Microsoft Books


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Microsoft Books sorted by Average customer review: high to low .

Microsoft
Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction
Published in Paperback by Microsoft Press (2004-07-07)
Author: Steve McConnell
List price: $49.99
New price: $29.98
Used price: $26.99

Average review score:

Complete but a little borring
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-07-14
Code complete is the right title for this book. Sadly most people find it extremely hart to read it. Its great as a reference but reading it word for word is as interesting as watching grass grow. Don't get me wrong. This is a great book. Everyone should at least hold it for once. But do not try to read it as a book. The first 300 pages will be boring. When the actual code chapters begin it gets better but still tends to be tedious.

A great book for beginners but a little boring read for advanced users.

Every Programmer Should Own This Book
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-05-29
When I bought this book, I couldn't believe all the 5 star ratings in the reviews. But, now that I've finished it, I have to agree with them. Simply put, this is probably the best computer-related book I've read. In the book's 850 pages, I found a grand total of five minor problems: one was grammatical, two were typographical and two were minor disagreements with how some things were presented. All trivial. Content-wise, if the universities would teach this material and if programmers would follow the methodologies contained in the book, the world of software would be far, far better off. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND this book and rate it an Excellent 5 stars out of 5.

Great start for building a cohesive dev team
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-04-11
This was a great book both for me and my team. I've been in the software industry for many years. I started building a team of developers and needed an easy way to bring novice and experienced programmers together on a similar set of standards. This book provided us with the perfect framework from which to start our team. We've developed several major projects using the principles in this book and have experienced a great deal of success.

One warning, the book gets a bit tedious after the first half. If you're looking to improve your C programming skills, it gets really detailed into pointers and other fun, or not, stuff. Also, the examples are in VB.NET...but you still get the point.

Code Complete2 is a must-read for a programmer
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-03-08
If you're an experienced software developer or a newbee in the world of commercial computer programming this book will give a good kick in the right direction. Steve McConnel will keep you hooked by mixing the right guiding concepts with real-life knowledge and examples.

A classic book
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2008-05-21
for all programmers. Shall I say Application Developers? Software Engineers? Whatever the title is, programming jobs are alive and well! This book provides a solid foundation. It is too bad very few American students are interested in this profession.

The average students are all studying business marketing. The good students are studying finance.

At Harvard University, they do not teach Accounting. The best ones, study Economics. There are only 21 students studying Computer Science at Harvard. Yet, parents are paying $220,000 to Harvard and other Ivy League. Truly amazing!

Is there anyway we can change this trend?

Microsoft
Active Directory Cookbook for Windows Server 2003 and Windows 2000
Published in Paperback by O'Reilly Media, Inc. (2003-09-23)
Author: Robbie Allen
List price: $44.95
New price: $18.27
Used price: $5.99

Average review score:

Hmmm, lot's of pages, less content
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-05-20
Firstly a warning, this is the second edition and covers Windows 2003. There is a third edition that covers the newer OS. I bought this book by mistake and it's too big (postage would be too expensive) to return. So buy with care.

This is a big book in terms of pages but the content is less than stellar. Don't expect to find too much on designing AD in real world situations such as integration with networking topologies and devices. Nor expect to find details on integrating AD with other Microsoft technology such as SharePoint. No this cookbook is really an administrator companion, and I think it does a pretty decent job in that but not more.

In regular use on my office bookshelf
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-04-25
Very handy cookbook reference for my office bookshelf. I've used it a number of times, and it's more than paid for itself in expediting regularly-scheduled inquiries of our AD structure here at GEICO HQ.

Must Have Reference book for Admins and Developers!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-03-24
Excellent reference if you work with AD on a regular basis either as an admin or a developer. Each "how to" offers methods for manually performing a specific task as well as (where possible) how to automate the task using code. Should be on every Windows admin/developer's desk.

Great reference, could use a little work on helping people implement in more useful ways though.
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-11-07
Overall, this is a great book for reference.

