BTW: All of the O'Reilly animals always have some connection.  It might be the
author, the technology, the market, or some other unknown.  When I ask that a
cover be designed I try to be as descriptive as possible and then the designers
go through all those 18th Century engravings to find a match.  Unfortunately,
they rarely will confirm or deny whay the connection is.

As for VB.NET books, O'Reilly has a few:

VB.NET Language in a Nutshell, 2nd (reference)
VB.NET Core Classes in a Nutshell (reference)
Programming Visual Basic .NET, 2nd (100% rewritten tutorial by Jesse Liberty -
April '03)
Object-Oreinted Programming with Visual Basic .NET (tutorial)

http://dotnet.oreilly.com
http://safari.oreilly.com


Glen (Product Manager for O'Reilly)

---



On Sat, 22 Mar 2003 14:48:33
  Gary Wardell wrote:
>Actually I kind of like the covers of the O'Reilly books.
>
>Take the DNS and BIND book with the cricket which is a play on the author's
name.
>
>Gary
>


_____________________________________________________________
Get 25MB, POP3, Spam Filtering with LYCOS MAIL PLUS for $19.95/year.
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Actually I kind of like the covers of the O'Reilly books.

Take the DNS and BIND book with the cricket which is a play on the author's
name.

Gary

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mark Eckeard [mailto:meckeard2000@...]
> Sent: Sat, March 22, 2003 2:12 PM
> To: MustHaveBooksForAspNetProgrammers@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: RE: [MustHaveBooksForAspNetProgrammers] Recoomedation of book
> on VB.Net
>
>
> Although I do agree, you must admit... you can always
> tell a WROX book by the cover!
>
> Mark.
> --- Liz <liz@...> wrote:
> > you forgot to mention the goofy (and large!) author
> > pictures on the
> > covers;  what were they thinking?  most of these
> > folks do not have
> > movie-star good looks ... :)
> >
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: Charles M. Carroll
> > [mailto:darthcarroll@...]
> > Sent: Saturday, March 22, 2003 11:16 AM
> > To:
> > MustHaveBooksForAspNetProgrammers@yahoogroups.com
> > Subject: RE: [MustHaveBooksForAspNetProgrammers]
> > Recoomedation of book
> > on VB.Net
> >
> >
> > Wrox put out some good .net books and some really
> > awful ones. We are
> > discussing Wrox's liquidation in:
> >
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MicrosoftCommunityComments
> > mostly since it does have some impact on the
> > Developer Community.
> >
> > Unfortunately, the majority were very uneven and
> > they were also
> > extending into tons of not profitable MS
> > competiter's arenas (many of
> > whom are not big book buyers they mostly read
> > online) and they paid the
> > price.
> >
> > I belive their best books (which you should rush to
> > get copies of since
> > they may not exist) are:
> >
> > Beginning VB.net with XML
> >
> http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=1861007787/learnasp
> >
> > Asp.Net Website Programming (a whole web site is
> > built: code, dbs,
> > Sprocs)
> >
> http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=1861008163/learnasp
> >
> > Pro ASP.net Performance
> >
> http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=1861007558/learnasp
> >
> > A lot of the books they made I liked at first were
> > quickly out-competed:
> > Pro ASP.net was out competed by Walther's Unleashed,
> > VB.net Class Design
> > was outcompeted by VB.net in Nutshell, ADO.net ref
> > outcompeted by Core
> > ADO.net, their Server controls books were
> > outcompeted by my favorite
> > ebooks and so on. Some of their hugest page count
> > books were failures,
> > because of huge omissions in scope (i.e. no one
> > wants to buy a 1,000+
> > page book and discover it doesn't discuss some core
> > ideas and commands)
> > in favor of really mediocre case studies instead.
> >
> > I indicted Wrox in Classic days for having too many
> > books and
> > introducing confusion
> > http://www.learnasp.com/charlescarroll/asptoday.asp
> > In the .net era they not only disregarded this
> > advice they put out
> > soooooooooooo many books some of very poor or uneven
> > quality that it is
> > not surprising their buyers were confused. (Although
> > SAMS is guilty of
> > that too as is Apress, Wrox worked 10 x faster than
> > them so died 10 x
> > faster than they will die). I would give SAMs and
> > Apress and MSPress
> > horrible report cards too for different reasons - if
> > a bunch of
> > publishers did this year or next it will be 100%
> > in-line with my
> > predictions.
> >
> > If I gave them a report card this year it would
> > accuse them of brand and
> > line extension and trying to own too many words from
> > a Reiss and Trout
> > Standpoint see:
> > 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
> >
> http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0887306667/learnasp
> > 22 Immutable Laws of Branding
> > http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=
> >
> <http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0060007737/learnasp>
> > 0060007737/learnasp
> >
> <http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0060007737/learnasp>
> >
> >
> > In simpler terms Wrox put out
> > a. Way too many books for a 1.0 market
> > b. books with very uneven quality at book and
> > chapter level
> > c. books not so well designed with no persona focus
> > just some technology
> > focuses
> > d. Overspent on a web presence: Too many websites
> > (AspToday was not even
> > a success and they had P2P, C#Today, WroxBase out
> > and VBToday planned)
> > when one umbrella site with preferences could have
> > efficiently done the
> > job of many
> > e. The division of books (Reference, Pro, Beginning,
> > Core, fast Track)
> > and books that could not decide if they were
> > winforms, console or .net
> > books made confusion even worse when deciding what
> > to purchase. The
> > redundancy between books and irrelevant material put
> > in books just
> > because Ms lumped some feature in the platform also
> > cost them dearly.
> > Any publisher who thinks readers want a flowchart to
> > decide what to buy
> > has too many geeks running the show. People want to
> > buy 1 perfect book
> > and then maybe 2-3 more. 20-40 books in their domain
> > is just scary and
> > confusing.
> >
> > Once again since this list is just for book reviews,
> > lets discuss Wrox's
> > liquidation in:
> >
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MicrosoftCommunityComments
> > mostly since it does have some impact on the
> > Developer Community.
> >
> > At 06:39 AM 3/22/2003 -0800, you wrote:
> >
> >
> > No one recommended anything by Wrox?
> > Maybe thats why they went out of business.....
> >
> >
> >
> > Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
> >
> >
> <http://rd.yahoo.com/M=245314.3072841.4397732.2848452/D=egroup
> web/S=1705
> >
> 007709:HM/A=1495890/R=0/*http://www.netbizideas.com/yheb42>
> >
> >
> >
> <http://us.adserver.yahoo.com/l?M=245314.3072841.4397732.28484
52/D=egrou
> pmail/S=:HM/A=1495890/rand=500027386>
>
> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
>
MustHaveBooksForAspNetProgrammers-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo!
> Terms of Service
> <http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/> .
>
>
>


__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Platinum - Watch CBS' NCAA March Madness, live on your desktop!
http://platinum.yahoo.com



To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
MustHaveBooksForAspNetProgrammers-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com



Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/

Although I do agree, you must admit... you can always
tell a WROX book by the cover!

