Customer Reviews

Murach's ADO.NET 3.5, LINQ, and the Entity Framework with VB 2008

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

Learning, teaching, or referring to it under pressure, this is a best-of-class book you want on your shelf. Combined with Murach's SQL Server 2005 title there's little you won't know how to do with db programming in Visual Studio. And, you'll have code samples for all of it--not just a high-level description. These 2 books, combined and used in unison, get my vote as something every visual studio programmer should have and hold. Some of my other faves are discussed on the ITSBITS website if you're ever interested.

This is a clear and concise book using the "paired pages" format. How-to on the left page and examples on the right. This style contributes to the effectivness of the learning process. This book contains a lot of information - 764 pages. The section on Three-layer Windows Forms applications contains a complete payable entry application complete with code.

As a professional developer, I need information that is accurate and easy to understand. This book qualifies on both counts.

As with all of the other Murach books that I've read, this book has a good layout and was easy to read and understand. The first chapter of the book briefly covers the fundamentals of database programming. It then gives a brief introduction to ADO.NET 3.5 followed by several critical chapters on working with the ADO.NET components such as connections, commands, stored procedures, parameters, data sources, data sets, data readers, data tables, transactions, and object data sources. It gives detailed explanations and examples of how to use each of these components and then follows up with a very detailed chapter devoted solely to building a sample application.

The book then proceeds to give a brief introduction to LINQ, followed by chapters on working with LINQ components, with 2 chapters devoted to LINQ to SQL technology.

The last several chapters of the book cover The Entity Framework including creating an Entity Data Model, LINQ to Entities, the Entity SQL language, and the use of Entity Data Source Controls in web based applications.

Although, it would have been nice for the book to include some additional sample applications for the LINQ and Entity Framework technologies, I would still recommend it to anyone in need of a good solid reference for how to use these new technologies.

Well the title says it all, doesn't it? When I first picked up the Murach book "ADO.NET 3.5 Linq and the Entity Framework with VB 2008" by Anne Boehm, I was a little overwhelmed by the thought of investing time in another 700+ pages of technical jargon and technologies that I couldn't apply to my daily work. However, I'm glad I got past the cover and dug into it a little deeper.

I read the 2009 updated version of this book that is divided into five major sections with several chapters under each section. These sections cover the latest Microsoft ADO data centric technologies that all .Net developers should know about, understand and be able to apply to their development projects.

The sections are as follows:
Section 1: An Introduction to ADO Programming
Section 2: How to use data sources and datasets for Rapid Application Development
Section 3: Three-Layer Windows Forms Applications
Section 4: How to use LINQ (Language INtegrated Query)
Section 5: How to use the Entity Framework

FYI, there are two versions of this book for both VB and C# programmers. I appreciate this because I want to learn both languages and this makes it easy to compare and contrast the two languages.

What I really like about this book is the practical approach; the author introduces you to a subject by giving you an overview of the technology and then teaches you by example by answering a series of "How to ..." questions and answers. Included with the screenshots and code examples are a summarization of key concepts, terms to learn and occasional exercises. All the code examples and sample databases are downloadable from Murach.com.

I believe this book is intended for the intermediate programmer that wants to learn these new technologies quickly and in a straight forward way. This book gets the job done and I highly recommend it.

This is a very good book, well worth the money. The samples in the book have real life application, none of this Hello World type of stuff. I have adapted them to be my template when creating new applications.

I would highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn to manipulate databases with Visual Basic.

I am an ancient programmer switching from C to .NET. I have read a lotta books in my time and this is the best presentation and layout of a book I have ever seen. Its easy to read. Content is great. I wish I had found it first in my conversion to .NET. I am so impressed that I am checking out the other Murach titles for something to buy.

I am a C# developer but when I started browsing this book I couldn't help it but to continue reading it. It is not only about the VB language itself, but instead, how to use it so solve software problems. It teaches how to better write software, best practices and approaches.
This book doesn't cover all the theory in the world about a topic. Also, not all topics. But it tells you how to use them and what to watch for.
I am glad to have read it.

I am a professional developer with many years of experience who wanted to learn Linq quickly. I generally prefer very thin books for tutorials (I can't read a 500+ page book cover to cover) but couldn't find one on Linq.

I bought two Linq books and I was disappointed when I discovered that I had to go through huge introductions and background information on language enhancements (240 pages in one case) before getting to hands-on examples. Needless to say I'm too busy for that, so I gave up. Then I discovered this book...

I've been using [...] for several years, so I skipped the first 344 pages and I started with section 4, "How to use LINQ". I learned enough to start using it in a project within 2 hours!!! It is a quick read, with clear examples and highlighted code, and before I knew it, I could write Linq code with the book closed. This book has enough information on Linq that most developers might never need a more advanced one.

If your situation is the same, this book will relieve your frustration.

I read this book as a C# developer with a pretty sound knowledge base of ADO.NET. I was wanting to delve deeper into LINQ and the Entity Framework. I thought that this book would provide a good introduction to those topics and it delivered.

The style of the book makes it extremely readable. It also served me well to review the concepts of ADO.NET. The concepts are illustrated with code examples that you can use in your day-to-day coding.

I would recommend this book for either those that are wanting to start out in these topics or to refresh and get a solid understanding of ADO.NET, LINQ or Entity Framework.

This book is written in the same concise style as previous Murach books. Showing what's new in ADO.NET 2.0 is especially helpful. I think this book would be a valuable resource for anyone new to database development.