Microsoft Books

Fast Track Visual Basic.NET is an excellent follow-up book to the successful Public Beta version. I constantly use this book in the first instance, rather than the larger Professional Desktop books - because it provides me with concise & pragmatic explanations of the key technical issues in a manner that is intuitive.

Back in early 2001, when Visual Studio.NET public beta was released I rushed out and bought a copy of VB.NET Programming With the Public Beta & C# Programming With the Public Beta. Recently I had the pleasure of working as a technical reviewer on both of the sequels: I am a time-poor developer and architect and rely on ensuring that I have access to quality information and value greatly a concise real-world professional explanation.

Generally, as busy developers, we do not have the time to read a book from cover to cover but I found that the Fast Track book is actually well-suited for this because it is so well written and full of interesting issues; although it is also great to use simply as a reference book. But what really sells me on this book is its professional and friendly atmosphere; the craftsmanship of the authors; choice of content and clarity of explanation.

A risk facing many VB.NET developers is that they will not comprehensively understand full Object Orientated programming nor the broader functionality of .NET; having been nurtured on legacy VB's. A C++ or Java developer moving to C# will have an enormous advantage over a legacy VB developer; however this book provides an excellent chapter that simply and clearly articulates the new object-orientated capabilities of our language in a manner that quickly offers the opportunity to bridge the gap.

Apart from the expected syntax and ADO.NET chapters there is excellent discussion of creating a Windows Service, Installation & Deployment and the big issue of Interoperability and Migration (invoking COM and calling Windows API's and using the migration wizard).

The book is full of explanations that simplify complex issues, that are well supported by short, realistic & pragmatic examples and offers a comprehensive understanding of our new & very powerful development paradigm.

This book is filled with great explanations, wonderful tips and tricks, and is a great read! Plenty of humor (but not silly)and a wide range of information. Read this book to understand viruses and how they work, and how to stop them, and to understand how the Internet is put together. Great hints for parents who worry about kids on the Internet.

I really like the "field guide" versions of computer help books. It allows you to look up - dictionary style - the thing you are trying to do and the guide will walk you through how to do it. I saves a lot of time.

This has gold in it. When ever you had a question or a problem, look it up. This is not a READ Book, but an alphabetical listing of answers to whatever.... I keep it handy.

Great Book! Well written and very understandable! I was able to get up to speed on WORD in no time! I learned more spending two days with my nose in this book than I did taking a class on word! It was money well spent! I know more about word now than my secretary does ... she hates that!

While the contents of this book are dated, in the year it was published, it was the best way to learn the mathematical foundations of fractals. Complete source code is included on the diskette and images of the results demonstrate the images. No programming is required of the reader, although the text shows what formulas are iterated and any additional mathematics considered significant. The first chapter is a primer, written at a level where only basic algebra is needed to understand it.
This is still one of the best ways to learn fractals, if you were to obtain a copy, the most significant hurdle would be finding a computer with a 3.5" drive.

I spent several days reading nearly a dozen other guides to learning FrontPage before coming upon this one. What a joyful discovery!

The writing in many of the heavier (some of 800+ pages) volumes of instruction often becomes convoluted. Attempting to tell you everything, they make the reading onerous. And trying to absorb all the exceptions and what-ifs and cautions they provide can be more than a little distracting, even daunting.

By comparison, 'FrontPage in an instant' had me at the keyboard just that fast. Ruth Maran does not waste your time. She describes a task that the software can perform, and then she shows you exactly how to do it.

The book details more than 130 vital functions, grouped by the table of contents into 15 sections (e.g. Format Web Pages, Create Links). But don't expect to find chapters with individual titles or windy introductions. This gem of a book just moves you efficiently from one task to the next, with a clarity and logic that make the learning easy. And by cutting through the complexities to focus on individual tasks, it greatly speeds the learning process and enhances the value of the software itself.

To ponder the intricacies of FrontPage server extensions and to learn how cascading style sheets differ from frames, you may want to consult the heavier tomes. But first, to actually learn how to use FrontPage, start with this one!

For the crystal clear writing and excellent graphics, five stars hardly seem adequate.

I used this book for my Web Design/Computer Science class and it was great. This book helped me through everything. This book has a clear and easy to read page design. I would highly recommend this book for anyone beginning at FrontPage.

This is a good, overall introduction to FrontPage for designing web pages and managing web sites. My only complaints are that the illustrations occur up to several pages later than the text, and some of the examples are somewhat week. Nevertheless, I recommend this book to my FrontPage students. Bill Rowe

Book gives an excellent overview of desktop publishing as a whole, then gets right down to the basics of using this program. Contains many tips and time-saving items, all written in non-technical and user friendly language, that will help the user create polished publications almost instantly. I highly recommend this book for all users, and especially for those who have never used desktop publishing before.