Mark.
--- Liz <liz@...> wrote:
> you forgot to mention the goofy (and large!) author
> pictures on the
> covers;  what were they thinking?  most of these
> folks do not have
> movie-star good looks ... :)
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Charles M. Carroll
> [mailto:darthcarroll@...]
> Sent: Saturday, March 22, 2003 11:16 AM
> To:
> MustHaveBooksForAspNetProgrammers@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: RE: [MustHaveBooksForAspNetProgrammers]
> Recoomedation of book
> on VB.Net
>
>
> Wrox put out some good .net books and some really
> awful ones. We are
> discussing Wrox's liquidation in:
>
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MicrosoftCommunityComments
> mostly since it does have some impact on the
> Developer Community.
>
> Unfortunately, the majority were very uneven and
> they were also
> extending into tons of not profitable MS
> competiter's arenas (many of
> whom are not big book buyers they mostly read
> online) and they paid the
> price.
>
> I belive their best books (which you should rush to
> get copies of since
> they may not exist) are:
>
> Beginning VB.net with XML
>
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=1861007787/learnasp
>
> Asp.Net Website Programming (a whole web site is
> built: code, dbs,
> Sprocs)
>
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=1861008163/learnasp
>
> Pro ASP.net Performance
>
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=1861007558/learnasp
>
> A lot of the books they made I liked at first were
> quickly out-competed:
> Pro ASP.net was out competed by Walther's Unleashed,
> VB.net Class Design
> was outcompeted by VB.net in Nutshell, ADO.net ref
> outcompeted by Core
> ADO.net, their Server controls books were
> outcompeted by my favorite
> ebooks and so on. Some of their hugest page count
> books were failures,
> because of huge omissions in scope (i.e. no one
> wants to buy a 1,000+
> page book and discover it doesn't discuss some core
> ideas and commands)
> in favor of really mediocre case studies instead.
>
> I indicted Wrox in Classic days for having too many
> books and
> introducing confusion
> http://www.learnasp.com/charlescarroll/asptoday.asp
> In the .net era they not only disregarded this
> advice they put out
> soooooooooooo many books some of very poor or uneven
> quality that it is
> not surprising their buyers were confused. (Although
> SAMS is guilty of
> that too as is Apress, Wrox worked 10 x faster than
> them so died 10 x
> faster than they will die). I would give SAMs and
> Apress and MSPress
> horrible report cards too for different reasons - if
> a bunch of
> publishers did this year or next it will be 100%
> in-line with my
> predictions.
>
> If I gave them a report card this year it would
> accuse them of brand and
> line extension and trying to own too many words from
> a Reiss and Trout
> Standpoint see:
> 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
>
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0887306667/learnasp
> 22 Immutable Laws of Branding
> http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=
>
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0060007737/learnasp>
> 0060007737/learnasp
>
<http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0060007737/learnasp>
>
>
> In simpler terms Wrox put out
> a. Way too many books for a 1.0 market
> b. books with very uneven quality at book and
> chapter level
> c. books not so well designed with no persona focus
> just some technology
> focuses
> d. Overspent on a web presence: Too many websites
> (AspToday was not even
> a success and they had P2P, C#Today, WroxBase out
> and VBToday planned)
> when one umbrella site with preferences could have
> efficiently done the
> job of many
> e. The division of books (Reference, Pro, Beginning,
> Core, fast Track)
> and books that could not decide if they were
> winforms, console or .net
> books made confusion even worse when deciding what
> to purchase. The
> redundancy between books and irrelevant material put
> in books just
> because Ms lumped some feature in the platform also
> cost them dearly.
> Any publisher who thinks readers want a flowchart to
> decide what to buy
> has too many geeks running the show. People want to
> buy 1 perfect book
> and then maybe 2-3 more. 20-40 books in their domain
> is just scary and
> confusing.
>
> Once again since this list is just for book reviews,
> lets discuss Wrox's
> liquidation in:
>
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MicrosoftCommunityComments
> mostly since it does have some impact on the
> Developer Community.
>
> At 06:39 AM 3/22/2003 -0800, you wrote:
>
>
> No one recommended anything by Wrox?
> Maybe thats why they went out of business.....
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
>
>
<http://rd.yahoo.com/M=245314.3072841.4397732.2848452/D=egroupweb/S=1705
>
007709:HM/A=1495890/R=0/*http://www.netbizideas.com/yheb42>
>
>
>
<http://us.adserver.yahoo.com/l?M=245314.3072841.4397732.2848452/D=egrou
> pmail/S=:HM/A=1495890/rand=500027386>
>
> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
>
MustHaveBooksForAspNetProgrammers-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo!
> Terms of Service
> <http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/> .
>
>
>


__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Platinum - Watch CBS' NCAA March Madness, live on your desktop!
http://platinum.yahoo.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Charles M. Carroll [mailto:darthcarroll@...]
Sent: Saturday, March 22, 2003 11:16 AM
To: MustHaveBooksForAspNetProgrammers@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [MustHaveBooksForAspNetProgrammers] Recoomedation of book on VB.Net

Wrox put out some good .net books and some really awful ones. We are discussing Wrox's liquidation in:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MicrosoftCommunityComments
mostly since it does have some impact on the Developer Community.

Unfortunately, the majority were very uneven and they were also extending into tons of not profitable MS competiter's arenas (many of whom are not big book buyers they mostly read online) and they paid the price.

I belive their best books (which you should rush to get copies of since they may not exist) are:

Beginning VB.net with XML
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=1861007787/learnasp

Asp.Net Website Programming (a whole web site is built: code, dbs, Sprocs)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=1861008163/learnasp

Pro ASP.net Performance
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=1861007558/learnasp

A lot of the books they made I liked at first were quickly out-competed: Pro ASP.net was out competed by Walther's Unleashed, VB.net Class Design was outcompeted by VB.net in Nutshell, ADO.net ref outcompeted by Core ADO.net, their Server controls books were outcompeted by my favorite ebooks and so on. Some of their hugest page count books were failures, because of huge omissions in scope (i.e. no one wants to buy a 1,000+ page book and discover it doesn't discuss some core ideas and commands) in favor of really mediocre case studies instead.

I indicted Wrox in Classic days for having too many books and introducing confusion
http://www.learnasp.com/charlescarroll/asptoday.asp
In the .net era they not only disregarded this advice they put out soooooooooooo many books some of very poor or uneven quality that it is not surprising their buyers were confused. (Although SAMS is guilty of that too as is Apress, Wrox worked 10 x faster than them so died 10 x faster than they will die). I would give SAMs and Apress and MSPress horrible report cards too for different reasons - if a bunch of publishers did this year or next it will be 100% in-line with my predictions.

If I gave them a report card this year it would accuse them of brand and line extension and trying to own too many words from a Reiss and Trout Standpoint see:
22 Immutable Laws of Marketing
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0887306667/learnasp
22 Immutable Laws of Branding
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0060007737/learnasp

In simpler terms Wrox put out
a. Way too many books for a 1.0 market
b. books with very uneven quality at book and chapter level
c. books not so well designed with no persona focus just some technology focuses
d. Overspent on a web presence: Too many websites (AspToday was not even a success and they had P2P, C#Today, WroxBase out and VBToday planned)  when one umbrella site with preferences could have efficiently done the job of many
e. The division of books (Reference, Pro, Beginning, Core, fast Track) and books that could not decide if they were winforms, console or .net books made confusion even worse when deciding what to purchase. The redundancy between books and irrelevant material put in books just because Ms lumped some feature in the platform also cost them dearly. Any publisher who thinks readers want a flowchart to decide what to buy has too many geeks running the show. People want to buy 1 perfect book and then maybe 2-3 more. 20-40 books in their domain is just scary and confusing.

Once again since this list is just for book reviews, lets discuss Wrox's liquidation in:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/MicrosoftCommunityComments
mostly since it does have some impact on the Developer Community.

At 06:39 AM 3/22/2003 -0800, you wrote:

No one recommended anything by Wrox?
Maybe thats why they went out of business.....

To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
MustHaveBooksForAspNetProgrammers-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com



Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.

No one recommended anything by Wrox?
Maybe thats why they went out of business.....

No one recommended anything by Wrox?
Maybe thats why they went out of business.....




--- Don Kitchen <cybrenergy@...> wrote:
> VB. NET Language in a Nutshell (2nd edition)
>
>
>
>
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0596003080/kitchwinc-20
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Roger [mailto:rogercassidy2000@...]
> Sent: Friday, March 21, 2003 9:06 PM
> To:
> MustHaveBooksForAspNetProgrammers@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [MustHaveBooksForAspNetProgrammers]
> Recoomedation of book on VB.Net
>
>
>
> Hi,
> I have been working in VB for about 3 yrs, and I am
> looking to dive
> into VB.Net. Any recommedations on the best book out
> there?
>
> Thanks in anticipation
>
> Roger
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
>
>
>
> ADVERTISEMENT
>
>
<http://rd.yahoo.com/M=245454.2994396.4323964.2848452/D=egroupweb/S=17050077
>
09:HM/A=1457554/R=0/*http:/ipunda.com/clk/beibunmaisuiyuiwabei>
>
>
>
>
>
<http://us.adserver.yahoo.com/l?M=245454.2994396.4323964.2848452/D=egroupmai
> l/S=:HM/A=1457554/rand=273484290>
>
>
> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
>
MustHaveBooksForAspNetProgrammers-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo!
> <http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/>  Terms of
> Service.
>
>


__________________________________________________
Do you Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Platinum - Watch CBS' NCAA March Madness, live on your desktop!
http://platinum.yahoo.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Roger [mailto:rogercassidy2000@...]
Sent: Friday, March 21, 2003 9:06 PM
To: MustHaveBooksForAspNetProgrammers@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [MustHaveBooksForAspNetProgrammers] Recoomedation of book on VB.Net

Hi,
I have been working in VB for about 3 yrs, and I am looking to dive
into VB.Net. Any recommedations on the best book out there?

Thanks in anticipation

Roger




To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
MustHaveBooksForAspNetProgrammers-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com



Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.

Programming Microsoft Visual Basic .NET (Core Reference) by Francesco
Balena

has served me very well ...