There are a number of areas where I think the book falls short - all of the scripts are very hard coded scripts that don't tell you how to do some functions that would make their scripts actually useful (like "pull the list of users with attributes from a tab-delimited file and create them" or something similar, this would make mass creation of users actually useful, instead of "create user1, user2, user3, etc..."). I think that the writers expect you to be a VB expert (or at least close to it) if you're going to actually make the vb scripts useful.

Most of the scripts are "How to use a script to do the same functions that you can already do in AD with ADUC or another MMC", but I think that the most important thing for me about the book is what it inspires me to think of doing. Things that MS doesn't necessarily expect you to do. I'm still not seeing a way to add sidHistory to an object (MS does it with another applet - there is a way...), but there are so many things in the book that just have me thinking about how you can implement changes to an environment that MS says you can't do. What they really mean is "You can't do that with the GUI tools that we provide you".

Great Book!!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-07-26
I am so glad that this book was recommended to me by a guy I took a class on scripting from. I use this book everyday (almost). I even took it on vacation with me for light reading.

Microsoft
Windows Presentation Foundation Unleashed (WPF)
Published in Kindle Edition by Sams Publishing (2008-02-14)
Author: Adam Nathan
List price: $39.99
New price: $26.99

Average review score:

Excellent book
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-06-21
All the features of WPF are explained here, with samples and visual codes for your reference. I decided to buy this book and other about Blend 2, but most of my doubts I solved with this edition.
Great book from beginners to experts.

WPF made easy
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-05-14
Hey, a programming book in full colour!! WPF Unleashed really does introduce the concepts and details of WPF programming in a clear and easy manner, and Adam Nathan is to be commended for his efforts. Anyone wanting to learn (more) about WPF will benefit from this book.

Great For Learning
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-05-09
This is a well written, well structured book.

Full color with good examples and covers a good range of details.

WPF knowledge = Windows Presentation Foundation Unleashed (WPF) (Unleashed)
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2008-04-29
What can I say.. I was looking for a book about WPF. I saw many, and many until I found that one. Then I stopped looking for more :)

Great content to match the great presentation!
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-06-24
On first opening this book you are struck by the beautiful full colour pictures and syntax-highlighted code samples. [Though the experience was slightly marred by the tears and damage to the front cover which occurred during shipping, as was also the case with another book in the order.]

I did a quick flip through and thought... "Beautiful presentation, but the content looks a bit over-simplified. Maybe all the reviewers were seduced by the full colour pages."

Then I started working my way through the book. I was blown away. The writing style is simple and to the point. But it doesn't lack depth. There are indications of the little things that are likely to catch you out, as well as discussions of some pretty advanced topics too.

So, Yay! The content of the book was just as good as the way it was presented, if not better. My only criticism is that in some cases there could have been more code examples.

On the other hand this would probably have made the book very bloated and not as useful as a reference book. There's enough information to point you in the right direction, and from there google will get you to all the code samples you need.

So let O'Reilly do the cookbook style books with lots of code snippets. They do that so well. This book takes a novel approach, and it works brilliantly!

Microsoft
Leaving Microsoft to Change the World
Published in Kindle Edition by HarperCollins e-books (2007-08-02)
Author: John Wood
List price: $19.95
New price: $6.99

Average review score:

Wood saving the world
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-08-09
This is one of the best books I have ever read. John Wood does what all of us dreamers out there imagine we could do: quits his excellent job at Microsoft to do his part in saving the world. Wood's style of writing is so smooth and easy to read, he never bores you. If you're at all familiar with the inside workings of the Microsoft company (my boyfriend interned there, so I am), you'll get a good laugh here and there when he talks about someone like Steve Ballmer and some other inside jokes. I highly recommend you read this book if you have any interests at all in poverty alleviation and humanitarian aid.

A serious topic delivered sensibly and with levity.
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-08-07
There aren't too many people who can mock Steve Ballmer, and Bill Gates. John Wood certainly did that with humour and fairness. Besides gaining insights on life at Microsoft's top tier and life in China as an expat, you will gain the most important perspective ever. That is life as a child in a less fortunate country.

This is a gripping book about a Social Entrepreneur and his work. Share in Wood's experiences, triumphs and setbacks as you read through chapters worth its weight in gold. At the end, I took to heart his message. And that is testament to the content and writing.

