5 comments about Programming .Net Windows Applications.

1. This book doesn't provide supports if you have any questions about this book, and don't have full codes in some chapters!



2. I almost never respond to negative reviews (not everyone will like every book) but the previous review by Mr. Qiu is simply incorrect.

   I provide unprecedented support for my books, including a FAQ, errata, complete source code and a private free support discussion forum through my web site: http://www.LibertyAssociates.com. In addition, more information is available thorugh my blog and articles I write for O'Reilly.com.

   All the code in this book is complete, and all the code is available for download.

   Thank you.

   -j




3. I found myself searching for a book that covered the TreeView control and others in great detail. I needed a book that would give detailed examples of how to use the advanced features of Windows Forms Controls and this was it. I use C# but appreciate the fact that both the VB.Net and C# codes is included as I never know if I will be asked to work on a VB.Net project. I have several other C# books that documented the basics of how to program C#, but this is the first that really showed me how to use the power of Win Forms to build a user friendly UI.



4. Over 70 Percent of this book is code listings (much of it auto generated) that is available in the sample code. Why generate your own database when pubs and northwind provide adequate examples. If you want to learn how to design a database there are ample books out there that are quite good. Most of the examples have very little real world application. As an example of practical concise real world examples look at "Building Web Solutions" by Esposito. He provides four times the useful information in 350 pages that this book provides in 1200. Look elswhere if you want good insight and practical information.



5. Wow, what a disappointment! This book starts with Hello World and goes down hill. 3 pages describing how a label control works then 3.5 pages of code print out, then 2.5 more pages adding explanation to just about every line of code? No wonder it is 1200 pages.
   
   With my last forms work mostly being VB5, and having done mostly ASP.NET, web service, and library work in .NET, I got this book thinking that I would learn a few useful tidbits. (Which is how I found the author's other C# book). Not the case. I'm not sure I learned anything!
   
   I guess for the most timid beginner this book would be OK, but if you have any previous win forms program experience or an inclination to just try things out, save yourself time and money and simply open up a form and start dropping in controls and see how they work.

5 comments about Pro Visual Studio 2005 Team System.

1. This book describes, in great detail, how to work with Visual StudioTeam System. It is broken up into logical sections which lay out who has what responsibility and how they would perform their work with this tool. It covers a lot of detail but presents the information in a way that the lay person could read it and understand it as well.
   
   The book is broken up into 4 sections:
   
   1. Team Foundation Server
   This section explains the workflow process in VSTS, work items,project management, version control, reporting and Team Build. These sections show you how to customize the workflow, work items and reports. The section on project management gives the view of the application from the PM's and stakeholders perspective. The team build section describes how to automate builds and publish build results - very cool.
   
   2. Edition for Software Architects
   This section discusses the designers in great detail and explains how they can be used in an enterprise environment. This section really shows that the authors are architects in an true enterprise environment and should benefit others in this environment.
   
   3. Edition for Software Developers
   This section covers those features that will really help developers - Unit Testing, Performance Testing, Static Code Analysis (for managed and non-managed code). This was an incredibly beneficial section and describes how to extent most of the test types (with the exception of generic testing). It also includes a great section on data driven testing and best practices.
   
   4. Edition for Software Testers
   This covers web testing and load testing. It also covers the full extensibility of the various test types and the options for using the test tools as well as a couple of undocumented features. It alsocovers test case management.
   
   Overall, this is an excellent book and will remain a reference on my desk for a long while to come.



2. There is very little WRITTEN documentation on Team Foundation Server. This book tells you how to set it up and how it works in relation so Visual Studio Team System. This is the best doc I've seen out there. A must buy !



3. When you buy a Pro book series, you would expect to get more than step by step and a bunch of screenshots with treatments as if you are a high school student trying to learn how to use MS Excel.
   
   Definitely a 5 stars if you are looking for an Idiot's Guide.



4. Normally as an author I wouldn't bother with a reply to this but considering "neo" wrote such an inaccurate and short review I decided to chime in.
   
   The book does contain walkthroughs and screenshots because it is a new product and no one had used it before - it can be used by the novice to get up to speed quickly.
   