> -----Original Message-----
> From: Roger [mailto:rogercassidy2000@...]
> Sent: Friday, March 21, 2003 8:06 PM
> To: MustHaveBooksForAspNetProgrammers@yahoogroups.com
> Subject: [MustHaveBooksForAspNetProgrammers] Recoomedation of
> book on VB.Net
>
>
> Hi,
> I have been working in VB for about 3 yrs, and I am looking to dive
> into VB.Net. Any recommedations on the best book out there?
>
> Thanks in anticipation
>
> Roger
>
>
>
> ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor
> ---------------------~--> Get 128 Bit SSL Encryption!
> http://us.click.yahoo.com/xaxhjB/hdqFAA/xGHJAA> /dpFolB/TM
>
>
> --------------------------------------------------------------
> -------~->
>
> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
> MustHaveBooksForAspNetProgrammers-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
>
>
>
> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to
> http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
>
>

Hi,
I have been working in VB for about 3 yrs, and I am looking to dive
into VB.Net. Any recommedations on the best book out there?

Thanks in anticipation

Roger

Pragmatic ADO.NET: Data Access for the Internet World
by Shawn Wildermuth
Addison-Wesley Pub Co

The world of ADO.NET can be confusing to someone who is used to the
old versions of ADO. I remember the frustration of trying to wrap my
mind around the new concepts of the "disconnected data"
world.

I read a couple of books that had information on ADO.NET and some
decent examples. Even though the examples helped me grasp some of
the "how to do" questions in my mind, none of them really
explained how the new version of ADO.NET worked, why it was designed
the way it is, or gave any best practices. Luckily, I was able to
review this book and a million pieces of the puzzle came flying into
place.

Pragmatic ADO.NET is an excellent teacher of what ADO.NET is, how it
works, and how the everyday developer can use it. This is THE book to
read if you want to understand how ADO.NET works, and learn best
practices of how to use it.

This book has many examples, but is not over laden with them. They
are shared in a very clear and precise manner, which is always
straight to the point. The examples will help you put into play the
best practices that are discussed in the book. One thing I would have
liked to see were more examples in VB.NET. 99% are in C#.

The book is very well written, and flowed very smoothly from one
topic to the next. Shawn has a way of explaining things very clearly,
and in such a way that anyone can understand. That being said, this
is NOT a beginner's book. I would say that this is a "Must
Read" book for anyone who knows ADO and wants to get into the
world
of ADO.NET, or for intermediate and higher level .Net developers who
want to know more about ADO.NET. Without a doubt, even seasoned
developers would benefit from this book. The best practices that
Shawn shares are priceless, and come from his real world experiences.

Summary:

Chapter 1: Why ADO.NET
This chapter gives a short history of Universal Data Access, and then
gives a primer on ADO.NET. It discusses why the new ADO.NET is better
than the old ADO, and also goes into things like ADO.NET data
structures and managed providers.

Chapter 2: Getting Connected with ADO.NET.
This chapter deals with connections in the ADO.NET world. SQL Server,
OLE DB, Oracle, and ODBC connections are discussed. Connection
pooling for all these connection types are discussed. Returning OLE
DB database schema information and ADO.NET exception handling are
also covered.

Chapter 3: Commanding the Database.
ADO.NET command types are discussed, as well as how to execute them.
Some other topics include, wrapping stored procedures, using
parameters, and parameterized queries. The chapter ends by covering
Transactions and Batch Queries.

Chapter 4: Reading Data.
All about the world of DataReaders. How they are made, how they work,
etc. Dealing with Database locks, multiple result sets, and working
with datareader Meta Data are some of the other topics covered.

Chapter 5: Constructing DataSets.
This is one of my favorite chapters. It helped put a lot of
my "missing puzzle pieces" in place. DataSets are thoroughly
discussed, and topics include TableMappings, multiple DataTables,
DataAdapters, creating DataSets from XML, etc. The chapter also
covers defining the DataSet schema, which includes how to work with
primary keys, relationships, constraints, triggers, and many other
things.

Chapter 6: Typed DataSets.
This chapter discusses Typed DataSets. What they are, how you make
them, and how to use them. The chapter ends with a discussion on
simplifying Business Object Layers with Typed DataSets.

Chapter 7: Working with DataSets.
Now that we know what DataSets are, this chapter begins working with
them.  Topics covered include changing, navigating, searching, and
merging Data in DataSets.

Chapter 8: Updating the Database.
Disconnected data is great, but it "comes at a cost" as Shawn
puts it. This chapter teaches the ins and outs of concurrency in the
ADO.NET world. Inserts, updates, deletes, and the different
concurrency types are covered. It is a great chapter and you will
finish with a great understanding of how to get the DataSet changes
back into the actual Database.

Chapter 9: ADO.NET and XML.
This chapter is all about the DataSet and XML. Getting the data into
XML, saving it as XML, and getting XML to fill a DataSet are a few of
the topics discussed.

Chapter 10: Data Binding with ADO.NET.
This chapter discusses the different types of ADO.NET data binding
for Windows forms and ASP.NET.

Chapter 11: Scalability and Performance.
This is another one of my most favorite chapters from the book.
Shawn's real world experience shines light on to the world of
performance and scalability. When to worry, why to worry, and how to
avoid problems are all discussed. The last section of the chapter is
all about best practices, and is a great read.

Appendix: ADO Migration Strategies
Broad overview of migrating to ADO.NET from ADO. How to migrate ADO
recordsets, connections, and a few other related topics are covered.

In conclusion, I give this book a 10 out of 10. It is an excellent
book, and one that is worth your while to read. I highly recommend
it. I wouldn't really change much about it, except I would tell
Shawn not to use Atlanta Braves players in his examples... He should
use a better team, like the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Chris Taylor
webmaster@...

Read more of my reviews at:
http://www.aspmatrix.com/books/

----- Original Message -----

From: Strauss Jon AIBS

To: 'MustHaveBooksForAspNetProgrammers@yahoogroups.com'

Sent: Monday, March 03, 2003 8:53 AM

Subject: RE: [MustHaveBooksForAspNetProgrammers] Awesome Book that is bett er than every WROX and MS Press book on subject

Dave,

 

Have you read this book?  Looks like a good one.

 

Jon

-----Original Message-----
From: dave wanta [mailto:support@...]
Sent: Monday, March 03, 2003 8:20 AM
To: MustHaveBooksForAspNetProgrammers@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [MustHaveBooksForAspNetProgrammers] Awesome Book that is better than every WROX and MS Press book on subject

C# Network Programming

http://www.sybex.com/sybexbooks.nsf/Booklist/4176

 

----- Original Message -----

From: Charles M. Carroll

To: MustHaveBooksForAspNetProgrammers@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Monday, March 03, 2003 3:57 AM

Subject: [MustHaveBooksForAspNetProgrammers] Awesome Book that is better than every WROX and MS Press book on subject

Developing .NET Custom Controls and Designers using VB.NET
http://www.bluevisionsoftware.com/WebSite/BookInfo.aspx?ID=10

Sample chapters:
http://www.bluevisionsoftware.com/WebSite/Books/CustomControlsAndDesignersVB/Chapter6.pdf
http://www.bluevisionsoftware.com/WebSite/Books/CustomControlsAndDesignersVB/Chapter16.pdf

Developing .NET Custom Controls and Designers using C#
http://www.bluevisionsoftware.com/WebSite/BookInfo.aspx?ID=7

Sample Chapters:
http://www.bluevisionsoftware.com/WebSite/Books/CustomControlsAndDesigners/Samples/Chapter6.pdf
http://www.bluevisionsoftware.com/WebSite/Books/CustomControlsAndDesigners/Samples/Chapter16.pdf



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-----Original Message-----
From: dave wanta [mailto:support@...]
Sent: Monday, March 03, 2003 8:20 AM
To: MustHaveBooksForAspNetProgrammers@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [MustHaveBooksForAspNetProgrammers] Awesome Book that is better than every WROX and MS Press book on subject

C# Network Programming

http://www.sybex.com/sybexbooks.nsf/Booklist/4176

 

----- Original Message -----

From: Charles M. Carroll

To: MustHaveBooksForAspNetProgrammers@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Monday, March 03, 2003 3:57 AM

Subject: [MustHaveBooksForAspNetProgrammers] Awesome Book that is better than every WROX and MS Press book on subject

Developing .NET Custom Controls and Designers using VB.NET
http://www.bluevisionsoftware.com/WebSite/BookInfo.aspx?ID=10

Sample chapters:
http://www.bluevisionsoftware.com/WebSite/Books/CustomControlsAndDesignersVB/Chapter6.pdf
http://www.bluevisionsoftware.com/WebSite/Books/CustomControlsAndDesignersVB/Chapter16.pdf

Developing .NET Custom Controls and Designers using C#
http://www.bluevisionsoftware.com/WebSite/BookInfo.aspx?ID=7

Sample Chapters:
http://www.bluevisionsoftware.com/WebSite/Books/CustomControlsAndDesigners/Samples/Chapter6.pdf
http://www.bluevisionsoftware.com/WebSite/Books/CustomControlsAndDesigners/Samples/Chapter16.pdf



To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
MustHaveBooksForAspNetProgrammers-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com



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To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
MustHaveBooksForAspNetProgrammers-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com



Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.

