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C++/CLI: The Visual C++ Language for .NET

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(Disclosure: I read a draft of the book, not the final version.)

I'm comfortable with C++, and am now working with C#. I wanted to know about this newfangled C++/CLI thing (formerly known as Managed C++ or C++ with Managed Extensions), so I read "C++/CLI: The Visual C++ Language for .NET". Jumping right in is possible, but having a guide like this book saves a lot of time.

I was glad it expected a knowledge of "Classic C++", because the last thing I wanted to read is yes another book that talks about why Object Oriented programming is the Best Thing since sliced bread, or how a for loop differs from a while loop. Instead it gets right into the interesting stuff -- garbaged collected classes versus value classes, the new operators (^ and %), CLI types, destructors versus finalizers, etc.

I'm happy to report it skims many other interesting topics. Reading it won't make you the world's foremost expert on Delegates, Generics, and Constraints, but no readable book would. I think managed/native interop is one of the more interesting C++/CLI topics, and there's a chapter devoted to it. The appendix has a great summary of the new syntax in C++/CLI. If you're seeing C++/CLI code for the first time, use that appendix for your Rosetta Stone.

I definitely recommend this book to C++ programmers who want to know about this C++/CLI thing.

I had the opportunity to review this book prior to printing. I must admit that Gordon has a knack for breaking down the C++/CLI language into digestible pieces. In this book, Gordon walks you through everything you need to know to get started with C++/CLI: the .NET assembly model, classes, structures, interfaces, delegates, properties, events, generics, and so on. Each concept goes along with a complete (yet digestible) code example.

This book is also great for native C++ developers who would like to leverage .NET without throwing away all of their native code. The final section of this book covers interoperability with other .NET languages as well as native code, including COM.

I use C++/CLI daily, and I found that this book serves equally well as a cover-to-cover read as well as a shelf reference.

Whether you're a seasoned .NET developer or a C++ developer looking to interoperate with .NET, I highly recommend this book.

As the back cover says, "C++/CLI is a powerful new language". By now C++/CLI is a rather mature language, but still very powerful. Even though I don't consider it to be an easy language to learn you'll gain much insight into to Microsoft's .NET platform if you do. This take into C++/CLI in an interesting one, but in some aspects it falls short from the target.
If you're comfortable with C++ and if you have grasped another .NET language (especially C#) it will be easy for you, with the help of this book, to take control of the .NET through C++/CLI.
The book skims many interesting topics like classes, properties, delegates, generics, exceptions, etc, but mostly in an introductory manner. If you want to get a step further you will need to complement this book with another (preferably one specifically targeted into to the nuts and bolts of the CLR).