Customer Reviews

Silverlight 2 Unleashed

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

 

 

I'm a developer who is intimiately familiar with C# and the .NET platform in general. I've also been playing with Silverlight 1.1-2 betas/rc's and was hoping that this book would fill in the gaps that I'd gotten through just playing with it.

But in general, the book seems to be pitched toward a less technical audience- for example, he spends a paragraph telling us how to comment out XML, another area explains how to install Expression Blend, page 68 explains to us why we've got F's in our numbers (it's hex, duh), the diff between raster and vector graphics (this was necessary?)

Chapter -8- finally gets us into some code, and it's JavaScript- but the whole point of V2 was to get us out of JS and let us use other langs for more complex apps than just adding Flash-like abilities to our .NET sites.

Even THEN, we get told that, "JavaScript ... and other C-based languages are case sensitive!", and apparently (in the next para), "...JavaScript uses -variables- (text has it in italics) to store data." Oh my!

Chapter -9- is "Understanding .NET" and finally gets into VStudio.

At page 488, you get 10 pages on calling WCF servers.

If you're a .NET developer with some familiarity with WPF/XAML and a little WCF, you're probably better off waiting for other books. This should have really been called something similar to "Beginning Silverlight 2, mostly with Javascript".

If there were any other reasonable books specifically on 2.0, I'd send it back, but there aren't yet.

As is the case with some of the other books in this series (the WPF book comes to mind), it seems organized as a stream of consciousness with constant sidebars, and doesn't get into some of the more important concepts when I think it should. Dependency properties in particular are so critical to understand, and had I not been also reading a WPF book, I wouldn't know enough about them.

The book tends to be somewhat designer focused, and doesn't go far enough to explain why you code things a certain way. It's not a cookbook, mind you, but as most programmers would tell you, understanding the underlying reasons for doing things ultimately leads to better understanding and more solid implementation of what you learn.

Perhaps the biggest issue for me is that there's an expectation gap. I think if you were a Flash designer with some basic C# knowledge, you'd appreciate the style of this book. It seems written more for that audience. As an experienced .NET developer, you may feel that this is too basic or flowery. There are a great number of pages dedicated to finding a Web host and using FTP. Simply be aware of those expectations before buying.

I previously purchased 'Introducing Microsoft Silverlight' by Laurence Moroney, and it was fine for its time before Silverlight 2 was released. However, do NOT buy any book not based on the release version - way too much has changed from Beta 2 and you will be quickly frustrated.

This was an excellent book! But...first the bad. I think it was a little too basic in parts, particularly when it tried to teach me how to program in C#. One book should not try to be both a beginning tutorial and address advanced topics, which this does - I would have much preferred a lot less basics and a little more in-depth explanations. It was obviously rushed through to production because the graphics did not match the text in many cases, and there were obvious bugs in the examples that would have never compiled, much less work correctly. However, it all got the point across very well. I am not a great fan of 'let me show everything with examples' - I would rather have more meat and explanations. This book is BIG on example code, though - which is good in the advanced topics where you can have exact syntax to copy and play with.

Now the good - this book is very thorough, although it occasionally leaves out simple subjects (how do you upload a file to a server???) The examples are thorough, and Bugnion talks through most lines of code. He also covers almost all of the controls available in 2.0, and he even discusses the object hierarchy, which is invaluable when creating your own controls.

Expression Blend is thoroughly covered, as well as significant tutorials in how to code in Visual Studio 2008. This book is meant for a C# programmer who is interested in building n-tier Silverlight applications, not simple eye-candy. Integration with JavaScript and the browser DOM is also given a complete discussion.

In summary, this is the best book out there so far. If you are a C# developer looking to get into this Silverlight 'stuff', don't hesitate to drop a few dollars on this book. As an aside, Flash completely fried my brain - it is a designer's tool, not a developer's tool - and I despise it! Silverlight tends to lean to the developer, but still allows you to do all the cool stuff. In my opinion a perfect compromise and this book reflects that attitude by covering the coding as well as the design aspects extremely well.

Laurent has made a special contribution to the Silverlight world with this book: this is something that anyone with some web development can pick up to get started learning about this great new platform. Not a reference book, this is a good overview.

Before this guide, a lot of Silverlight knowledge was held solely by early adopters, and nearly off-limits to casual web developers looking to extend their knowledge from AJAX and the Adobe stack to what Microsoft has to offer.

This book is full of so many short topics that you'll come away with a great idea of what the possibilities are.

In Silverlight 2 Unleashed there's info on the tools, the highlights and promise of the platform, and get started exploring Silverlight for your next project. The book moves from XAML to an intro on .NET, C# basics, data binding overview, working with XML, and even unit testing.

If you've read Windows Presentation Foundation Unleashed (WPF) (Unleashed) or Pro WPF in C# 2008: Windows Presentation Foundation with .NET 3.5, Second Edition (Books for Professionals by Professionals), you won't find the technical details you might expect.

So, let's be clear: this is targeted at those new to web development on the Microsoft stack OR new to everything Silverlight OR those looking for the highlights. If you're new to these things, this is one of the few books that you don't need knowledge of the last 6 years of Microsoft's platform to get going. And that's great!

Good for an overview of databinding, video and media, styling, transforms, custom controls, etc. but doesn't go into detail on any one thing. Not meant to be a reference for all the controls, attributes, and functions available - just an overview and introduction.

I have given this book four stars based upon it being a Silverlight 2 beginning book.

This really is a beginning Silverlight 2 book; however, it is a very well done beginning book and covers most of the areas that a beginner needs an introduction too.

The unleashed title is unfortunate and misleading.

One very important area of Silverlight 2 is the new Visual State Manager which is covered but only with 3 to 4 pages.

I do highly recommend this book for Silverlight 2 beginners - it is a quick and fun introduction to Silverlight 2.

David Roh

This book gives you an intoduction to what Microsoft's solution to web applications regarding Silverlight. This book covers how XAML, Javascript, C#, and Microsot Expression studio relate to each other. Also brief comparsions between different technologies are mentioned. Sample examples are provided for explanation(codes are presented in color). I think this book is a good beginner's guide for building Silverlight web applications. Readers are encouraged to study more details on each topic covered by this book after finish this book.

Microsoft's new Silverlight 2.0 is creating quite a storm of interest in the world of website creation. This book is an excellent introduction to the technology. I am satisfied that I made the right decision to utilize Silverlight rather than Flash for all future web design. A definite must-have!