----- Original Message -----

From: Charles M. Carroll

To: MustHaveBooksForAspNetProgrammers@yahoogroups.com

Sent: Monday, March 03, 2003 3:57 AM

Subject: [MustHaveBooksForAspNetProgrammers] Awesome Book that is better than every WROX and MS Press book on subject

Developing .NET Custom Controls and Designers using VB.NET
http://www.bluevisionsoftware.com/WebSite/BookInfo.aspx?ID=10

Sample chapters:
http://www.bluevisionsoftware.com/WebSite/Books/CustomControlsAndDesignersVB/Chapter6.pdf
http://www.bluevisionsoftware.com/WebSite/Books/CustomControlsAndDesignersVB/Chapter16.pdf

Developing .NET Custom Controls and Designers using C#
http://www.bluevisionsoftware.com/WebSite/BookInfo.aspx?ID=7

Sample Chapters:
http://www.bluevisionsoftware.com/WebSite/Books/CustomControlsAndDesigners/Samples/Chapter6.pdf
http://www.bluevisionsoftware.com/WebSite/Books/CustomControlsAndDesigners/Samples/Chapter16.pdf



To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
MustHaveBooksForAspNetProgrammers-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com



Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to the Yahoo! Terms of Service.

"UML is visual enough for many nontechnical members to understand yet formal
enough to have significant semantic value." - Jim Conallen



Author Jim Conallen does a good, informative job of describing the procedure
for dynamic Web applications in general, and contrasts the unambiguous
approaches taken by Microsoft .NET and J2EE.  Specifically, he cites the
roles played by .NET components in ASP.NET WebForms vs. servlets in
JavaServer Pages, and the importance of differentiating between thin clients
and thick clients, being Web-based business applications with and without
the employ of componentized logic, respectively.



The book's approach is from that of an enterprise, team-oriented approach,
as is normally the atmosphere when UML would be needed anyway.  Thus,
project management skills are engrained.  However - and Conallen makes note
of this at the onset - a formal amount of experience with dynamic Web
programming and a fair share of experience with UML/application modeling is
assumed.  So, if you're looking to get a primer on UML, you may be
disappointed.  The UML diagrams and use case scenarios carry little
explanation for their graphical meaning, so you're on your own if you don't
know what a stereotype is, or a solid triangle, or a dotted line into a
class.



That having been said, the book was very informative and nicely written.
The book remains as generic as possible throughout, but takes a Java lean in
sections where a practical example is necessary to reinforce a stated
concept.  This won't be too difficult to grasp at a high level for
Microsoft-centric developers, as examples are abstracted into high-level
architectural points-of-view.  (Hey, I was able to figure it out, so any
idiot could.)



I was intrigued by the title, as I've been waiting for a book on UML design
specific to Web apps to come out.  Chapters 11 & 12 in the book are
fantastic, as they describes the WAE (Web Application Extension for UML) and
modeling with it.  One quote really stands out about WAE's growth to
programmers, "As they come out of the box, the building blocks of UML are
not sufficient to express the necessary subtleties of scripted Web pages as
objects in a class diagram.  Yet because they perform important business
operations and act as real objects of the system, they need to coexist with
the classes and the objects of the system."



I'm hopeful for the next version of the book, to see how .NET principles are
included.

Beginning Java Objects – From Concepts to Code

by Jacquie Barker (Wrox Press)

http://www.wrox.com/books/1861004176.htm 

In reading Barker’s title, one gets an extraordinarily good education into the major considerations for object-oriented design.  Although the book’s title would imply that Java developers would benefit most, this is a great introductory manual to OOP and Java 2, and perfectly suited for other platforms, as well.

It’s actually a very helpful, very educational, very entertaining look at object-oriented software design, at modeling, and at proper management of the process in which they are used to create great software applications.

Barker does a fantastic job of describing the process and life-cycle involved with designing and coding a system, and centers the concepts presented around an iterative practical application, a student registration system for college.  She also bases her method of teaching concepts-first-and-then-code around pseudocode, so the reader isn’t inundated by too much syntax while trying to grasp fundamental subjects.  Barker also steps the reader through the procedural methods of designing an application, such as creating a vision document and glossary of system-specific terms. 

In doing so, Barker also uses one of the friendliest voices in her writing that’s truly a rarity in technical books these days. 

Being an ASP.NET developer working almost exclusively in C#, I got a lot out of it.  The Java syntax might be a stretch for VB devs; the book also makes for great recommended reading for those just starting to get into OOP or Java.  I’d also recommend this book for Microsoft developers migrating up from Windows DNA and ASP 3.0 technologies, as it really does a good job of walking you through OOP/OOD, which in my opinion has proven to be THE major hurdle for many devs in embracing .NET.

The only downside I can see about this book is that because of the title, developers non-Java other platforms and disciplines will unfairly look past it, and therefore miss out on the important lessons contained within its pages.  The book’s key strength lies in the chapters on designing use case scenarios and UML diagrams, which I really enjoyed. 

It’s these unexpected advantages that have put this book in a prominent place in my home library that keep it easily within reach.

---------------------------------------------------
Jason Salas, MBA, MCP
Web Development Manager
Pacific Telestations, Inc. (dba, "KUAM")
URL: http://www.kuam.com
President, .NET User Group of Guam
URL: http://www.guam-asp.net
Mailto: jason@...
Voice: 671-888-2482

Design Patterns Explained: A New Perspective on Object-Oriented Design
by Alan Shalloway, James R. Trott
Addison-Wesley Pub Co

Design Patterns Explained is a book that was recommended to me by a
friend. He told me he really liked it so I decided to give it a try.
I had always been hesitant to really investigate Design Patterns
after hearing some of the stories people had told me about different
books they had read. It didn't sound like much fun. Luckily, I
decided to give this book a try. It was a great experience. Read on
to find out why!

Summary:

Chapter 1: The Object-Oriented Paradigm
The first chapter introduces us to Functional Decomposition, handling
changing requirements, and the OO Paradigm.  Functional Decomposition
is the process by which many developers would break down a problem
and create a solution. The Authors state this is a fairly natural
process that many folks use. The problem is that this process does
not really look at other alternatives, which may be available. It
also makes it harder for the developer to handle changing
requirements. The Authors finish the chapter by discussing the OO
Paradigm and concepts of OO Programming. This chapter is well
written, and you come out of it ready for the rest of the book.

Chapter 2: The UML - The Unified Modeling Language
This chapter gives an overview of UML. Even though it is a quick
chapter, the authors do a fantastic job explaining UML and how to
read the diagrams.

Chapter 3: A Problem that Cries Out for Flexible Code
Chapter 4: A Standard Object-Oriented Solution
In chapter 3 the author illustrates a problem that needs to be
solved, actually using an example from his real world experiences
(CAD/CAM Application). He shows us the process by which we can get a
better understanding of the problem, and then how to describe and
define what the problems are. In chapter 4 a solution is given and
discussed. It is shown why this is a good first solution, but why it
is not a good final solution. Code examples are given in Java and
C++, but don't worry if you are not real familiar with those
languages. The theory is written in such a way that it is easy to
understand, and the UML lesson in chapter 2 will be a great help.

Chapter 5: An Introduction to Design Patterns
This chapter is, as the title would indicate, an intro to Design
Patterns. The origins of Design Patterns are discussed, and we find
out how it was taken from the Architecture world and brought into the
software realm. It is a very well written and understandable chapter
that sets the reader up for the next 5 chapters.

Chapter 6: The Facade Pattern
This chapter discusses the Facade Pattern, which is a pattern that
most have probably used but not realized it. This pattern is used
when you have a very complex system and only need to use a subset or
part of it. This is a small, but well written chapter

Chapter 7: The Adapter Pattern
The Adapter pattern is creating a new interface for an object whose
interface just isn't doing the job. A great example is shown, and you
leave the chapter understanding what the Adapter Pattern is and what
it should be used for.

Chapter 8: Expanding Our Horizons
In this chapter the authors talk about Object, Encapsulation, and
Inheritance but not just in the ways you might think. They introduce
different ways of thinking about them than the usual, and expand our
understanding of what is possible.

