Amazon.co.uk Review
Developing Applications with Visual Studio .NET is aimed at advanced programmers working in C++ or perhaps C#. From the title you might imagine this to be another introductory tour of Visual Studio's wizards and editors, but it is not. Visual Studio is hardly mentioned in the first two-thirds of the book. Instead, this is primarily a guide to the inner workings of the .Net Framework. The author's background is in COM programming, and he takes particular care to explain how things have changed in .NET, as well as showing how .NET interoperates with COM. In the preface, he recalls spending hours poring over IL (Intermediate Language) and single-stepping through code to investigate the inner workings of .Net. This research shows itself in the high quality of the code examples, explanations and comments.
The book begins with a description of the .Net runtime, including types, interfaces, delegates, assemblies and version handling. The author goes on to cover the core class library, not in great detail but enough to get a feel for the new API. Excellent chapters on .Net remoting and COM interop offer useful insights into these two complex areas. Next come several chapters on Visual Studio itself, beginning with a guide to the IDE and its primary tools. There is a look at the different project types and a description of the code, build and deployment process. A chapter on managed extensions for C++ explains how to compile to IL and how to mix managed and unmanaged code. The last two chapters include an overview of control development, a section on resources and internationalisation, and an in-depth look at debugging. The writing style is concise but always readable. This is the perfect book for C++ developers who already have a full knowledge of the Windows API, but who are now making the transition to the .NET Framework. --Tim Anderson
Product Description
This is the.NET book C++ developers have been waiting for: a meaty, practical guide to Visual Studio.NET programming from one of the world's leading authorities on Microsoft development. Best-selling COM/ATL author Richard Grimes begins by reviewing the fundamental concepts that underlie the .NET Runtime, including managed vs. unmanaged code, garbage collection, the Microsoft Intermediate Language, type information, and metadata. Next, Grimes introduces the .NET Class Libraries -- first at a high level, and then with far greater detail about the libraries that will be of greatest value. Grimes covers contexts and remoting, introducing serialization, marshalling, channels and SOAP, and the role of Web services as an interoperability mechanism. Once readers are solidly grounded in .NET, Grimes turns to Visual Studio.NET: its facilities, tools, and project structure, ranging from project management issues to Web discovery. In Part III, Grimes offers comprehensive coverage of using Visual Studio.NET to build advanced applications. He presents detailed coverage of managed C++ written for experienced C++ developers; a thorough walkthrough of C++ development with WinForms designed to help developers migrate from Win32; extensive coverage of Microsoft's ATL Server and web application/service development; and finally, a full chapter on debugging. For every experienced Windows developer familiar with Visual C++.
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