Professional LINQ (Programmer to Programmer) Review

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Professional LINQ (Programmer to Programmer) ReviewAlthough it is a bit dry and dictionaryesque at times, kudos to Scott Klein on writing a solid book on LINQ and providing a lot of detail as to the specifics.
However, the editing of the book is absolutely terrible, particularly for one in the Wrox P2P series. There are numerous typos throughout the book, as well as areas where the content is simply wrong. For example, in one area (page 77), he describes a LINQ query as grouping by the last name, then displaying the first and middle names concatenated together, when in reality the code is grouping by the FIRST name and concatenating the middle and last together.
This might sound like I am nit-picking. However, when covering a topic like this where there are new and non-intuitive items (such as method syntax and lambda expressions) being discussed, it is critically important that the description of the example actually matches the example. Considering that the book rarely lists the syntax format itself, mismatches can lead to "learning" incorrect information.
Were the editing better, I would give this a solid 4 out of 5 stars.
Oh, on another note.. Be aware that this book was based on Beta releases.. Things have changed a little bit.Professional LINQ (Programmer to Programmer) OverviewProfessional LINQ introduces experienced programmers and database developers to LINQ database queries in their native VB and C# languages. Some of the topics covered include:
LINQ Queries
LINQ and the Standard Query Operators
Programming with XLinq
Querying XML with XLinq
Mixing XML and other data models
DLinq and Queries
LINQ over datasets
Interoperating with ADO.NET
LINQ and ASP.NET


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Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Unleashed Review

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Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Unleashed ReviewAn excellent primer to the VS2008 IDE. Covers a vast area with a fair amount of detail, and provides excellent quality screenshots throughout. Highly recommended if you want to get up to speed with this huge IDE.
Not sure what the previous reviewer's issue was with the book, as he provided no details to justify his one star review.Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Unleashed Overview

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Pro C# 2008 and the .NET 3.5 Platform (Windows.Net) Review

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Pro C# 2008 and the .NET 3.5 Platform (Windows.Net) ReviewVisually this book is easy to read. A detailed 37 page index and bold page numbers at the top of the pages make it easy to quickly locate desired information.
Sometimes the term "Pro" is used in the title of books that don't really deserve that classification. In my opinion, this book has very much earned the "Pro" designation. While the C# language is covered in detail, no time is wasted describing what an array or variable is. Another example, the book spends more time explaining how to implement encapsulation, inheritance and polymorphism within the language than explaining these basic OO concepts. So if you are new to programming, look elsewhere.
The style of writing might be described as a touch dry. Not much in the way of humor or such, but then again this is a "Pro" book. You are reading it for information, not entertainment.
In many respects this book is a two in one deal. The first ~450 pages are a thorough coverage of the C# language. The remainder being an extensive look at the .NET framework.
In short I would describe the book as a very comprehensive guide to C# 2008 and the 3.5 version of the .NET framework recommend it highly.Pro C# 2008 and the .NET 3.5 Platform (Windows.Net) Overview
The first edition of this book was released at the 2001 Tech Ed conference in Atlanta, Georgia. Since that time, this text has been revised, tweaked, and enhanced to account for the changes found within each release of the .NET platform (1.1, 2.0, 3.0 and now 3.5).

.NET 3.0 was more of an augmentative release, essentially providing three new APIs: Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) and Windows Workflow Foundation (WF). As you would expect, coverage of the "W's" has been expanded a great deal in this version of the book from the previous Special Edition text.

Unlike .NET 3.0, .NET 3.5 provides dozens of C# language features and .NET APIs. This edition of the book will walk you through all of this material using the same readable approach as was found in previous editions. Rest assured, you'll find detailed coverage of Language Integrated Query (LINQ), the C# 2008 language changes (automatic properties, extension methods, anonymous types, etc.) and the numerous bells and whistles of Visual Studio 2008.

What you'll learn
Everything you need to know-get up to speed with C# 2008 quickly and efficiently.
Discover all the new .NET 3.5 features-Language Integrated Query, anonymous types, extension methods, automatic properties, and more.
Get a professional foothold-targeted to appeal to experienced software professionals, this book gives you the facts you need the way you need to see them.
A rock-solid foundation-focuses on everything you need to be a successful .NET 3.5 programmer, not just the new features. Get comfortable with all the core aspects of the platform - including assemblies, remoting, Windows Forms, Web Forms, ADO.NET, XML web services, and much more.

Who this book is for
If you're checking out this book for the first time, understand that it targets experienced software professionals and/or students of computer science (so please don't expect three chapters devoted to "for" loops). The mission of this text is to provide you with a rock-solid foundation to the C# 2008 programming language and the core aspects of the .NET platform (object-oriented programming, assemblies, file IO, Windows Forms/WPF, ASP.NET, ADO.NET, WCF, WF, etc.). Once you digest the information presented in these 33 chapters, you'll be in a perfect position to apply this knowledge to your specific programming assignments, and you'll be well equipped to explore the .NET universe on your own terms.


