Has issues but still is a good book
I have to agree with the other posters that stated that there were errors in the book. I found where a great many of the VB examples were just copied directly from the C# with out testing them. This was obvious as they still had the ; following code lines.
That said.
I purchased 8 compact framework books and they all were lacking in one way or another. All just glossed over the database aspects. However this book was better than most and I found that out of all of them I found that as I turned to each book this one answered most of my questions.
Great for getting rolling on the .NET CF
I bought this book along with the Definitive Guide when I was assigned to do some C# work on both the regular framework and the .NET CF. I was doing mostly JavaScript for the past two years and this book really helped me get moving with C# in general. This book helped me get comfortable with getting connected to the device, understanding some of the general capabilities of the framework, and stuff like that. It paid for itself by getting me past the "hello world" stage very quickly. I recommend the Definitive Guide for when you really want to drill down but this book is great for a quick rampup, with good quick step-by-steps to do a lot of the common things programmers care about. It saved me much more time than the cost of the book, so I'm very happy with it.
Complete and detailed explanations
Information that is hard to find in other books can be find here. I buy a lot of computer books and I know when one stands out. This book paid for itself the first day.
covers basics glosses over SQL CE
This book gives a fair basic overview of the .net CF. Examples in both VB and C# are helpful to those making the switch. However, it glosses over SQL CE in one chapter with no sample code and says nothing about replication.
Get ready for missing sample files & incorrect instruction
I am currently trying one of the examples in this book. However, files that should have been included in the download are missing and some of the instructions are just FLAT WRONG. To add to this, there is no direct contact information for the authors. I have submitted the problems to the publisher but I am not hopeful. A poster on the Compact Framework newsgroup said that he had come across other errors which he submitted to the publisher some time back. As of today, there was no errata available for this book and no updates of missing files.I find it hard to believe that they don't have at least ONE person to proofread the book and run the samples so that this doesn't happen.
The whole selling point of this book is to get you going QUICKLY with .NET CF programming. How can you do that with incomplete samples and incorrect instructions?
UPDATE: I tried contacting the authors & publisher in Jan '04. As of April '04, I have not heard one word from them.
(10 reviews)
