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Title: Sams Teach Yourself .NET Windows Forms in 21 Days by Chris Payne ISBN: 0672323206 Publisher: Sams Pub. Date: 13 May, 2002 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $39.99 |
Average Customer Rating: 2.5
Rating: 4
Summary: Pretty good book
Comment: I'd like to offer a different perspective on this book than the previous reviewer. I think it's a pretty well written book and I still use it today as a reference in my job training MCSD candidates. One of the good things about the book is it's comprehensive coverage of so many topics (which is one reason I use it as a reference source). Also, Chris's writing style is enjoyable and he communicates well - his ASP.NET book is extremely popular and this book shares a lot of the same qualities.
Yes, it would have been better if it had covered using VS.NET instead of just using text files and the command line compilers but like many .NET books this book was written while VS.NET was still in beta. If you publish a book full of pictures and instructions dealing with the beta version of a tool and then the released version is significantly different, you have big problems. So most publishers produced books on the command line tools. Besides, to really understand something like .NET it's good to know how to code it by hand. Ideally you'd read two books, one like this that codes by hand and one that shows you how to use the power of the IDE.
As to having to download anything extra to compile and run the programs in the book, if you have VS.NET installed then you have the command line compilers. Duh!
If you like the "teach yourself in 21 day" style of learning topics by working with lots of example programs and if you want to know how to code .NET by hand (so you can understand the code the IDE is generating) this is a good book for you.
Rating: 1
Summary: Don't buy this book
Comment: I often purchase based upon the reviews and am grateful people take the time to write them.
I'm writing this review to warn you NOT to buy this book. For me, it has been a waste of time and money.
There are two main problems:
1) The author for some reason I do not understand chose to NOT use Visual Studio .Net tools or the Form Designer to do the examples. Duh! Apparently, by only downloading the .Net runtime you can compile programs from the command line and run them. All the samples assume your going to do that. Perhaps his editor told him to do this to 'reach a larger market'. But first off, if you don't have the development tools you probably aren't serious about development and won't be buying many books. Second, learning windows forms IMHO is all about using the VS.Net Form Designer and if you don't have that there is little point. The fact is when you get a real job, they're going provide you with and want you to know how to use the VS.Net tools. I consider this a MAJOR flaw for this book. If you buy this book, you'll spend all your time cutting and pasting his sample code into a real project and setting up the compilation etc. Yup, he doesn't even include project files since there's no assumption you are using the de-facto tools! What a pain. You'll also spend hours and hours trying to figure out how to use the Forms Designer to do what he did manually. 21 days, right. More like 21 weeks.
2) The other problem with this book, though this is more a personal preference, is the author obviously focused on VB.Net and only seems to have added C# at the end of the process. Many examples are only given in VB and most of the text explains VB first and then makes a few comments about C#. As a professional C++ developer, I want to use C# and am disappointed about the VB focus. If you're learning VB, then great, you'll probably like this. If you're doing C#, then switching back and forth from the VB based text to your C# code can be annoying and time consuming.
If your a VB developer and don't have the tools, then maybe this book would be for you, but I think it silly to write a book called 'Teach Yourself .Net Windows Forms' and not use the obvious de-facto tools.
As for the content, it seems ok, but I'm having such trouble converting the projects and shifting from VB to C# that I honestly haven't gotten very far into the book (first 5 or 6 chapters) and have finally come to the conclusion I will have to find another book.
I have from time to time used this book as a reference because I have no other (yet), and have found it somewhat useful for that, but as a tutorial on learning forms forget it.
To be fair, there are a number of other books out there that don't provide samples with project files and don't assume the tools everyone will use (VS.NET), and I hate that too, but for a .net FORMS book, I think this a fatal flaw.
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Title: Sams Teach Yourself ADO.NET in 21 Days by Dan Fox ISBN: 0672323869 Publisher: Sams Pub. Date: 12 June, 2002 List Price(USD): $39.99 |
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Title: .NET Windows Forms in a Nutshell by Ian Griffiths, Matthew Adams ISBN: 0596003382 Publisher: O'Reilly & Associates Pub. Date: 2003 List Price(USD): $49.95 |
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Title: Professional Crystal Reports for Visual Studio .NET by David McAmis ISBN: 1861007744 Publisher: Wrox Press Inc Pub. Date: 1902 List Price(USD): $39.99 |
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Title: Sams Teach Yourself Visual Studio .NET 2003 in 21 Days by Jason Beres ISBN: 0672324210 Publisher: Sams Pub. Date: 14 January, 2003 List Price(USD): $39.99 |
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Title: Sams Teach Yourself ASP.NET in 21 Days (2nd Edition) by Chris Payne ISBN: 0672324458 Publisher: Sams Pub. Date: 12 August, 2002 List Price(USD): $39.99 |
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