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Microsoft Office Visio 2003 Inside Out (Inside Out (Microsoft)) Review

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Microsoft Office Visio 2003 Inside Out (Inside Out (Microsoft)) ReviewThis book is what used to be called a "manual" that came "free" after you spent a few hundred dollars on software. If you are looking for a manual, this is a good choice, but if you want to learn how to use the program with this, please don't. The examples it showed were not consistent within the chapter, so you could not follow along by trying to try out the concepts after reading easily.
I'll keep the book as a reference, but I'm a bit upset about spending money for it. I'll try the "Step by Step" book, but those are generally not very in-depth.Microsoft Office Visio 2003 Inside Out (Inside Out (Microsoft)) Overview

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Professional ASP.NET 3.5: In C# and VB (Programmer to Programmer) Review

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Professional ASP.NET 3.5: In C# and VB (Programmer to Programmer) ReviewI basically had some real dread about this book. WROX editors have gotten the wrong people to write books outside of their specialty, and have been downright sloppy as I have pointed out in many other reviews in the past. The new owners are trying hard to only get the best attributes of WROX, not the worse, with mixed results on some of their books I looked at. This book trots out some major players: Scott Hanselman major guru and creator of an awesome beyond compare tool list; Devin Rader a very interesting blogger and community participant extra-ordinaire; finally Bill Evjen, INETA founder.
My expectation when picking up this book is I expected a ton of info that could be found elsewhere, scattered across many smaller books, under one cover. Asp.net Unleashed spoiled me so I have to assume even at best, it will just duplicate material that Walther's book covers better with no special insight.
I was pleasantly surprised!!! I like this book so much I will buy the hardcover the minute it appears. It actually offers quite a few insights other books do not. This book is fabulous!
I could write a 20 page review of why everyone must own this and ASP.net Unleashed if they only own 2 books on ASP.net but I will just summarize to save us both a heck of a lot of time and reading.
Since the book clocks in at 1,600+ pages I cannot elucidate on all all the gems in this book, so hopefully a few examples will make you realize how good this book is. Debugging, Exceptions and Trace are an area I care about a LOT and boy did they cover the topic well. The subtleties and interactions between Debug.Write/ Trace.Write and some really insightful data about Trace listeners makes this much more useful than the documentation, in ways no one else has tackled before this concisely. Good sections on Server Controls, HTTP Handlers and Modules, WebParts, Provider models, CSS and ASP.net, et al. The scope of this book is fabulous at covering a little about everything but with a lot of insight and attention to detail.
And WOW WOW WOW this book actually gives lots of Visual Studio tips. Visual Studio is a labyrinth of options and the good stuff is always hidden so having lots of great Visual Studio tidbits (and screenshots) really enhance this book's value.
The weakest part of the book is the Online Resources section. I think it is way too short. I read well over 300+ blogs to keep up with ASP.net a dozen does not do justice to the blogsphere. Sites are of variying quality so Great sites like CodeProject, DaveAndAl.com, 4GuysFromRolla.com, CodePlex, SourceForge need to be highlighted and given some brief blurbs as to how they offer more and what specifically they offer. Given the importance of Open Source, Shared Source, not giving a whole chapter providing brief overviews and links to MS App Blocks, NHibernate, iBatis, LLBGen, Log4net, Mole Visualizer, the Starter Kits, et al. is I think a big oversight.
I also think communities (listservers, Groups, Forums, newsgroups, Social Networks with SIGs) are something that need some explanation to people as a FREE help resource. Some summaries of how to find the right ones for your experience level, explaining the organization and etiquette of specialized groups vs. FreeForAlls, explaining which forums are active and responsive and which tend to breed more discouragement and unanswered posts to avoid, etc. The book has a bunch of great explanations of many ideas but .NET is so huge and areas are so deep people need to know how to get answers on things beyond just pointing to a few URLs. A book worth it's salt at covering community even as an Appendix, a dozen pages at least would give a person a much better overview of how to find and maximize value of community to solve ongoing job challenges.
To summarize... Great book (I hope they make a hardcover so the book has a longer, stronger reference life without falling apart). A great companion to ASP.net Unleashed that goes deeper in many areas, but sometimes you need concise terse shallow insightful overviews and this book is filled with them. I am major book critic and can be quite harsh when reviewing .NET books, mostly because I really think given the quality of online info, books better bring some major insight and depth not just duplicate what is out there on the web on paper, to be of value. This book is the real deal .... These 3 authors and their editors delivered a book the ASP.net developer will find invaluable, and help them write better code, solve tougher problems, and elegantly understand and apply quite a bit of the richness the Framework offers in real world ASP.net web site building and maintenance. Bravo, Bravisimo!Professional ASP.NET 3.5: In C# and VB (Programmer to Programmer) Overview

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