   Having said that it also includes numerous undocumented features and details on certain areas of extensibility that are not even supported at this point (but will be at a later point in time). It also contains information on the future direction of VSTS and the reasons that certain aspects of Team System were created.
   
   While I'm disappointed that "neo" found the book as not quite helpful, I would be interested in addressing those issues next release. You can contact me via Apress.
   
   Jeff Levinson



5. Microsoft's Visual Studio 2005 Team System (VSTS) was Microsoft's foray into the collaborative development and software development life-cycle (SDLC) space. As such, VSTS is a platform for companies with large development teams (at least ten developers, but it can be used for smaller teams) to communicate with each other. At its core, VSTS helps teams (project managers, stakeholders, directors, architects, developers, database administrators, and testers) manage and customize the SDLC on an individual project basis.
   
   Levinson and Nelson do a good job covering the different aspects (and there are many!) of VSTS is good detail and provide a great deal more information than the basic Microsoft documentation (of which I have read hundreds of (useless) pages). This edition of the book covers the four main areas of VSTS: Team Foundation Server, Team Edition for Software Architects, Team Edition for Software Developers, and Team Edition for Testers. As of the publication date (2006), the Team Edition for Database Professionals had not been released, so this edition obviously does not cover this latest addition from Microsoft. Tons of details and examples are provided for each of the functionalities in each of the four areas. This book is really meant for beginners and intermediate users who want to understand how to set up and use VSTS, and is not really focused on best practices of how to design and build software (many other tomes are focused on this difficult topic). It will help you customize the different parts of VSTS to your liking and is quite helpful in explaining the implications of the hundreds of different options in VSTS on your SDLC.
   
   Since VSTS is a new product from Microsoft, this book assumes you know very little about VSTS and very little about the different roles in the SDLC as it applies to the different VSTS product lines for architects, developers, and testers. As such, it explains everything to you in a clear top-down approach and then focuses on the details that you will need to use VSTS in the most effective manner. There are many useful reference tables for many of the settings and code samples when appropriate. Overall this book is great for beginners and intermediate users since it will help you get up to speed rather quickly on two flavors of the most widely used programming methodology types (Agile and CMMI).

5 comments about OOP with Microsoft Visual Basic .NET and Microsoft Visual C#(TM) .NET Step by Step (Step By Step (Microsoft)).

1. The author has perfect understanding of the subject and able to present each topic in a masterly fashion. But there is a terrible flaw in the book. It is the examples chosen for the step-by-step implementation. Most of the chapters have their unique samples getting implemented, and there is no continuity between chapter to chapter examples. Secondly, the examples are not mainstream. For example, Chapter 7 handles Events and Delegates. She has chosen a train running on a track and the track catching fire as the example. To implement this the reader has to draw the tracks on the form and has to learn the Graphics class. Events and Delegates by themselves are very complicated. Why should one complicate the topic further by introducing another difficult topic such as Graphics. Because of this "Events and Delegates" discussion is lost and burried under the Graphics discussion. If the author used a Banking or College registration example, every one understands the business process and could concentrate just on the topic at hand, namely Events and Delegates. Unless you want to get distracted by such examples in each chapter, don't buy this book



2. This book is great for beginners. But this is certainly not for newbie and would be great plus for programmer who knew VB and fundamental of .Net and willing to learn vb.net oops concepts. Examples are chosen well and explain in detail and elaborate. Once you complete the tutorials, you will also get some proficiency in C# too.
   
   Overall a good book to kick start your OOP using VB.net and C#.



3. Well the book isn't bad at all, the code samples aren't explained enought, some OOP basics are there but I would recommend other readings. For sure this isn't a book for beginners, you must have some background in OOP programming to get it. Mainly the Interface chapters, very confusing.



4. Hmm, a bit thin for a book that lists code for two languages. And often, the author forgets her own advice to "put the reader ahead of being clever". Also, the naming convention she uses will confuse people at times. But then again, if you know what you're doing - and you should be at that level when you start this book - you will find the content outstanding and very useful. Overall, I'd say that this one's great to get into OOP.



