We are in front of an excellent introductory book oriented, mostly, to the experienced Web, VB, Java, C++ programmer who wants to get into .NET. The book makes the conceptual transition easier, presenting good analogies and code comparisons. This is not a book for the experienced .NET developer, but it is an excellent resource if you want to become one.
The book is updated for the .NET Framework 1.1, covering: .NET Platform, CLR, .NET Programming, Components, Data and XML, Web Services, ASP.NET, Windows Forms, .NET and Mobile Devices. The best chapters are the devoted to XML (chapter 5) and Web Services (chapter 6), the continuity of the explanation, the examples selected and the organization conform an outstanding introduction to the concepts and facilities of .NET in the Open world. Equivalent code examples in VB, C++, C#, J# and even in IL (Intermediate Language) are presented side by side, seasoned with analogies with Java and other non.NET languages.
Chapter 7, ASP.NET, presents an excellent transition roadmap from ASP to ASP.NET. This chapter will be appreciated by the ASP developer that is evaluating the migration and pondering the effort and impact. The problem with this chapter is the very limited number of illustrations. Many verbose explanations about the output produced by example code would be clarified.
The authors seems to be are very experienced, present the information in a clear and concise way. Each subject is preceded by context and background information, and the footnotes and remarks are really useful. I would expect more references. No introduction is complete without a review of the books and online material available, given the reader an idea of how to proceed with the in-depth study of each subject.
The presentation of the book is excellent, the fonts were good selected, the index is very detailed. The Appendix B (Common Acronyms) is a bless in the Microsoft Acronyms jungle. The notation and conventions are easy to follow.
If you are an experienced developer, familiar with Object oriented concepts, and want to know how costly will be to migrate to .NET, this book is a good starting point.
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