Customer Reviews

Visual Studio .NET: The .NET Framework Black Book

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

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#.

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.

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.

This is a 'must have' for any VB.Net or C# programmer. Extensive .net background and excellent examples.

Having read (most of) Beginning VB.NET Second Edition from Wrox, I find myself having a good grounding in VB.NET (just so you know, I have been learning VB.NET for 3 weeks (with no prior vb experience whatsoever)). My first recommendation is go and buy that book, its worth every penny. Once you have read that book and trust me, you will have learnt more than you thought possible, then go and buy this one.

What I like about this book is that is really in a way expands on everything I learnt in the first one. Now that I have some experience and know what I am looking for, I find myself thinking, 'how can I add this feature to my app, or how can I achieve this task'.

This book has vast snippets of how to use the additional controls and features not discussed in the Wrox book. I wouldn't recommend starting with this book as the Wrox book is much better to start with.

I find the writing style in this book quite good, but after only 3 weeks of programming I don't really need my hand to be held anymore, I just need a brief explanation of how do something - this book delivers.

I particularly like the way the book is divided into Framework sections. I have found many snippets from other books that deliver a section of code, tell you how it works, but neglect to mention that you need to import a particular namespace...so the code just doesn't work...

Enough said. If you have the Wrox one, then buy this one next.

If you want to know how to use the .NET framework this is a great book for you - particularly if you are using VB.NET since the examples are all in VB.NET instead of C. The layout is great and make sure to look at the in-depth sections - that's where all the meat is. I had used 3 other books but threw them away after I got this one.

I have little to no prior experience to vb.net so I didn't want to get a book that didn't go in to any details or did not explain why things work the way they do because the author may assume that you know what's going on. This is by far the best .Net book I've read so far and I'm only on Chapter 4. If you want to learn VB.net, order this book!

The comments about the VB.net bias and the fairly sparse IDE examples are correct (though you do get a modest share of C#, and a smidgen of managed C++). Fortunately, I approached this book as a newcomer to Windows programming who's just bought VB.Net Standard, installed the dotNet SDK, and wants to know what can be done with it. As such, this is a great resource. And as a proponent of actually knowing how to code as opposed to knowing how to use a GUI, the "notepad development" tendency was right up my alley. ... I found this book for a steep discount, but after reading it I would have paid full price--bearing in mind my situation/desires.

This book is really good to get an overview of the .Net framework. It helps you to see the big picture of how it all fits together. This will not teach you how to interface with VS, but it will help you get a better understanding of all the features .Net offers and what kind of toolsets are available.

I want to warn you that this book is not going to teach you howto effectively use Visual Studios .NET. The other .NET books I have on using ASP.NET show more about the interface than this book! What a disappointment, what a waste of time. I am returning it tomorrow - I received it yesterday. The ASP.NET Developer's JumpStart by Sheriff, or the Microsoft Press books are much better than this; buy them & save your money on this one. I also really like the Programming ASP.NET by O'Reilly book (Lots of code).

If you find a good book on the interface let me know because I want one, but this book sure ain't it.