5. I'm 53 years old and have been programming for 40 years. I picked up Robin's book about 2 years ago. Prior to that my most recent experience was with VBA and Access Basic. 15 years before that I had done some mainframe work in PL/I, SAS and older Basics. I had never done any OOP and my UI was limited to VBA.
   
   This book is an excellent tutorial. You can go through it, chapter by chapter. Don't use the CD -- type in the examples and then alter them little by little and you will learn how this stuff works. I think that if had started with a larger book I would have spent too much time wandering about, and would not have gained a solid foundation.
   
   I hope Robin decides to write a 2005 version.

5 comments about GDI+ Programming in C# and VB .NET.

1. I'm currently writing a comprehensive review of the VB.NET books for the visualbasic.about.com web site (you can see the full review of Nick's book there after November 20) but I wanted to respond to the anonymous reviewer who said that the book was lacking in quality right now in this forum. It most certainly is not lacking in quality. APress consistently publishes quality books and this is no exception.

   I downloaded the source files and ran several at random just to check whether there were any problems. The examples I ran worked perfectly. The content is well formatted with clear examples and great organization. And further, Microsoft really doesn't have that much documentation of GDI+ on MSDN and what they do have isn't really helpful as a tutorial. (Actually, the best alternatives to Nick's book right now are chapters from some of the comprehensive VB.NET books.)

   Full disclosure: Other than a friendly relationship, I don't work for APress and I don't even know Nick. I've just read his book to allow me to review it.




2. Just a rehash of the material on MSDN. Not much to this -- don't waste your money.



3. For anyone interested in VB Graphics, the book provides information, but then immediately jumps to the same information in C#, causing an almost total loss of concentration. I presume the same occurs for anyone interested in C#. If the writer were to remove all reference to C#, it might be a good text on VB Graphics, vice versa would probably do the same for C#. I'll just keep looking for a good graphics text for VB.NET elsewhere. I can produce excellent graphics with VB6, I just hope I can eventually do as well with VB.NET.



4. If you know how to read MSDN documentation, this book is worthless for you. Otherwise is a good beginners introduction.



5. This book is a good introduction to GDI and GDI+ programming. If you are a novice in GDI (as I am) and things like device contexts and selecting objects are unfamiliar to you, then this book should be good for you. (Note: I'm a novice when it comes to GDI. I've more than 30 years programming experience.)
   
   I had purchased this book so that I could do one thing: Copy a window from the screen to the printer. It turns out that this is a surprisingly complicated operation. That, of course, is not the book's fault but Microsoft's.
   
   A sample program (downloadable from Apress's website) allows you to copy a window to the printer ... but!
   
   The "but" is that the image that ends up on the printer is stretched and deformed.
   
   The book does not even mention device independent bitmaps (DIBs). That's a surprise for an introductory text on graphics.
   
   I also had a lot of trouble following his explanation on the various coordinate systems.
   
   OK, enough of the negatives.
   
   The positives are that this book is well written. The author appears to try hard to impart useful information in a breezy and easy to read manner. I really did learn a lot about GDI and GDI+ and graphics. I learned more about this subject in the few hours that I spent reading the book than I learned in several years of fumbling.
   
   Some reviewers complain about having to bounce between VB and C#. I found this not to be a problem.
   
   One reviewer said that this is a rehash of the information in the MSDN. I found this not to be so. More to the point, the author of this book organized this subject in a manner that is comprehensible to the novice. Such is not the case with the MSDN which is "a prerequisite for itself."
   
   In conclusion, the book simultaneously disappoints and delights. I'd give it 3.5 stars if I could.

2 comments about Developing C# Windows Software: A Windows Forms Tutorial.

1. This book is a good complement to Eric Brown's "Windows Forms Programming with C#". The authors here cover items that Brown didn't or didn't cover as thoroughly. Since their style is different, in some cases, the added depth they provide enhanced my understanding of what was going on. They stayed focussed and covered a lot of ground in a short book. The sections on the Registry, adding Help, and Deployment were helpful as well. I only regret they didn't touch on Drag and Drop for completeness, although that is available elsewhere. Good, useful tutorial book with reference potential. Definitely belongs on my bookshelf, I'll just ahve to make more room.