Thank you John for your work, and your work at RoomToRead.org.

Venturing into Charity
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-08-01
I read John Wood's "Leaving Microsoft to Change the World", shortly after reading "Three Cups of Tea" and hearing Greg Mortenson speak. I found each book fascinating in its own way, but John Wood's tale was so instructive. His expertise in setting goals and finding solutions and funding sources spoke to me. I head up a small charitable agency that works with refugees and Woods' insights and suggestions are invaluable.
What a way to go if you bring business skills like Woods, or if you are an amateur like me. Read, enjoy, learn and apply your new knowledge/
John McLevie

inspirational
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-07-03
great read about taking chances, following your heart and making a difference. if this story doesn't inspire you to reach out and help your community, you probably are too self absorbed. better written than three cups of tea.

thanks for the encouragment, John....
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-06-27
after having read this book, i decided to change my life and leave my job at one of the world's largest hotel companies, where i had a nice job, making a lot $, but no satisfaction in life. a career? I wanted a Calling, which is what I now have.
not a day goes by that I am not thankful for having jumped at the chance to change my life, for the better.

Microsoft
Programming Windows Presentation Foundation (Programming)
Published in Paperback by O'Reilly Media, Inc. (2005-09-12)
Authors: Chris Sells and Ian Griffiths
List price: $39.95
New price: $9.33
Used price: $5.99

Average review score:

Even better than the 1st edition
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-05-13
I bought the first edition of this book called Programming Windows Presentation Foundation (AKA Avalon) at the PDC in 2005 and read it completely on the plane home.

When I heard the second edition was released I didn't think much would have changed, but this is even better than the first edition. It's twice as big and covers all major (and not so major) topics in WPF (inc. an introduction to 3D and Silverlight).

I think this book will proof to be for WPF what Programming Windows, Fifth Edition is for WIN32 programming.

This Book is a Valuable Resource
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-05-02
This book is the most in depth resource into WPF i have seen. And not just that, it gets to the good stuff that you'll actually use in your code and not just filler or lists of properties that you can get from intelisense. The examples are extremely useful.

The other benefit of this book is that it doesn't just tell you how to do things, but why. This is incredibly helpful in finding the best solution to your specific problem.

Thanks guys! great book!
Ralph

Ignore the 2 and 3 star reviews
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2008-04-25
I say to ignore those reviews because they do not refer to this book. This is the second edition published August 28, 2007 with 863 pages. Those reviews are based off of the first edition published nearly two years before (September 12, 2005) and with only 447 pages.

Using Amazon's 'Search inside this book' takes you to the 2005 edition also. That shows only 10 chapters while this edition has 17. Most of the negative comments from the 2 and 3 star reviewers seem to have been resolved.

Not Just XAML, Great on 3D
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2008-02-26
The biggest strength of this book is that it focus on using WPF programatically, not just laying out XAML. This is extremely useful if you are writing an application for 3D data visualization or a database driven application. You get to learn to create event handlers, generate meshes... all programmatically. I also believe that this book is great, not just as a learning tool, but as a reference guide. It is the most comprehensive book on the subject and a must for the aspiring WPF developer.

If you just want to focus on XAML, however, I will have to recommend "Windows Presentation Foundation Unleashed" by Adam Nathan.

Not worth of buying
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 11 total.
Review Date: 2008-02-15
As a software developer I've written tons of production-level code for many companies including Rockwell Automation, Compuware, MS.
And I found this book to be too shallow for a technical person like me.

[One can save money by simply downloading WPF SDK samples and learning them]

Can one design and implement a better than WPF framework after reading this book? Obviously not!

No wonder, the authors never developed significant portions of any known product/framework!

