Customer Reviews

Windows® 2000 Programming Bible

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

 

 

I've looked at quite a few programming books in my 11 years of programming and this one is near the top of my list. Instead of boring me with too much theory or gee whiz garbage, this book provides just enough background information so that I understand the example code that follows. The example code is a little broad, I would have preferred something more specific, but I still ended up learning quite a bit.

I love the tips and Internet sources that the author provides, but I wish there was an index for them. It takes forever to find what I need when I'm in a hurry. I contacted the author and he said he will add this index to his Web site.

Overall, there are very few nits to pick with this book. All of the code works and the theory is right on the mark. The only thing I would have preferred is more short examples showing specific coding techniques. This book is a very good buy for anyone who likes a mix of theory and full fledged programming examples.

John is a natural teacher and a good writer. Reading his books is like having a mentor talking to you, providing tips and "did you know what I discovered when I did this?" kind of hints. Given the breadth of Windows 2000, many of his examples are broad rather than deep, but he does do some in-depth ones where needed---for MTS/MSMQ for example. The one nit I had was that his installation chatper focused on using InstallShield and didn't even mention the Windows Installer. However, there are plenty of examples and time-saving hints that make up for this. I've discovered lots of utilities I didn't even know existed. I also liked the example of building a MMC snap-in.

I was looking for a book that would provide me with the best possible overview of Windows 2000 programming possible. This book seems to provide everything I need, at least from a theoretical perspective. All of the examples are clearly written and work. The requirements and pitfalls for programming in the Windows 2000 environment are clearly explained as well. About the only disappointment is that the amount of COM+ information is limited and there wasn't any MSMQ sample code.

As an old DOS programmer who is finally getting into Windows programming, I found John Mueller's book to be indispensible. Although the book covers a wide range of topics, it is easy to hone in on a specific topic that you are having trouble grasping.

The explanations of background concepts are just enough to bring you up to speed and make the source code examples clear enough to follow easily. The chapter on Active Directory services is worth the price of the book all by itself.

The title of this book might lead you to believe it presents an overview of Windows 2000 from a programmer's point of view. This book misses the "50,000 foot" overview information about Windows 2000 (what is it? how is it different from Windows 95? what is the impact of Windows 2000 on me? etc.) but does provide a wealth of information to the fairly technical C++ programmer who's interested in windows api, com/dcom, mts, active directory, and windows dna.

This book tries to cover a great deal but falls very short in all areas. It's almost an "unleashed" title, if you know what I mean. For example, there's a weak section on IE5 and HTML, a weak section on ASP, and a weak section on MTS, none of which give you more than the most basic background on any subject. Admitedly, I got some good information on COM+ out of the book, but otherwise it was a worthless purchase.