Chapter 9: The Bridge Pattern
This chapter discusses the Bridge Pattern in great detail. The
authors state that this is a very difficult pattern to understand
because it is extremely powerful. The two main ideas are "find what
varies and encapsulate it" and "favor composition over inheritance".
This chapter will teach you what this actually means and how to use
it.

Chapter 10: The Abstract Factory Pattern
This chapter starts out with an example that will that will lead to
knowing what the Abstract Factory Pattern is, and then shows you how
to implement it. The authors do a great job illustrating their ideas.

Chapter 11: How Do Experts Design?
In this chapter the discussion returns to the roots of Design
Patterns, and discusses Christopher Alexander's approach to
Architecture design. From this the authors can extend Alexander's
theories and practices into the software world.

Chapter 12: Solving the CAD/CAM Problem with Patterns
This chapter returns to the original CAD/CAM example. Armed with the
knowledge of patterns we have learned, the discussion goes in depth
to show how we can use patterns to solve the same problem more
efficiently and with room to grow in the future.

Chapter 13: The Principles and Strategies of Design Patterns
This is a very brief chapter that covers designing from context, and
encapsulating variations in classes. I am not sure why this chapter
needed to be here, and not added in to a different one. But, it is
well written and gives good insights into these two design strategies.

Chapter 14: The Strategy Pattern
Chapter 15: The Decorator Pattern
Chapter 16: The Singleton Pattern and the Double-Checked Locking
Pattern
Chapter 17: The Observer Pattern
Chapter 18: The Template Method Pattern
Chapter 19: The Factory Method Pattern
In chapters 14-19 a new case study is introduced. It involves e-
tailing which is defined as electronic retailing over the Internet. I
am not going into specifics on each chapter because they would
basically each describe the new pattern, and how it can be applied in
the case study. Each chapter builds on the ideas of the one before
it, and gives great insight into the when and why of using each of
the patterns discussed. These chapters flow very well into one
another. The authors provide us with not only clearly written ideas,
but also excellent illustrations and charts that drive their ideas
home.

Chapter 20: The Analysis Matrix
This chapter concludes the e-tailing case study in chapters 14-19 by
discussing variations that occur in the problem domain. The authors
state, "In the real world, problems are not tidy or well behaved". My
personal experiences have taught me to believe the same thing. The
numbers of exceptions and / or variations that pop up seem to be
infinite. Through use of the Analysis Matrix, we can reveal patterns
that manifest in the problem, and can deal with them accordingly. The
authors use excellent examples of how to use the Analysis Matrix, and
use real world examples to reinforce the use of such a tool.

Chapter 21: Design Patterns Reviewed From Our New Perspective of
Object-Oriented Design
This short summation chapter takes us on a brief high-level review of
key points.

Chapter 22: Bibliography
The authors give a listing of books they feel would be good further
reading so you can continue your journey.

To conclude this review I would like to say a few things. One is that
I was very impressed by the way that this book was written. It takes
some pretty hard concepts and breaks them down into understandable
comparisons to real-world examples. Not only that, but the ideas are
very well organized, and written in such a way that just about anyone
could understand them. The entire book is this way, and the authors
are adept at it. That is not as easy as it may sound. Many have
tried, but few have succeeded. The authors excel in this, and as a
result create a finished product that is one of the most well written
technical books I have ever reviewed.

Another thing I liked about the book was that the chapter end
summaries were very short, and outlined each chapter's key points
perfectly. Also, the margins of the book have the key points next to
the main paragraphs for each. This is a great idea because it makes
looking back through the book for specific points much easier. Since
the key ideas are in the margin surrounded by white space, they stick
out and are easily noticeable while flipping through pages. I wish
more of my favorite books had this little nifty feature.

If I could change one thing about the book it would be to write it
with VB examples in addition to the Java and C++ ones it has. Maybe
by the next edition there will be some VB.net examples since VB.net
is now truly Object-Oriented. I would really like that. Don't be
scared of the book just because it has only Java and C++ examples
though. They explanations of theory are so well written that the
example language would not be a barrier.

I give this book a 10 out of 10. It is an excellent book, and one
that is worth your while to read.

Chris Taylor
webmaster@...

Read more of my reviews at:
http://www.aspmatrix.com/books/

Thanks for making the reply. This surely cleared my mist.

I will surely buy one when it reach my city.
Thanks again :)

Juliet Choy



--- In MustHaveBooksForAspNetProgrammers@yahoogroups.com, "Scott
Mitchell" <mitchell@4...> wrote:
> | However, I just read the table of content of his new
book "ASP.NET
> | Data Web Controls Kick Start" through the link you have given, I
> | realize this book may be just a copy of his multi-part
article "An
> | Extensive Examination of the DataGrid Web Control" hosted on
> | 4guysfromrolla. If this is the case, this book will not be worth
> | buying since all the materials are freely available in his web-
site.
>
> Perhaps I can answer this question!  :-)
>
> The book is not a copy of the article series, but does discuss a
number
> of the topics discussed in the article series in much greater
detail.
>
> For example, the online article series has ~two-three pages on how
to
> create an editable DataGrid.  The book, however, has a 40 page
chapter
> that delves into many more details and issues.  The editing
DataGrid
> chapter discusses using data-bound DropDownLists and Calendar
controls,
> using validation controls, creating read-only columns, handling
editing
> of columns that allow NULL values, and so on.
>
> Another example: The online article series discusses simple
DataGrid
> paging, but the book discusses improving performance of paging with
> custom paging, various techniques for custom paging, improving
> performance using caching, create bidirectional sortable columns,
and
> more.
>
> In addition to delving into much greater detail for the stuff that
is
> covered in the article series, there are also parts of the book
that
> have no "light" correspondence with any of the online article I've
> written.  For example, Chapter 2 takes a deep look at what happens
when
> you do:
>
>  dataGrid1.DataSource = ...
>  dataGrid1.DataBind()
>
> I had a colleague of mine whose been working with the DataGrid
> extensively in a large Web project for the past four months read
this
> chapter, and he admitted to learning something new and getting a
better
> understanding of the data binding process.
>
> Now, I know my comments may be a bit skewed, seeing as I am here
pimping
> my own book, but if you want a more objective review, I suggest you
> contact Alex Lowe - alowe@a...  He was the technical editor
> for the book, so he's read every chapter in detail.
>
> I hope you decide to pick up a copy of the book!  I think you'll
find it
> quite educational and useful.
>
> Take care.
>
> <shameless plug>
>   For more information on the DataGrid, DataList, and Repeater
controls,
> consider picking up a copy of my latest book:
>
>  ASP.NET Data Web Controls
>
	 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0672325012/4guysfromr
ollaco
> </shameless plug>
>
> Happy Programming!
>
>     Scott Mitchell
>     mitchell@4...
>     http://www.4GuysFromRolla.com
>     http://www.ASPFAQs.com
>     http://www.ASPMessageboard.com
>
> * When you think ASP, think 4GuysFromRolla.com!

Hi all,
Here's my latest review. In short, great as a compendium reference but
balanced out by a few omissions and a misleading title. Still good
value for money though.

You can find a copy of this review at
http://www.hmobius.com/articles/review_xmlws_unleashed.aspx

Xml And Web Services Unleashed
Schmelzer, Vandersypen, Bloomberg, Siddalingaiah, Hunting, Qualls,
Houlding, Darby, & Kennedy
SAMS - ISBN 0-672-32341-9

In the world of computer publishing, two brands stand out when you're
talking compendiums. Wrox's big red Professional series and SAMS
Unleashed in their now familiar orange. Usually hit and miss affairs,
90% of the people who buy this type of book need to dip in and out of
it for bits of information. However it's often the case that the
quality of the text across its entire length varies quite a bit.
Happily, XML and Web Services Unleashed doesn't suffer from this,
with its nine author crew well edited to form a unison chorus rather
than a disjointed set of voices as can sometimes be the case.

Its four sections cover most of the current undertakings in XML as
well as laying a solid reference for newcomers and those who need a
quick refresher. Part 1 sets the scene, covering XML and its
immediate counterparts, DTDs and Schemas. We also find its search and
link associates XPath, XLink and XPointer covered precisely and well
in the following chapter. The approach is pretty standard but written
well and information is easy to locate.