Also, my e-mail exchange with C. Sells indicates that he himself doesn't really understand WPF in depth.
(BTW, as a MS employee he has luxury of having access to WPF source code and symbols - he obviously didn't bother to do so)

Just a few examples:
-- Managed/Unmanaged transition, e.g. the MIL stuff
-- Lack of understanding the WPF control model
-- Lack of understanding the WPF text model
-- Just like in any other *shallow WPF book* [are there deep WPF books out there?] authors make no effort to scrutinize the existing framework (WPF). [Which is definitely far from being clean and nice]
-- WPF "GDI-free" claims are nonsense since WPF uses User32 and User32 and Gdi32 libs are tightly coupled.

Microsoft
Windows NT Shell Scripting (Circle)
Published in Paperback by Sams (1998-04-27)
Author: Timothy Hill
List price: $32.00
New price: $19.59
Used price: $4.93

Average review score:

Very Informative
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-05-27
I have a friend that recommended me this book and I have to agree with him that this was a very well written book. Don't let the fact that the title says "Windows NT" discourage you from getting this book. There is a lot of useful information in this book that is still standard practice for scripting in Server 2003. Probably one of the few and only outdated commands in the book is the AT command that was replaced by SCHTASK. Even then, the author goes into detail on how these different commands work and how to use them in your work environment to you benefit. I recommend this book as a learning tool and as a reference for my fellow scripting brethren.

Excellent
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2003-04-12
Great book on NT shell commands that Microsoft doesn't even document. Not even "command /?" gives you any help.

Great for reference and to learn.

Best overview of the Windows Command Shell available
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2006-04-30
Although this book was authored in 1998, it is still as relavent today with Windows Server 2003 as it was when Windows NT 4.0 was first released. The fact is that the Command Shell hasn't changed all that much over the years and Timothy Hill's book remains the best guide to using and writing command scripts that I could ever recommend. And with Windows Server 2003's push to be able to do everything from the command line that one can do from the GUI, it's even more important to fully understand how the Windows Command Shell works.

Windows NT Shell Scripting is less about Windows NT than it is about how to write shell scripts. It covers the details of using the Command Shell in interactive mode, its configuration and how the 32-bit Command Shell differs from the 16-bit DOS box. Then it delves into the structure and syntax of the Command Shell language, providing a clear understanding of how the program control features such as IF and FOR work. Finally, it shows you how to create sophisticated shell scripts using the internal commands and external command-line utilities included with Windows and their Resource Kits.

Not everything in this book has survived the test of time. The old task scheduler using the AT command, though still supported in current version of Windows, has been mostly replaced by more powerful Scheduled Tasks of Windows 2000 and later. And you will want to supplement this book with a modern reference of the utility programs available for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 (such as OReilly's "Windows Server 2003 In A Nutshell"). Yet this represents only a small part of the book and majority of material stands up very well. Certainly there is no better and more in-depth tutorial for building command scripts than Timothy Hill's book.

Invaluable
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2002-02-15
I like this book because unlike many technical books, the first three chapters aren't a pedestrian introduction to the basic fundamentals. This book spends chapter 1 with insight, similar to the way Applied Cryptography immediately gives you knowledge. I'm an experienced NT command shell user, and this book was valuable for me as well.
The DOS shell has become a requirement and skill relegated to the background by the direction of Microsoft curriculum, this book explains it and teaches it.

The authors instructions are easy to follow, without doting like the Teach Yourself "whatever" in 24 hour books, Tim Hill doesn't waste your time, or your money.

It doesn't get better than this. Now we need a 2nd edition.
Helpful Votes: 6 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2002-04-08
If you have a bit of programming experience, this book together with access to the NT Resource Kit tools will provide you with the foundation for doing almost anything you could imagine within Windows NT Shell Scripting.

The book can be used both as a tutorial and a reference for Windows NT scripting and gives good examples of the commands, tools and concepts covered. For Windows NT, this book does the job as your Shell Scripting Bible in less than 400 pages.

Since Windows NT 4.0, a lot has happened in the Windows scripting field though. With the release of Windows 2000 and the subsequent Windows XP and .NET Server, shell scripting has become much more powerful. A second edition of this book covering the new commands and tools would be most welcome. Until one exists, you might also want to look at newer books covering shell scripting for operating systems based on the Windows NT kernel.