2. This book is a good reference for those who need to build and deploy traditional Windows Application under .Net and C#. The authors do a good job of covering aspects of Windows Form programming, including showing you how to design and implement some advanced features that you won't find in any online documentation for C# or .Net. The authors even walk you through several sample applications to show you "hands on" programing with the controls.

   Unfortunately, they don't cover all of the Windows Forms controls, and leave out a few of the basics. However, the ones they have left out seem to be the more basic controls that don't require a lot of advanced explanation.

   Overall, this book is good material for your bookshelf for those times when you need to verify, or learn, how a control works. They focus on the Visual Studio environment of C#, so there are a few differences that non-VS people will need to make in other to use this book.

4 comments about Microsoft Visual C#(TM) .NET Language Reference (Pro-Documentation).

1. The trend of putting help and documentation online is not a bad idea per se, it's certainly cheaper for development houses than printing expensive paper manuals. But, although the capability for the 'paperless' office is here, the office itself isn't. This is because printed material is still the most versatile way for people to use and handle.
   Online helps and references are sometimes like mazes, in that you chase a topic in a big circle until you get back to the beginning. They are great for overview and organization, lousy for hunting specifics. In addition, unless you have a laptop, you can't curl up in bed and read.
   While it's true that everything in the printed reference is already in online help I've always found it convenient to also acquire the printed documentation. It's easier to park a specific page open and refer to it than to hop from one screen to another. Snippets of example code serve to illustrate the practical implementations of various C# elements.



2. If you are looking for a book that nicely summarizes the C# language into a (non-MSDN) text, then this does a good job. It is well organized and keywords, functions, statements, etc are easy to find and cross-reference. The sample code is relatively useful, but sometimes challenging to figure out. I'd therefore recommend this book for intermediate-to-experienced C# developers.



3. Save your money, another worthless book from Microsoft Press. You would think a company like Microsoft, with more than $50 billion in cash reserves, would spend a little money on decent documentation for their products. Their online documentation is marginal, and their textbooks are worse. Again save your money!



4. I think that a lot of the criticism that this book receives is due to the fact that people do not pay attention to the title. This is a language reference, not a tutorial. As a reference, it's wonderful. Due to it's dictionary-like structure, you'll be greatly disappointed if you expect to learn C# from scratch from this book.
   
   The entries are both clear and informative. The nice thing about this book is that it doesn't get carried away with exposition. It tells you exactly what you need to know and nothing more. Also, the examples are generally short, but they are clear and do a good job at illustrating the concepts. As a reference, which is all that this book is, I could not ask for more.

5 comments about Programming Embedded Systems in C and C ++.

1. This book is geared towards people who intend to venture into the field of embedded systems and need an overview on the basics. These include the scope of development and most importantly, things that the developer should pay attention to (In the embedded system field, the developer has to pay close attention to the underlying hardware's characteristics such as registers, interrupts and memory address locations, in Java application development on the other hand, the underlying hardware and to some extent the OS is considered an afterthought).
   
   Though the examples are targeted to the Arcom board, the author makes a good effort to extract general principles applicable to any other hardware type. A passing knowledge of C and C++ is required though to understand the code.
   
   Of course, experienced embedded systems programmers would find the text a rehash of what they know however for those new to the field, this serves as a very good foundation.



2. "But keep in mind, it is extremely superficial. In other words, it's a great introduction for people who have no idea whatsoever what embedded development involves." This is a quote from a reviewer that gave it 5 stars. I agree with this reviewer comments but don't buy a book you will outgrow before you finish reading it! For now, I still recommend the David E. Simon book.



3. I am curious for the meaning of "advanced users" and what they would enjoy on a "advanced book" and why they despise this book for its basic content, And perhaps, they are after a title like "do my work". I guess much of the material here is very important to embedded developers, being experienced or not. For ex, start up code, the memory initializations and the excellent introduction to a RTOS. I am an Electrical Engineer, always writting embedded application code ( mostly dealing with API calls when it comes to low level ) and I was looking for clarification of several issues and the book did it well. Have a manual for your processor, your compiler and it will be all that you will need. Tips for embedded applications might be easily found on application notes ( be it ARM based processors or AVRs or Freescales ). This book is about writting the software not about the applications them selves.



