution architectures, Duthie provides a solid foundation in the context of Web development. (Most of this is great for the VB Distributed exam 70-175.) The chapter on "Interoperability with Legacy Systems" presents a useful overview of SNA Server and COMTI.

CONCLUSIONS: A very readable book, most useful to moderately experienced VI6 users who have limited exposure to solution architectures and enterprise concepts. More advanced developers may find a few pearls.

Rating:
Summary: A basic overview of MS web enterprise principles and tools
Review: Duthie has produced a readable survey of the basic concepts of enterprise development as they relate to Visual Interdev 6.0 (VI6).

"This book is designed to give the reader unfamiliar with Visual InterDev 6.0 a brief introduction... some background on Web development for client-server application developers.... The real thrust of this book, however, is in describing the challenges faced by the Web developer...."

The above excerpt, from the Introduction, captures the essence of the book. I suspect that the potential reader would have been better served had the title and its MS Series suggested a more introductory level of material. If the reader is experienced with solution architectures, and familiar with VI6, then the book is likely to be a disappointment. On the other hand, if the reader is completely unfamiliar with VI6, the book does not offer sufficient detail to get up and running in VI6. Despite a Web application example used throughout the book, the discussion remains mostly at a bird's eye view. A great number of significant enterprise issues are raised and their theory discussed. Too few are tackled at a practical level.

WEAKNESSES: The target audience for this substantial book is not apparent from its selection of material, nor from its title. It is not basic enough for beginners. It is too basic and generalized for experienced developers. That leaves a group in the middle that may find this a perfect melding of theory and pragmatism.

With an entire chapter on MTS, I expected more than the usual recitation of MTS features and benefits. It really needed a number of explicit examples of the right way to create components for MTS. The chapter on MSMQ was equally theoretical, but experienced VB developers have fewer MSMQ pits to fall into than they have with MTS.

The chapter on "Optimizing Data Access", though well done, focuses on SQL Server techniques, to the exclusion of other DBMSs. Some of the techniques may be applied to other data sources, but the optimization tools are SQL Server only.

STRENGTHS: This really is a wonderful survey of the principles of enterprise development on the Web. For a reader with moderate experience using VI6, and little exposure to enterprise concepts and solution architectures, Duthie provides a solid foundation in the context of Web development. (Most of this is great for the VB Distributed exam 70-175.) The chapter on "Interoperability with Legacy Systems" presents a useful overview of SNA Server and COMTI.

CONCLUSIONS: A very readable book, most useful to moderately experienced VI6 users who have limited exposure to solution architectures and enterprise concepts. More advanced developers may find a few pearls.

Rating:
Summary: Good Book, Buy It
Review: Fantastic book, covers most every aspect of enterprise development related to Visual InterDev. My only complaint is that, for no readily apparent reason, the authors insert a page or several of code. In the first six chapters I found myself skipping pages upon pages of code that was inserted, in my opinion, with no purpose. At the point of insert the author was talking in generalities and the page(s) of code added nothing to the discussion. Later in the book, when the authors are being more specific, the code inserts are appreciated. Other than that nit, which simply results in a book that is 20-30 pages larger than it needed to be, I found the book to be a great resource.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent book! A MUST for web developers!
Review: I'm about half-way through this book, and can't put it down. The author writes in casual and easy to grasp language. The example he uses throughout the book is a real-world business example. Since the first chapter, I've learned something new and useful with every chapter, from browser choices for my target audience, to databases for the backend. The subject material is great for the programmer who is just getting into web applications, and those already doing it. If you develop or want to develop web applications, this book is a MUST HAVE!

Rating:
Summary: Pretty good book but .....
Review: The book is pretty good but heavily weighted to the Visual Basic programmer, the author makes no apologies for that and VB IS a good rad tool. However, there are a lot of us Visual C++ programmers that are looking at using Interdev too. The author seems to ignore VC++ until he wats to use the VC++ Source Code Editor in Chapter 11. (At our location, we have VB programmers in house for the VB code.) I like the book, I just wish authors would stop relying on VB because of it's "ease of use". I would recommend the book to people who are new to the Visual Studio 6 and VB programmers but I'm still looking for a book that covers the enterprise level development tools well.

Rating:
Summary: No VI6 book
Review: This book is not about Visual InterDev 6 - VI6 is used only for examples. If you need information about VI6 buy another book.

Rating:
Summary: Important to know exactly what you are buying here .....
Review: This book serves a purpose, but it might not be what you're after ....

As a genenal overview of Visual InterDev and how it interacts with other Microsoft applications (MTS, MSMQ), this book is great. It's a high-level look at how to incorporate Visual InterDev as one of your web building tools and integrate it with the other Microsoft tools ....

As a book on 'how to use' Visual InterDev, this book is not so good. It doesn't go into any details or specifics (although there is an application on the CD which you modify chapter by chapter). There are a few coding examples, but for a beginner looking for help on using Visual InterDev, look elsewhere. This book is much more of an overview than a 'how-to' manual ...

As a study guide for the Microsoft Exam #70-152 (Designing and Implementing Web Solutions with Microsoft Visual InterDev 6.0), forget it. That exam (which I passed) is about 10% Visual InterDev and 90% HTML / ASP / COM / VBScript / General-Web-Stuff. There isn't a good study book for that exam anywhere - trust me, I've looked ...

Just know what it is that you're buying - this is a high-level look at Visual InterDev, nothing more and nothing less.

Rating:
Summary: Enterprise computing with a sprinkle of InterDev 6
Review: This is a great book for gathering info on how to tie in Enterprise level concepts with InterDev 6. If you need a book specifically ON InterDev 6.0, look elsewhere. If you are an experienced developer with enterprise concepts to worry about and advanced Web projects on the go (from Microsoft's point of view...of course), then this book is a great read, and like another reviewer mentioned, an easy read. InterDev 6.0 however, remains the central subject throughout the book, on which other subjects tie into fairly nice. To the Author: Excellent job on bringing Enterprise computing to the audience in a clear and descriptive manner.