You might also want to look at other, often more powerful ways to script your Windows NT-based environment. For that matter I recommend looking at other books covering WSH (Windows Script Host), ADSI and WMI (Windows Management Instrumentation).

Microsoft
Hard Drive: Bill Gates and the Making of the Microsoft Empire
Published in Paperback by John Wiley and Sons Ltd (1993-09-13)
Authors: James Wallace and Jim Erickson
List price:

Average review score:

Hard Drive is no Mega-Flop!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-08-11
This is a good book on how Bill Gates and his business team built the Microsoft empire.

The good aspects of this book include the following:

* The emphasis on how Microsoft was not built in a day but with many, many long days and lots of innovative thinking. This book offers an excellent portrayal of how hard Gates worked.

* The portrayal of how relentlessly competitive and ambitious Gates is, be it at efficient programming, dominating the various software markets, studying higher mathematics or playing poker with his buddies.

* The many specific details of the growth of Microsoft, as a company, up until the time of the book's publication.

* The implicit theme of how a productive genius such as Gates never stops thinking.

Unfortunately, there are several aspects of this book that I disliked. These include the following:

* The writing is repetitive and sometimes is very stream-of-conscious. Moreover, this book reads like a 250-300 page book diluted, with uninteresting information, into a 400 page book.

* There is a lot of negative commentary about Gates' personality. First, this negative illustration seems to be done without providing the proper context. Gates is often portrayed as very immature. In this book, Gates is described as frequently issuing direct attacks on the intelligence of his employees during meetings and in private communication. He is also portrayed as immature through negligence, such as when he, presumably inadvertently, left his dirty laundry thrown about on a hotel floor for a top executive of his company to collect.

Although these incidents may be true, the authors could have made the context clearer: Gates is an enormously successful executive in his early twenties. While this does not excuse the described behavior, it does provide context for it. Needless to say, these immature outbursts would be more shocking if they were committed by a seasoned executive in his early sixties.

More generally, this image of Gates conflicts with the image I gathered of him through other means. A friend of mine who worked at Microsoft described Gates as routinely hosting interns in his mansion for dinner, magnanimously forgiving a new employee who accidentally dented his car and graciously answering a personal e-mail concerning the artwork in his home. The Gates I have heard of through my friend, and the one who runs the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, does not fit the mold of the Gates described in this book.

I am not challenging the veracity of the information contained within, I am just surmising that it sounds atypical of Gates, if not just descriptions of a few bad habits that he may have grew out of.

Overall, this is a pretty good, but not amazing, slightly outdated book on Bill Gates' impact on turning Microsoft into a giant.

A glimpse at Bill Gates and Microsoft
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-07-04
This book "flows" easily and it does a great job covering the meteoric rise of both Bill Gates and Microsoft. The narrative is never dull and both, the man and his company, are given a fair treatment. This book was published in 1993 and a lot of interesting stuff remains to be told. Wish the authors would team up for a sequel. This is a well written and authoritative account of Microsoft and its founder.

Inspirational!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-12-16
Hard Drive: Bill Gates and the Making of the Microsoft Empire

This book is a must-read for people who consider themselves ambitious and driven. It taught me the importance of single-minded drive and determination, coupled with a passion for the line of work one is in. IT is a tough line of work to be in - jobs could be outsourced anytime, skills become redundant quickly and there isn't the glamor or get-fabulously-rich possibility of finance or investment banking... but this book demonstrates that as long as you are passionate about what you do, there is always room at the top. Take heart from it!

Great tracking of a complex personality....
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-05-13
This is the definitive Book about Bill Gates (and the history of Windows). It covers all the management aspects of how he drove Microsoft and how the work became his life. The man doesn't do business... He LIVES it. And this book describes it in very much detail.

The details includes how Bill "turned over" IBM... Promissing them the OS/2 under the "NT Technology" flag and how he realeased Windows 95 and killed IBM forever from the Desktop business. It also shows Gates apreciation for Older woman (and many that took him to bed). As part of this "private" package, it also explains the problems that He had with Steve Ballmer. How Ballmer was showing poor management and leadership under Gates perspective and how Ballmer got over it and made his loyalty to Gates forever.