4. In agreement with an earlier reviewer who also gave this book 1-star rating, it took me about 10 minutes of going through this relatively thin book to realize that its contents was not substantive (at all). Too much hand-waving, and not nearly enough meat. And there's barely any C or C++ code in the book.



5. I'm new to embedded system programming so I bought this book. I was disappointed because I didn't get much from this book. Buy something else.

5 comments about Code Craft: The Practice of Writing Excellent Code.

1. Code craft is an awesome book for anyone who wants to be a better developer. It touches on a lot of practices, viewpoints, areas of conflict, and focuses on turning you into an individual who can work well in a software development environment while leaving the technology / language-specific details to other books.
   
   The book looks simple and juvenile as you're flipping through it at first, but I think it spends about the right amount of time on things and is right up there with classics such as Code Complete and Rapid Development.
   
   I read it cover to cover in about four days and have loaned it to a coworker to look through.



2. I was at the library and this happened to be next to another book that I wanted, so I picked it up too.
   
   And wow, it's rare that I am this disappointed in a book. The content is very thin. It sounds like it was completely gathered from secondary sources, e.g. reading other books about software engineering. It doesn't sound like the result of actual experience.
   
   Every page is filled with platitudes without any examples of real experience backing it up. I'll grant that he has assembled an extraordinarly wide range of *terms* and terminology. It looks like he has tried to shove 3 sentences about every topic in software into a single book. Unfortunately, this ultimately makes for a book with little use.
   
   Another sticking point is the writing style. It comes off like the author is an annoying guy trying to be funny and trying to be your friend. The first sentence irritated me: "What's in it for me? Programming is your passion. It's sad, but it's true."
   
   Huh? Why is it sad that programming is one's passion??? There are similar head-scratchers elsewhere in the book. He also devotes a section to talking about the various types of "code monkeys". And the last type is "You. In the interest of politeness, we'll say no more about this curious beast. Sadly, some people are beyond help..." What? The reader is beyond help? If I pretend for a minute that he's not insulting me, then I still don't know what he's trying to say. This book is incoherent.
   
   And what's with all the reviews below that read like advertisements? Give me a break. It looks like a lot of the author's friends are spamming Amazon's reviews.
   
   I recommend reading Joel Spolsky's books for real, specific insights on programming and the software development process, earned from experience, written in a much clearer and more entertaining style.
   
   I'm also reading Jon Bentley's "Programming Pearls" now.



3. I have two comments.
   First, do not expect technical details on this book. There isn't. Second, the only paragraph that is really good is on page 461 and it says: "Find the classic books of the field". This is not one of those. He recommends and I agree almost completely:
   * Code Complete
   * Design Patterns: Elements of reusable object-oriented software
   * The mythical man-month
   * The psychology of computer programming
   * The practice of programming
   * Peopleware
   * The pragmatic programmer
   * refactoring
   
   I do not thing that "Code Craft" is one of those.



4. This one is a very good book. It is essentially a book in natural philosophy, not quite "scientific", coming from observation to show you a little bit of everything. An insight to the entire world of programming if you like.
   
   It goes from bottom up, from coding style through techniques and tools to paradigms and architecture. A lot (A LOT) of things explained, briefly, but perfectly understandable. It lacks any analysis or in-depth discussion, but that is on purpose.
   
   Not that many things for an experienced programmer to learn from this book though. To a point where it is boring. It took me longer to read this book through than many others, because I knew much of it in the first place.
   
   The language of the book, the author really is in for wordplay and puns of all sorts, it's all over the place. And although I do believe that proficiency (and desire to excel) in written language is a sure indication of a great programmer, this is not always to the book's best. It sure doesn't read like a textbook, but that's ok. There were a few really good jokes, but most of it is just wordplay for its own sake. For example,
   
   [quote]
   This is the really nasty one - when your program isn't pushing up the daisies, just pining for the fjords.
   [/quote]
   
   Look, I know what "pushing up the daisies" mean, and I can deduce the meaning for "pining for the fjords" from the context, but having it written like that doesn't really help.
   