The main part of the book is devoted to building XML-Based
Applications in Java should the need for non-XML code arise.
Logically, this section starts by dealing with XML documents on their
own and then how to marry XML into your own applications. The SAX and
DOM APIs are covered, but for .NET users, the XML Streaming API is
missing. XSL coverage is good but short, covering both XSLT and XSL-
FO in 60 pages. Examples of their use continue to appear for several
more chapters, but would it have been too much to turn this one
chapter into two? Arguably the most important chapter in the section
-
  Integrating XML with Databases - takes a very practical view but
again is Java only. .NET users need to wait another seven chapters
before a section on ADO.NET can be found hidden in the chapter on XML
in Visual Studio .NET

Skipping past chapters on SVG, XHTML and Content Management, we come
to the highlight of the book - three chapters on web services.
However, rather than teach us how to build them, the authors have
elected to show us how they work, justifying first the architecture
of the web services platform and then how SOAP, WSDL and UDDI tie
into that structure. It's a great read and brimming with useful
information, but best of all is that it gets you, as a programmer,
thinking outside of the box.

Indeed, Section 3 is all about giving you a better appreciation of
how XML works and can be applied in today's industries. It covers
some of the standards used in the vertical markets of today and how
those standards are submitted and ratified, looking in detail at XML
in E-Business. Reading this section sequentially, you really do get
an appreciation of the scope and size of the efforts being made by
XML developers across the world. Finally, Section 4 looks at the
nascent efforts of the semantic web community, the justification for
their existence and what they have managed so far.

I said earlier that the editing of this book was good, but if there
is a flaw, it's the choice of what to cover in the book. This
particular tome tries to cover the past and the future of XML in
addition to its present without fully covering any of the three. It
also leans towards Java users - .NET and COM heads beware. Beyond
the
programming chapters though, this is as thorough an expose of XML in
its many guises as you're likely to find and it's a good one
too. But
don't forget to check the table of contents before you buy it.
This
is XML Unleashed, not XML and Web Services Unleashed. A classic case
of marketing misinformation, if ever there was one.

-----------
Dan Maharry : danm@...
-----------
"Cat -- Kill the assistant's boyfriend"  - Spider Jerusalem
-----------

| However, I just read the table of content of his new book "ASP.NET
| Data Web Controls Kick Start" through the link you have given, I
| realize this book may be just a copy of his multi-part article "An
| Extensive Examination of the DataGrid Web Control" hosted on
| 4guysfromrolla. If this is the case, this book will not be worth
| buying since all the materials are freely available in his web-site.

Perhaps I can answer this question!  :-)

The book is not a copy of the article series, but does discuss a number
of the topics discussed in the article series in much greater detail.

For example, the online article series has ~two-three pages on how to
create an editable DataGrid.  The book, however, has a 40 page chapter
that delves into many more details and issues.  The editing DataGrid
chapter discusses using data-bound DropDownLists and Calendar controls,
using validation controls, creating read-only columns, handling editing
of columns that allow NULL values, and so on.

Another example: The online article series discusses simple DataGrid
paging, but the book discusses improving performance of paging with
custom paging, various techniques for custom paging, improving
performance using caching, create bidirectional sortable columns, and
more.

In addition to delving into much greater detail for the stuff that is
covered in the article series, there are also parts of the book that
have no "light" correspondence with any of the online article I've
written.  For example, Chapter 2 takes a deep look at what happens when
you do:

	 dataGrid1.DataSource = ...
	 dataGrid1.DataBind()

I had a colleague of mine whose been working with the DataGrid
extensively in a large Web project for the past four months read this
chapter, and he admitted to learning something new and getting a better
understanding of the data binding process.

Now, I know my comments may be a bit skewed, seeing as I am here pimping
my own book, but if you want a more objective review, I suggest you
contact Alex Lowe - alowe@....  He was the technical editor
for the book, so he's read every chapter in detail.

I hope you decide to pick up a copy of the book!  I think you'll find it
quite educational and useful.

Take care.

<shameless plug>
   For more information on the DataGrid, DataList, and Repeater controls,
consider picking up a copy of my latest book:

	 ASP.NET Data Web Controls
	 http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0672325012/4guysfromrollaco
</shameless plug>

Happy Programming!

     Scott Mitchell
     mitchell@...
     http://www.4GuysFromRolla.com
     http://www.ASPFAQs.com
     http://www.ASPMessageboard.com

* When you think ASP, think 4GuysFromRolla.com!

Scott Mitchell is a wonderful author, and he had created a lot of
useful tips on his well known ASP web site.

However, I just read the table of content of his new book "ASP.NET
Data Web Controls Kick Start" through the link you have given, I
realize this book may be just a copy of his multi-part article "An
Extensive Examination of the DataGrid Web Control" hosted on
4guysfromrolla. If this is the case, this book will not be worth
buying since all the materials are freely available in his web-site.

Would anyone who have the detail about this book like to make clear
about this point?

Thanks,
Juliet Choy

An Introduction to Object-Oriented Programming with Visual Basic .Net
by Dan Clark
Publisher: Apress

To me "introduction" books are always an interesting venture.  Some
are great experiences, and others are nightmares. Overall this book
was a pretty good experience, although there was a major bump in the
road (and a couple of minor ones). In the chapter summary below I will
go into a little more detail on the positive and negative points.

Chapter Summary:

Chapter 1: Overview of Object Oriented Programming
This chapter starts with a very brief overview of the history of OOP.
Brief is good. It also has brief definitions of OOP characteristics;
Objects, Abstraction, Encapsulation, Polymorphism, Inheritance, and
Aggregation. It ends with a blurb about the history of VB.

Chapter 2: Designing OOP Solutions: Identifying the Class Structure &
Chapter 3: Designing OOP Solutions: Modeling the Object Interaction
These chapters go into UML and things like Use Cases, Class Diagrams,
Sequence Diagrams, Collaboration Diagrams, and Activity diagrams. This
seemed exciting to me because I never really get into anything like
this on the job, and I wanted to know a little more about it. Well,
while interesting this ended up being a bump in the road for me.

The Author says to either do the exercises with a UML Modeler you can
download from the net, or creating the diagram by hand. Well, I wanted
to try the tool he used in the examples so I downloaded it. At this
point just let me say that you should be prepared to spend a lot of
time figuring out the tool if you decide to try it. It is not easy.
The directions for doing the exercises don't quite flow with actually
using the tool either. The author does state that it is pretty tricky
to use, but I really feel that the directions for these exercises
should have been better. I managed to get through some of the examples
in chapters 2 and 3 after a couple of hours, but I finally gave up and
went to pencil and paper in interests of not losing my entire weekend.
I would recommend that readers should use the pencil and paper
approach to save a lot of time.

Chapter 4: Designing OOP Solutions: A Case Study
This chapter talks about the process by which one would design an OOP
solution with a case study. The Author goes into good detail about the
actual steps needed, and does a good job explaining the methodology by
which this is accomplished. He also gives some good advice on how to
avoid some of the more common pitfalls of designing an OOP solution.

Chapter 5: Introducing VB .NET
This chapter gives an overview of VB.Net as well as the .Net
Framework. After the overview it gives you a hands on tour of the
Visual Studio .Net IDE. Of course, you will need to have the IDE to do
the tour. This tour shows you many of the screens, option settings,
and menus of Visual Studio .Net. The second exercise shows you the
debugging features of VS .Net. At his point you will need files that
you can download from the following location on the Apress web site:
http://www.apress.com/book/supplementDownload.html?bID=90&sID=538
I may have missed it, but I never saw any mention that downloading
files was needed for the exercises. It certainly was not at the
beginning of this exercise, and I think their should be some kind of
direction about it present. Anyway, once you have the downloaded files
the tutorial goes perfect.

Chapter 6: Creating Classes
This chapter is all about classes. How to restrict them, access to
them, creating methods, overloading methods, using constructors to
name some topics. This chapter too has exercises you complete with VS
.Net. They all seemed to work fine for me, and were very easy to
follow.

Chapter 7: Creating Class Hierarchies &
Chapter 8: Implementing Object Collaboration
These chapters discuss things like inheritance, polymorphism,
interfaces, delegation, error handling, shared properties and methods
to new a few. These two chapters also have multiple hands-on
activities so you can continue to learn how to operate VS .Net as well
as learn more concepts of OOP. These activities are well documented,
and I had no problems completing them all without incident.

Chapter 9: OSO Application Revisited: Implementing the Business Logic
This chapter helps bring together all the ideas you were introduced to
in chapter 4. From there it goes into data access by talking about
stored procedures, ADO.net, sqlclient namespace, and many other
details. In order to do the examples you will have to have SQL Server.
All the examples work, and are pretty interesting. Again, this is all
done using the VS.net IDE so you continue to become more familiar with
it.

Chapter 10: Developing Windows Applications
This is a fun chapter that talks about windows forms, event handlers,
dialog boxes and different types of bound controls. This chapter is
full of hands on activities that are well done. They all worked fine
for me, and really helped me become familiar more familiar with the
IDE.

