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Review
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Reviewed: July, 2010 |
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Reviewer:
John Warren |
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I haven't been using Visual Studio since it was only C++ and used MFC for
the interface. That is why I was glad to review this book and learn
something.
The book itself does not cover any web programming
which is fine for a beginning book. I know many who want to dive in and make
a stunning website but Windows applications are easier to write and learn.
Most of the information in the book is relevant to ASP.NET programming.
The DVD that comes with this book isn't a DVD. That is
to say you can’t watch the lessons on your DVD player. You will need to have
a computer with a DVD player to view the lessons. I expected this, but
others buying the book should be better informed. Nevertheless, the lessons
presented were on the topics in the book and covered what was necessary
while introducing something new occasionally.
The lessons cover a complete concept well without
overwhelming the reader with information. At the end of each lesson there is
a four-part section before the exercises: try it, lesson requirements,
hints, and step-by-step. This covers the important parts of the chapter
making sure the reader is prepared for the next lesson. This incremental
help does the trick for most people who will ever understand C#. These
lessons build on each other and the code being written by the reader becomes
more robust over time which helps show how to make a core piece of software
and how to expand it.
The book starts with an introduction to the Integrated
Development Environment (IDE) which should be in all C# introductory books.
Anyone starting fresh with Visual Studio would freak out at its behavior and
wonder why these boxes keep popping up while typing and what to do about
them. What are all these windows and how do I get rid of them or move them.
Basically, all the 'obvious' stuff that new users don't know. The book also
covers other beginning concepts: variable types, classes, structs, etc. I do
like that it talks about naming conventions which new programmers need to
use.
There are many tips throughout the lessons which add a
small concept to the lesson. I wish these tips were also listed in the back
in their own chapter since there were many good bits of information in them
that I could see I'd want to be able to find again.
My criticisms of the book are very small. The LINQ to
Objects chapter had four items bolded (LINQ to SQL, LINQ to datasets, LINQ
to XML, and LINQ to Objects) and you will find two chapters on SQL and
Objects, but you will find a tip box on datasets and nothing on XML. Also,
as I was reading the code in the book, I was wondering what a 'partial'
class was and why I didn't get the whole class. That question went
unanswered.
Overall this is an excellent book for those who are
unfamiliar with programming. It is a good guide and will lead the reader
every step of the way. Those who have done object oriented programming don't
need the programming concepts in this book but may find the IDE, Visual
Studio database connection and syntax descriptions helpful. Any who have
more experience than that will find this a quick read, gleaning some new
information but probably not enough to be worth it. |
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