I was more interested on the part that explains how Microsoft Windows 1.0 was developed. How disastrous the first Office was compared to the competition and how they managed to "work around" and fix it, by "coping" the competition and improving it "the Microsoft way".

Buy this if you want to know how business can be done... or be "copied".

Intense, highly relevant
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-07-21
Delightful book. Its one flaw is its addictiveness, I couldn't put it down which did cost me sleep (I'm an IT professional with an entrepreneur spirit- your results may vary).

The Microsoft/Gates biography is impeccable in its wealth of interesting details and engaging story-telling.

Bill Gates is a fantastic decision maker. He would be as successful selling water or space suits, he just happened to be at the right time in the right booming industry and pushed with his business-business mentality to the limit. Right decision after right decision, the Microsoft journey is a story that any entrepreneur should nitpick and absorb as much as possible.

Of course, his terrible capitalistic drive is a perfect subject for a discussion on morals, social responsibility and related matters, but without a doubt when it comes to maximizing outcome while playing by our economic rules, Hard Drive tells a tale of epic proportions featuring a superhero / villain that rivals the best of science fiction.

Microsoft
CLR via C#, Second Edition (Pro Developer)
Published in Paperback by Microsoft Press (2006-03-22)
Author: Jeffrey Richter
List price: $59.99
New price: $31.82
Used price: $29.49

Average review score:

Are you a .NET developer? What? You haven't read this book?
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-07-30
Possess a driving license? That probably means you know the mechanics that makes cars work. Thereby the skill necessary to ferry ourselves to and from places in daily life.

Wait, what has this gotta do with reviewing a technical computing book?

Well, you knew incorrect air pressure worsens tyre grip, accelerates wear & tear, and reduces fuel efficient, right? You knew improper engine tuning may lead to unsynchronized valve and spark plug timings, resulting in severe loss of power, right? You knew air bubbles in brake fluid can result in inconsistent application of brakes and uneven deceleration, right? Ah, so many important factors of physics revolving around the science and engineering of motoring. Yet so subtle and unknown by the vast majority of motorists. And ignored. Never realising what performance-leaking sins they commit against their cars.

This very book will expose the fact that you are effectively guilty of the same level of ignorance with the .NET CLR as you go about your daily programming work.

There are tons of titles covering the use of technologies and frameworks that build on top of Microsoft's .NET Framework. By and large they are fine, fulfilling the needs of developers as they work on the real purposes of their jobs - delivering beneficial (or entertaining) value to users and industries. But so few step into that deeper realm to discuss the very thing that makes this all possible. The very heart of the .NET framework, at its core, the mighty execution engine known as the CLR. Jeffery Richter takes a different approach by removing the shroud of magic surrounding the CLR and the C# compiler, exhibiting the internals and explaining all the little crucial activitites it does behind the scenes so that programmers can carelessly forget and not bother.

He organises the book into five parts and twenty four chapters of excrutiating detail:

Part 1 CLR Basics
Chapter 1 The CLR's Execution Model
Chatper 2 Building, Packaging, Deploying, and Administering Applications and Types
Chatper 3 Shared Assemblies and Strongly Named Assemblies
Part 2 Working with Types
Chapter 4 Type Fundamentals
Chapter 5 Primitive, Reference, and Value Types
Part 3 Designing Types
Chaper 6 Type and Member Basics
Chapter 7 Constants and Fields
Chapter 8 Methods: Constructors, Operators, Conversions, and Parameters
Chapter 9 Properties
Chapter 10 Events
Part 4 Essential Types
Chapter 11 Chars, Strings, and Text
Chapter 12 Enumerated Types and Bit Flags
Chapter 13 Arrays
Chapter 14 Interfaces
Chapter 15 Delegates
Chapter 16 Generics
Chapter 17 Custom Attributes
Chapter 18 Nullable Value Types
Part 5 CLR Facilities
Chapter 19 Exceptions
Chapter 20 Automatic Memory Management (Garbage Collection)
Chapter 21 CLR Hosting and AppDomains
Chapter 22 Assembly Loading and Reflection
Chapter 23 Performing Asynchronous Operations
Chapter 24 Thread Synchronization