Chapter 11: Developing Web Applications
This long chapter deals with web forms, server controls, server
control inheritance, server-side event processing, ASP.net, state, and
many other things. It is all about designing an application for the
web. The activities are easy to follow, and work.

Chapter 12: Wrapping Up and Reviewing
A quick summation of what the book covers and some tips on where to
focus next.

Appendix A: Fundamental Programming Concepts
This appendix is basically a primer for beginning programmers. It
defines terms and concepts. There are some good definitions and
explanations. It would be a good knowledge builder for a beginner.

Appendix B: Exception Handling in VB .NET
A quick 4-page explanation of how exceptions are handled in VB.Net

After finishing this book I had a hard time deciding what grade to
give it. I ended up giving it a 7 out of 10. The many problems I had
with the UML activities using the UML modeler were just too painful
and frustrating to give it higher than a 7.

I will admit that the rest of the book was great and would be very
useful to a beginner trying to become more familiar with VB.Net and
VS.net. The VS.net activities were flawless, and gave good hands-on
experience that beginners would love. The UML material was actually
good as well, but the problems with the modeling tool activities
really influenced my final judging of the book.

In summation, this book is without doubt a beginner's book. Do not buy
this if you already basically familiar with VS .net or UML. If you do
it will be very disappointing for you. If you are a beginner and do
the UML activities with pen and paper I believe it will be a great
learning experience.

Chris Taylor
webmaster@...

Read more of my reviews at:
http://www.aspmatrix.com/books/

Hi All,

I am currently reading the ASP.Net Server Controls and Components
book by Nikhil Kothari and Vandana Datye. It is a pretty good book
and I will publish a review when I am done.

All the examples are in C# though, and I am mostly a VB.net person.
So, I was wondering if anyone knows of a good Server Control and
Component book like this one, but with examples in VB.

Suggestions?

Chris

but books I really loved lately are:

ASP.NET Website Programming: Problem - Design - Solution
(VB.NET Edition)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=1861008163/learnasp

Professional ASP.net Performance
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=1861007558/learnasp
   The chapters by James Avery really rocked. Don't confuse it with
ASP.net Scalability an awful book by Wrox.

CSS Book (recommended by Woody Lons)
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0201596253/learnasp

SVG essentials
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0596002238/learnasp

UPCOMING BOOKS
For those who don't know Scott Mitchell is working on a DataControls
book that will be out in a few days/weeks I pre-ordered and have
high hope for as most of his books are thoughtful a well written.

ASP.NET Data Web Controls Kick Start
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ISBN=0672325012/learnasp

VB.Net Language In A Nutshell (2nd Edition)
by Steven Roman, Ron Petrusha and Paul Lomax
O'Reilly & Associates

My experiences with 'Nutshell' books have been both bad and
good. I wasn't sure which I would get with VB.Net Language
in a Nutshell. After reviewing this book I am happy to say
this is a good one. Not only good, superb.

I have used this book about 20 times in the last 2 weeks
when I needed to look something up quickly. The funny thing
was that the pile of books I usually keep close by on my
computer table seemed to diminish the more I used it.

I have really only used the VB and VBScript languages (no C
or C++, and just a tiny bit of Java), so going with VB.Net was
definitely the path of least resistance when starting to work
with ASP.Net. This book will be a great asset to someone who
wants to stay in the VB world. Throughout the book you will
find VB.Net / VB 6 differences pointed out. These tips will
really help during the transition to VB.Net.

Chapter by Chapter Summary:

Chapter 1: Introduction
This very short chapter gives a little background on VB and
VB.Net. It is very brief, and I do not know if it is really
needed. Most VB people will know the history of VB, and anyone
getting this book will probably have heard all the info on
VB.Net that is given. That being said it may just be in for
the non-VB people getting the book.

Chapter 2: Program Structure
This chapter goes in to the details and nuts-n-bolts of what
the structure of a VB program is. It also gives quick
overviews of functions, sub procedures, property procedures,
events, console apps and window forms apps.

Chapter 3: Variables and Data Types
This is a good chapter. It talks about everything from
variable properties and scope to arrays and passing objects.
VB data types, binding, and arguments are among the other
things covered. All topics have very concise definitions and
meaningful examples. No extraneous fluff.

Chapter 4: Introduction to Object-Oriented Programming
The chapter title pretty well says what this chapter is about.
Encapsulation, Inheritance, Interfaces, Polymorphism, etc. are
all discussed with a VB.Net twist. In reality this chapter and
chapter 1 could have been integrated together, but I won't bust
them too bad on this since I really liked their information on
Garbage Collection.

Chapter 5: The .Net Framework: General Concepts
This is a short 6-page chapter on general .Net Framework
information. Briefly touches on Namespaces, Assemblies, and the
CLR.

Chapter 6: The .Net Framework Class Library
This is another very brief chapter that highlights just a few
of the more than 90 Namespaces in the .Net Framework Class
Library.

Chapter 7: Delegates and Events
This chapter is an 8-page brief on delegates, events, and event
binding. Not much more to really say.

Chapter 8: Attributes
This 10-page chapter goes into Attributes. Their use and syntax,
as well as instruction on using custom attributes is covered.

Chapter 9: Error Handling in VB.Net
This chapter does a great job of explaining Error Handling in
VB.Net. The difference between error detection and error handling
is defined. Structured (Try, Catch, Finally) and unstructured
error handling are discussed. Exception classes, logical errors,
and error constants are also briefly talked about. This is a great
overview chapter.

Chapter 10: The Language Reference
This is THE chapter. This almost 450-page chapter alone is worth
the $45 price tag. It is a listing of the VB.Net language elements.
There are many things I really like about the way that they cover
the language elements. Besides return values and descriptions of
the elements, they also have included 'Rules at a glance', which
quickly informs you of all the important information as to the
usage of the element. Another thing I like is the 'Programming tips
and gotchas' section that some of the elements have. All are full
of useful information that will save you time. The thing I probably
like the most is the 'VB.NET / VB 6 Differences' blurbs they give
when there is a difference in the language element from VB 6 to
VB.Net. Those blurbs are invaluable to someone transitioning from
the VB 6 world. Excellent, excellent, excellent chapter. Well done.


Appendix A: What is new and different in VB.Net
This appendix specifically covers the changes from VB 6 to VB.Net.
This is an excellent supplement to the 'VB.NET / VB 6 Differences'
blurbs in chapter 10. I also like that they give a listing of the
obsolete programming elements that have been removed from VB.Net.

Appendix B: Language Elements by Category
This is an excellent supplement for chapter 10. It helps you find
which language elements you need to use when approaching a
specific kind of situation. It is a very nice and useful appendix.

Appendix C: Operators
This appendix covers the 4 kinds of Operators in VB.Net. They are
Arithmetic, Assignment, Comparison, and Logical. Order of precedence
is also covered. Excellent reference material.

Appendix D: Constants and Enumerations
This is a reference for all the built-in Constants and Enumerators
for VB.Net. Again, great reference material.

Appendix E: The VB.Net Command-Line Compiler
A reference for the VB.Net command-line compiler. The switches are
well explained.

Appendix F: VB 6 Language Elements Not Supported by VB.NET
This gives an alphabetical listing of the language elements in VB 6
that are not present in VB.Net. Once again, this reference will be
very helpful for those transitioning to VB.Net from VB 6.

Well folks, without a doubt this book is a 10 out of 10. Get it. It
is well worth the price. Well done!

Chris Taylor
webmaster@...

Read more of my reviews at:
http://www.aspmatrix.com/books/

Real World XML Web Services
For VB and VB .NET Developers

By Yasser Shohoud

Addison-Wesley Pub co.
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0201774259

The term 'web services' has been bandied around so long without
anything the general public has seen to show for it, they probably
shouldn't be blamed for wondering if it's anything more than
vapourware. As developers of course, just the increase in system
interoperability is enough to warrant continuing research time into
the topic, and with Microsoft, IBM, Sun and a host of others backing
web services, it's not going to go away.

As a DevelopMentor branded book, Yasser's tome seemed as good a place
as any to start learning about web services and I'm happy to say that
it doesn't disappoint. Even though I'm a C# fan and his examples are
exclusively in VB .NET or VB6, the text is easy to follow and packed
with useful information and tips obviously gained from lengthy
immersion in the subject.

Chapter 1 is a quick introduction to the web service base platform,
the standards it comprises, how they've been derived and how to write
your first web service. It concludes with a short piece on when and
when not to use web services. Essentially just an introduction to
topics that are covered in the rest of the book, it's a quick 101 on
the subject.

