Mono: A Developer's Notebook [Paperback]

Edd Dumbill (Author), Niel M. Bornstein (Author)

Book Description

Series: Developer's Notebook | Publication Date: July 27, 2004

The Mono Project is the much talked-about open source initiative to create a Unix implementation of Microsoft's .NET Development Framework. Its purpose is to allow Unix developers to build and deploy cross-platform .NET applications. The project has also sparked interest in developing components, libraries and frameworks with C#, the programming language of .NET.

The controversy? Some say Mono will become the preferred platform for Linux development, empowering Linux/Unix developers. Others say it will allow Microsoft to embrace, extend, and extinguish Linux. The controversy rages on, but--like many developers--maybe you've had enough talk and want to see what Mono is really all about.

There's one way to find out: roll up your sleeves, get to work, and see what you Mono can do. How do you start? You can research Mono at length. You can play around with it, hoping to figure things out for yourself. Or, you can get straight to work with Mono: A Developer's Notebook--a hands-on guide and your trusty lab partner as you explore Mono 1.0.

Light on theory and long on practical application, Mono: A Developer's Notebook bypasses the talk and theory, and jumps right into Mono 1.0. Diving quickly into a rapid tour of Mono, you'll work through nearly fifty mini-projects that will introduce you to the most important and compelling aspects of the 1.0 release. Using the task-oriented format of this new series, you'll learn how to acquire, install, and run Mono on Linux, Windows, or Mac OS X. You'll work with the various Mono components: Gtk#, the Common Language Runtime, the class libraries (both .NET and Mono-provided class libraries), IKVM and the Mono C# compiler. No other resource will take you so deeply into Mono so quickly or show you as effectively what Mono is capable of.

The new Developer's Notebooks series from O'Reilly covers important new tools for software developers. Emphasizing example over explanation and practice over theory, they focus on learning by doing--you'll get the goods straight from the masters, in an informal and code-intensive style that suits developers. If you've been curious about Mono, but haven't known where to start, this no-fluff, lab-style guide is the solution.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"The writing style is clear and concise with plenty of code examples all of which will compile and run. The examples are well explained and as the book is logically set out, helping those wanting to develop under Mono to get going... Highly recommended." -Paul F Johnson, CVu - October 2004

About the Author

Edd Dumbill is Managing Editor of XML.com. He also writes free software, and packages Bluetooth-related software for the Debian GNU/Linux distribution. Edd is the creator of XMLhack and WriteTheWeb, and has a weblog called Behind the Times.

Niel M. Bornstein , with over ten years' experience in software development, has worked in diverse areas such as corporate information systems, client-server application development, and web-hosted applications. Clear and engaging, Niel wrote .NET & XML and co-authored Mono: A Developer's Notebook.

Product Details

• Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media; First Edition edition (July 27, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596007922
• ISBN-13: 978-0596007928
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.1 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,132,311 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #82 in Books > Computers & Technology > Programming > Languages & Tools > Compilers

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Exactly right, August 14, 2004

By 

Jan Moren - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mono: A Developer's Notebook (Paperback)

For the user of the Mono environment, this is a great resource. The "lab notebook"-style allows the authors to clearly and concisely bring together material in a few pages, rather than having to draw it out for an entire chapter. The pitfall is of course that it can become too concise, to the point where it is no longer understandable for the reader. The present authors have made an excellent job avoiding this.

This is not complete enough to fully replace other resources on C# and GTK# - and it's not meant to be. Instead it is a great desktop reference, so you can avoid all those verbose tomes for your day-to-day work. It is also a grat companion when reading reference documentation, as this shows you how to use the stuff in practice.

I would say that Dumbill and Bornstein did an excellent job on this book, and that O'Reilly has created a very promising new format for this kind of material.

14 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Coverage of C# specific to Mono, September 25, 2004

By 

Jack D. Herrington "engineer and author" (Silicon Valley, CA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Mono: A Developer's Notebook (Paperback)

Turns out there is more to making C# cross platform than I thought. Turns out the majority of the core of .NET is cross-platform when you use Mono, but the UI portion is not. So the book mainly concentrates on the use of GTK#, spending about 80 out of 250 pages on it. Other sections include XML processing, networking, core .NET, and installation.

The well written, concise, and focused. This is a strength, and a weakness. The book may be too focused by design. Which leaves you in a situation where you don't have enough book to be valuable on it's own. You will still need O'Reilly's Programming C# book to start learning C#.

I recommend this book to anyone looking to start with GTK#, or who is interested in porting their C# code off the Windows platform. I do not recommend this book for someone just starting out with C#.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very fast reading (which is good), September 29, 2004

By 

Marcelix "Marcelix" (Zagreb, Croatia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Mono: A Developer's Notebook (Paperback)

All I wanted was to know how (difficult) would a .NET to Mono migration be. So - from a perspective of someone who has used .NET for a while and is curious about Mono - this book is a great read: concise, well written and sufficient. Not crusted with boring details - thank God! So, this certainly is not the only book on C# and Mono a newby needs.. It shouldn't be. To summarise - this book is a fast read and .NET-to-Mono migration much smoother than expected.