Take a good look at this list topics, and honestly ask yourself if you know everything about how the CLR facilitates all these? Most approach the CLR as a black box - I knew myself to be one - and in result only knew what was sufficient to work with it, which in turn developed quite a number of misconceptions about it. Jeffery Richter goes through chapter by chapter and puts me through a constant pace of surprises, shocks, and pure enlightenment. He goes as low a level as the CLR can operate, and communicates in terms of memory locations, CPU registers, and gives the repeated impression that many of the CLR automated activities we take for granted has a performance cost. The material he writes about are astounding and sometimes downright shocking. It goes an extremely long way to remove whatever misconceptions you may have about the CLR or compiler, influencing you to rethink about many of the habits and practices you have now.

Challenge some examples. Just a small number of matters. Did you know C# constants are really only good for referencing within its own assembly? Any referencing and use of constants in other assemblies are hardcoded at the MSIL level. Do you know the exact garbage collection sequence the CLR takes to identify generations of orphaned objects and housekeep the memory? What does it take to resurrect an object from the Freachable queue? Why are finalizers generally not recommended? How would you compare strings with the added dimensions of encoding and globalization cultures? How do you construct strings and convert types to and from strings? What are the implications of unboxing a Value-type object from a Reference-type variable and assigning values? Did you know an assembly need not necessarily be just a single .DLL file? How does the metadata for your types turn out in the assemblies as the compiler emits the IL equivalent of your code?

Each chapter brings to light information you never knew you needed to know. As much as possible, Jeffery Richter provides code samples and programs to demonstrate his points and prove the effect. He not only provides the information, but lists many alternative ways to achieving a said effect, along with pros and cons for each method. He is here to explain, not to sell the CLR, and does not hold back on what he honestly thinks are design flaws by Microsoft. At almost every junction, you will feel vulnerable by the knowledge he passes to you. If you ever felt snotty and arrogant over your knowledge of the .NET Framework, this book is the antidode to humble yourself. If you ever positioned yourself to learn more about .NET, you will surely rejoice with gladness.

For all the great depth to be had throughout the book, a topic that I found notably absent is how the CLR actually performs interoperability with unmanaged layers in the OS. There is only a brieft touch on it in the first chapter. The WIN32 and COM platforms are still cornerstones of Windows development; it would have been ideal for developers like myself who began development after the advent of the .NET Framework.

Even then, this is one book you'd repeatedly refer for years to come to double check you don't commit another subtle mistake. By the time you are half way or perhaps even a third way through this rich material, you would have understood the term "managed code" is a literal description and not a marketing buzzword at all.

Overall rating: 10/10
Good: In-depth tour under the hood; shocking revelations; you were wrong, and will rethink;
Bad: No true chapter and detailing of P/Invoke and COM interop mechanics; seriously, why is this not in the SDK?

CLR + C# = MSIL On Steroids.
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-04-30
If you want to know what is going on under the hood, thn this is THE book.
Every chapter is very in depth with good examples. Definite YES for the geek inside you. 5 Stars.

Another 5 star from Richter
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-03-09
I love reading Richter's books. When you think that there's no room left for improvement you get a title like this one. Wow!
Where other books present the subject matter this one gives you knowledge. Improves on the previous one.
Covers new topics like generics or nullable types. Just can't wait to see what Richter will do with linq!

Fun to learn about virtual machines in general...
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-01-24
I'm more of a Java and Ruby developer, but I found this book fun to read anyway. It's a great read to understand how languages interact with core libraries and how it all fits together inside of a virtual runtime environment. Very well done.

Introductory to itermediate material
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 4 total.
Review Date: 2008-04-10
The book is oriented toward experienced programmers. It provides an introduction to the CLR and describes some intermediate topics in detail. Advanced topics are mentioned, but the coverage of advanced topics (such as CLR hosting) is shallow.

If you are an experienced programmer who is new to the CLR and C#, this is a great text. If you already understand the CLR and are looking for more information about advanced techniques, this book is probably not for you.

