Visual Studio .NET: The .NET Framework Black Book [Illustrated] [Paperback]

Julian Templeman (Author), David Vitter (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 23, 2002 | Series: Black Book (Coriolis Group Books Paperback)

The Visual Studio .NET Black Book covers the .NET architecture, libraries, and services, and how to use them from the programming languages supported by VS.NET. This unique book explores the .NET architecture in a non-language specific way. It covers the new Web and database access technologies in WebForms, WinForms, ADO.NET, and ASP.NET. It also includes an emphasis on XML, including the SOAP protocol, as it will be used extensively for passing data around components within distributed applications.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Julian Templeman (London, UK) has over 30 years of experience in computer programming and runs a training and consultancy company that focuses on Java, XML, Windows programming, C++, and COM/ActiveX. He has been a user of Microsoft C/C++ since version 2.0 and has developed with all versions of Visual Studio. He has authored five programming books published by Wrox Press, several articles, and many software reviews.

David Vitter (Charlottesville, VA) is currently a Technical Lead developer with Computer Sciences Corporation developing web-based solutions for NATO and DEA. Prior to that he spent 10 years in the Air Force where he was an Electronic Intelligence Analyst. He is a Microsoft Certified Programmer (MCP) in Visual Basic development and a Microsoft Certified Solutions Developer (MCSD) with 7 years experience in Visual Basic and over 20 years experience in writing Basic programs.

Product Details

• Paperback: 816 pages
• Publisher: Coriolis Group Books (January 23, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 157610995X
• ISBN-13: 978-1576109953
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.5 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,691,516 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A superb source for the .NET Framework for VB and VC#, March 26, 2002

By 

Dr. Robert C.A. Goff, MCSD, MCSE, MCDBA "Coun... (Blacksburg, VA USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Visual Studio .NET: The .NET Framework Black Book (Paperback)

This is an exceptionally readable book. Early chapters introduce the .NET model of programming, providing clear (parallel) examples in VB, VC# and VC++. Experienced VB developers will discover that they already know a great deal of VC#. Subsequent chapters explore the most important aspects of the principal .NET namespaces, beginning with important (non-GUI) namespaces (System, System.Collections, System.XML, System.IO, System.Net, System.Security, System.Web). Examples consist of generally well constructed, lucid code, with comprehensive explanations. While the proportion of VB code increases at the expense of VC# (and to the eventual exclusion of C++), all of the method calls to .NET objects are nearly identical among the three languages.

At about half way through the book, starting with the Windows.Forms namespace, the material and examples focus heavily on GUI objects and the new tools available within the Visual Studio development environment.

Each chapter begins with an in-depth discussion of the covered subject. This is followed in the second half of the chapter (labeled "Immediate Solutions") by examples of each significant subject, providing step-by-step instructions and a comprehensive commentary. These "Immediate Solutions" are indexed at the start of each chapter by a description of the task it accomplishes.

STRENGTHS: The writing style of the book's principal author, Julian Templeman, is crisp, well focused, and easy to follow. His examples are particularly well selected and carefully explained. The technical accuracy of his chapters is excellent. I also appreciated Templeman's presentation of only the most useful properties, methods and events of the objects he discusses. (While encyclopedic lists are occasionally helpful, the .NET Framework is enormous, and would require three volumes this size, since there are nearly 10,000 such members.)

WEAKNESSES: Although most of the chapters are written by Templeman, there is a noticeable lurch when moving into each of the four chapters written by the second author, David Vitter. These are the chapters on System.Web, .NET Remoting, SOAP and XML, and ADO.NET. The writing style becomes casual and careless, a feature reflected in its corresponding examples. This is mostly annoying.

... ...

I suppose that if the bulk of this book were not as wonderful as it is, I would not be quite so hard on Mr. Vitter, but the contrast in the quality of the material provided by the two authors is conspicuous.

CONCLUSION: If you need to learn the .NET framework for use in VB or VC#, definitely buy this book. If you need to understand the new Visual Studio tools that interact with the .NET framework, this is still a good bet. If you will be coding to the .Net Framework in VC++, I think this is still a helpful source, though not quite as painless as for VB and VC#.

24 of 28 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Title is Misleading, March 7, 2002

By 

Jonathan Krainak (Omaha, NE United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Visual Studio .NET: The .NET Framework Black Book (Paperback)

This book has been a good reference. The title, however, is misleading. There is almost nothing in this book that directly relates to VS.Net. It is basically a class by class reference of Visual Basic Net, with code examples etc. There is nothing about the IDE or how to use the GUI in general.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars .NET Framework Object Hierarchy, October 27, 2002

By 

Randal A. Fuller (Katy, TX) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Visual Studio .NET: The .NET Framework Black Book (Paperback)

If you're an experienced Microsoft developer and you're looking for a well organized reference on the new .NET framework classes, this is the book for you. If you want to see what is in the System.Text namespace, the XML namespaces and so on, it is true that you can get that information in the MSDN library. However, this book organizes it nicely and provides pertinent examples in what the book terms "Immediate Solutions".

If you're looking for beginner's book on programming in C# or VB .NET, look elsewhere as this isn't a book on syntax, how to program, or how to use the IDE as some reviewers thought. I think the title is self-explanatory and the book doesn't purport to be a how-to for the IDE.

This book targets advanced developers who need to understand the new tools and concepts made available in the .NET framework. Whole chapters are devoted to remoting and ADO .NET. If you've been forced to use VB as I have, you'll need a refresher on using streams - this book provides information on streams (System.IO namespace) and examples on using various stream readers and writers.