   Like some other reviewer, I also didn't like the "good programmers" vs. "bad programmers" checklists. See, being a good programmer (aren't we all ?), I wouldn't know how bad programmers think, thus any attempt to declare "bad programmers do that" would be at best a guess.
   
   What's really good about this book, is that it goes under a positive "do as I do" key, not a negative "don't do as I say", seen much more frequently. I'd guess that the guy is really keen on what he's doing, and you can feel it in his book.
   
   I was pleased to see that yet another author's word supports my belief in that programming is simply patience, discipline and common sense. Oh, and PRACTICE.
   
   Anyhow, a great book for a beginning pragmatic programmer.



5. There's some strongly negative reviews for 'Code Craft: The Practice of Writing Excellent Code' but I am not one of those people that feel this is a waste of time reading. Becoming a better developer and designer doesn't come from just one book, one idea, one THING, rather it comes from other things in life by doing/experiencing lots of things and this book is worth the time to read. With 550+ pages of content you will learn about documentation, tools, testing, architecture, source control, etc. You will learn more about what makes a good application and how to go about writing it. You will enhance your development skills and hopefully be better off when you are done with this book.
   
   I like the content of this book and it's tailored towards anyone in the software business that wants to learn to write and design better. While a lot of the concepts in here you will find in many other books, this is a welcome addition to the bookshelf.
   
   My only glaring negative is the boring design in this book. Nothing about the layout makes one get excited about reading it and that's never a good thing. Serious time should have been spent making the inside of the book look better to make the experience better. This isn't a reference book and it doesn't need to look like one.
   
   **** RECOMMENDED

5 comments about Pro ASP.NET 2.0 in C# 2005, Special Edition (Pro).

1. Seriously folks, I don't usually gush about ASP.NET books but this one really is the best. In no other book have I seen better applicable examples and code than this one.
   
   I don't know how else to say it or emphasize it. If you get a chance go to a bookstore and pull the major ASP.NET 2.0 tombs off the shelf and then compare how they deal with a given topic. For example, try custom profile providers and see where that takes you. Then look at a web services topic like SoapEnvelopes or token authentication.
   
   Again and again in areas that I care about this book stands head and shoulders above its competition. Now of course I'm not suggesting it treats every topic equally perfectly. Not at all. But it sure tries to do a good job. Lastly it once again illustrates Wagner's Rule - "Great tech books are written by up to three authors. The best ones by one or two authors.". You absolutely owe it to yourself to take a look at this book. Matthew MacDonald has hit a home run (and I have no idea how he possibly can write that many books)
   
   Good job guys I hope it becomes a best seller.



2. Most of the info are copy and past from the microsoft MSDN library and other freely available websites. There are original materials, but for me, I did not feel that I have learned much from it.
   Try another book or better try some online references, tutorials and libraries. If you want my copy and i would be more than happy to send it for free to you { you pay shipping :) }



3. Excellent technical content, very thorough and in-depth coverage, but definitely not for beginners. I am a veteran software engineer, well-acquainted with Microsoft technologies and have architected and developed distributed systems and services for many years, but still found the going a little tough in spots, particularly in unfamiliar areas where a little more background information would have been helpful. The writer obviously knows his subject well, but has a hard time explaining complicated details because he makes too many assumptions about the level of expertise of his audience.



4. This ASP.NET tomb covers just about everything in the 2.0 release, and covers it well and in depth. The thing that I really like about it is that the examples and sample code are very targeted to things that you'd really want to do with a dynamic web site. For example, it gives you good suggestions and useful code for setting up a data access layer to talk to your database. It does have "Pro" in the title and indeed it is mainly targeted for experienced developers. There is a CD included that sounds good, but I haven't gotten to it yet...



5. I liked it. It had some good explanations of data structures. I wish it had a little more on Atlas but the release time might have influenced that.

No comments about Learning XNA 3.0.