Chapters 2 to 4 look in greater depth at three of the standards that
make up the base platform - XSD, SOAP and WSDL. At 160 pages for the
three topics, they are unsurprisingly covered in great detail and in
a clear manner that leaves you with only thoughts of what to write
first instead of the questions the chapters haven't answered.
Sometimes the answers are in between the lines for you to figure out
yourself but they are there.

With the base technologies out of the way, Chapters 5 and 6
demonstrate Microsoft's two 'web service toolkits', the SOAP Toolkit
for COM developer and the .asmx functionaltity that's part of
ASP.NET. The COM chapter is particularly good, working through both
high and low-level APIs in some detail but without forgetting that
it's introducing readers to something new and assuming prior
knowledge.

Chapters 7 to 9 build on the platform built in chapter 6, teaching us
how .NET allows us to work with SOAP Headers and Faults, and how to
move data around with web services using ADO .NET. These two subjects
are separated by a look at how we can use a WSDL document and the
wsdl tool in .NET as a start point to create both an abstract service
implementation and service proxies for our clients.

Again these are good chapters, especially the one on ADO.NET, but the
other two seemed a little isolated. SOAP Headers are vital to the
growth of web services and SOAP Faults are necessary for exception
handling, but the discussion seemed to exist in its own small chapter
simply because it didn't fit anywhere else. Why not expand the
discussion to include or at least give a hint as to the headers that
will be standardized soon. Likewise, in a chapter which talks about
interface generation from a WSDL document, why not also mention the
automatic generation of classes from the schema inside the WSDL file?
A missed opportunity, but not one that really detracted from the
chapter as a whole.

Finally in Chapter 10, we learn how to extend the .NET web service
platform using SOAP Extensions. This is the most challenging chapter
of the book, but again it's explained well and Yasser provides some
really good examples here to illustrate every point he makes. Like
Chapter 9 though, I think he misses the opportunity to mention
HttpModules, a less specialized but no less useful alternative in
this area.

UDDI is the topic for Chapter 11. Like chapters 2 to 4, this chapter
looks at the surface of UDDI (what it is, typical usage scenarios,
how to publish service info to a UDDI server), but quickly heads
underneath to work through its main data structures and demonstrate
how to use the UDDI API. This chapter was the biggest eye-opener for
me, although the level of its discourse fluctuated throughout which
sometimes annoyed.

Last but one, Chapter 12 looks very practically at the key to web
service - interoperability - by taking a few of the other SOAP
Toolkits available today (COM, Java, DHTML) and trying to create
clients on the .NET services already created in the book. There's a
neat discussion for each kit, noting any difficulties that might be
encountered when working cross-kits, although quite naturally there's
only a taster here on this subject rather than a full exposé which
would take another book.

Finally, Chapter 13 is a case study demonstrating the web service
specific tools in Visual Studio .NET and the application of some of
the concepts made plain in the rest of the book. The service is .NET
and submitted to UDDI while the client is built in VB6. This was a
nice wrap up to the book and a good way to finish up the other pieces
of the puzzles (tools, procedures, code, etc) that hadn't been
explained so far.

Overall, this is a very good book for .NET developers, for COM
developers less so. The material is strong throughout and with only a
few editorial quibbles and the overlarge body text font that irk,
it's well worth the $44.99 and a recommended buy for web service
developers, new and experienced. Even C# developers will get a lot
out of it and the examples are reasonably simple to translate.

Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code
by Martin Fowler with contributions by Kent Beck, John Brant, William
Opdyke, and Don Roberts
Addison-Wesley Pub Co

A little while back I was introduced to a word I had never heard
before, Refactoring. I was told to get Martin Fowler's book and
read it so I could gain a better understanding of what Refactoring
was. Well folks, I would classify this book as a `Hidden
Treasure'.

Although it is not a flashy or well known title, I believe its impact
can be much deeper and long lasting than many of the mainstream, more
popular technology books. The underlying theories that it teaches can
be applied for years, even when technology changes.

There are only a couple of things I would change about this book,
which I will mention below.

Preface
The Preface it brief enough, and gives the definition for the word
Refactoring. This is a good thing because right form the start you
get the true definition of Refactoring. In short, refactoring is the
process of changing code to improve the internal structure, but not
changing the external behavior.

Chapter 1: Refactoring, a First Example
In this chapter Mr. Fowler tries to start by showing a simple
Refactoring example. The problem is that the chapter then goes on for
50+ pages. Mr. Fowler explains his reasons for doing this, but I
think that a simple example should have been much simpler. Especially
when it is in the first chapter of the book. It's not that this
isn't a good chapter. I feel it's just too soon in the book.
I would
have put it at the end.

Chapter 2: Principles of Refactoring
This is an excellent chapter. The definition of Refactoring is
discussed as well as the following questions: Why should you
refactor? When should you refactor? What do I tell my manager? This
last question may seem funny, but when you read this chapter you will
understand why it is in there. This chapter also discusses common
problems that occur during Refactoring, and Refactoring and
performance.

Chapter 3: Bad Smells in Code
In this chapter things that cause code to `smell' are
discussed. When
code `smells' it could be an indicator that refactoring is
needed. 22
different `smells' are discussed. My favorites were
Duplicated Code,
Large Class, and Lazy Class. This is a chapter full of awesome hints.

Chapter 4: Building Tests
Building tests is an important part refactoring. Refactoring is done
in small steps, and after every step you should test. In this chapter
the discussion covers the processes and methodology of applying tests
during refactoring.

Chapter 5: Toward a Catalog of Refactorings
This chapter is a quick setup for chapters 6 to 12. Mr. Fowler
explains his method for cataloging the individual refactorings. What
is pretty amazing is that he has taken a lot of time naming and
detailing each refactoring.

Chapter 6: Composing Methods
One of my favorite chapters. Mr. Fowler opens by saying, "A large
part of my refactoring is composing methods to package code
properly." This chapter is all about that. 9 total refactorings
are  explained. My favorite ones are Inline Method and Extract Method.

Chapter 7: Moving Features Between Objects
Sometimes you need to move things from one object to another. This
chapter discusses the art of moving features between objects. 8 total
refactorings are discussed and detailed. My favorite from this
chapter is Extract Class.

Chapter 8: Organizing Data
A very large chapter that discusses in meticulous detail 16
refactorings that will make it much easier to work with data. One
thing that becomes very obvious in this chapter is that certain
refactorings can go either way. What I mean is illustrated by these
two: Change Value to Reference and Change Reference to Value. So some
refactorings are not just one way deals. It just depends on the
situation.

Chapter 9: Simplifying Conditional Expressions
This is a very useful chapter since conditional logic is a common
occurrence in the programming world. Because conditional logic has a
tendency to get very complex, this chapter has 8 refactorings that
will help you simplify things.

Chapter 10: Making Method Calls Simpler
The 15 refactorings in this chapter help teach us how to make method
calls easier to deal with. They range from the very simple Rename
Method to the more complex Replace Constructor with Factory Method.

Chapter 11: Dealing with Generalization
Here are 12 refactorings dealing with the situations that arise from
generalization. Inheritance, Delegation, and Interfaces are some of
the topics discussed.

Chapter 12: Big Refactorings
Kent Beck co-wrote this chapter with Mr. Fowler. They discuss what
they call the 4 Big Refactorings: Tease Apart Inheritance, Convert
Procedural Design to Objects, Separate Domain from Presentation, and
Extract Hierarchy. These refactorings are of a more all-encompassing
type than the smaller individual refactorings from the preceding
chapters. The co-authors do a great job at putting in a nutshell what
would normally take very long explanations.

Chapter 13: Refactoring, Reuse, and Reality
William Opdyke writes this chapter. He discusses his experiences with
refactoring as well as other subjects like why developers are
reluctant to refactor and reducing the overhead of refactoring. This
chapter is an excellent `putting it all together' chapter,
and really helps put into perspective the ideas that the book
teaches.

Chapter 14: Refactoring Tools
Don Roberts and John Brant co-author this chapter. They discuss, as
the chapter title would indicate, refactoring tools.

Chapter 15: Putting It All Together
Kent Beck gives a quick 4-page wrap up.

One other thing I would change about the book is that I would want
there to be examples in other languages besides Java. I have
practically no Java skills. For me the book would have been an easier
and faster read if it would have had examples in VB.net. Fortunately
I understand enough to get the idea of what is being taught, and that
is the most important point.

Well as I said above, this book is really what I would consider
a `hidden treasure'. The things discussed will help many
people write better, more understandable code for years to come. I
would give it a 9.5 out of 10. It is well worth the price.

Chris Taylor
chris.taylor@...
webmaster@...