Microsoft
PC Annoyances
Published in Paperback by O'Reilly (2003-10-14)
Author: Steve Bass
List price: $19.95
New price: $0.61
Used price: $0.01
Collectible price: $27.74

Average review score:

Ok, I got an older book
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-03-30
Since my book is older, it was a used version, the hints are for older things. It does have some helpful tools, but lots of the annoyances, I already knew about.

Worth Every Penny
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2006-03-17
This book is written in a very easy to understand language. The hints are pratical and should help everyone in some way. Microsoft will not tell you much of how to make your operating system work the way YOU want it to. Steve Bass takes care of that. It is a valuable resource for anyone who has a PC, novice or experienced. I consider myself somewhat knowledgeable about computers and I even learned a few new tricks.

A sanity saver
Helpful Votes: 10 out of 11 total.
Review Date: 2004-08-23
I am still pretty much a neophite where computers are concerned, so I bought this book hoping that it could get me out of the "messes" I'm always getting into. It really DOES help! Thank you!!! Steve Bass, I'm now searching for other books you have written.

A readable computer book!
Helpful Votes: 10 out of 11 total.
Review Date: 2004-07-04
This is the first computer book I actually said down and read, cover to cover. It holds your interest, and each tip gets you excited for the one to follow. I call it my AHA book. All the time you read it, you go "Aha! That's the problem!" or "Aha! That's how to get rid of that!". Can't recommend it highly enough.

Concise, excellent, usable tips
Helpful Votes: 11 out of 11 total.
Review Date: 2004-07-14
I've read many computer books, and I have to say this is one of the most informative. More important, Steve provides hundreds of tips to overcome the small (and large) problems of Windows. It's nice to konw that even a well-known computer columnist experiences the same frustrations we ordinary users do. Happily, he willing to share the solutions he's found.

In my first reading, I discovered the answers to at least 7 windows annoyances I've encountered.

And instead of including a cost-raising CD, the publisher has made 100 utility programs available online, a better solution that including them on a quickly outdated disk.

A useful, and often amusing book.

You need it!

Microsoft
FrontPage 2003 (The Missing Manual)
Published in Paperback by Pogue Press (2005-08-18)
Author: Jessica Mantaro
List price: $29.95
New price: $16.78
Used price: $9.04

Average review score:

Well worth the money ! !
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-08-11
This manual cleared up a lot of questions I had about Microsoft's FrontPage 2003. Microsoft should be ashamed that they didn't care enough about their users to include this with the program. I'd recommend this to anyone who is having problems understanding FrontPage.

Still learning.
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-05-14
I am still working on the front page book. I knew nothing when I started. I am now nearly finished covering chapter 4. there are a few places I strugled to understand what the author was talking about but overall the book is serving my purpose. I never expect to be a front page expert but one of these days I do expect to have a running website. I recomend the book although I have not looked at other book on the subject.

FrontPage 2003
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-04-20
Wonderful book. Easy to read. Simple instructions. I followed and built my website just like I had taken a class to learn how. I would recommend this book to anyone that needs a quick way to learn FrontPage 2003.

Best & Most Helpful Book On FrontPage 2003
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-04-17
I've been designing web sites for quite some time now. By no means am I a professional but I can make web sites using basic coding and that's what I had to do until I found FrontPage 2003. FrontPage 2003 greatly reduced the amount of time it took me to create a web site. Although I had been using the program for a while, after I decided to start a business designing web sites I bought several books on FrontPage 2003. I wanted to have the most knowledge about the program as possible and be able to produce the most professional looking web sites for customers. Out of the several books that I purchased all on this one program, I found this book to be the most helpful and overall best book on the topic. It covers everything you need to know from start to finish. It starts out by explaining basic web site design features of the program and then progressively describes more detailed processes as the book continues. All instructions are easy to read and understand. Out of all the books I've purchased, this book has helped me fully understand the program the best. If I had to recommend one book on FrontPage 2003 to a friend, this book would be the one.

excellent for beginner
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-02-29
Step by step instructions and screen prints. Perfect for beginner. Also purchased FrontPage 2003 the missing manual. An excellent complement.


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