'Programming in the .NET Environment'
by Damien Watkins, Mark Hammond & Brad Abrams


I found this quite a useful book for providing an introductory level explanation of the .NET programming environment. The examples are in C#, and show the concepts under discussion very clearly. The book covers all the usual .NET topics. The type system, the metadata system, and the execution system are each given substantial chapters and there is also useful material on deploying and installing applications.

 Programming in the .NET environment - book cover

The section on the Framework Class Library is pretty skimpy, which is not surprising given the size of the FCL - you really need a dedicated book to do it justice. There is also good introductory material on assemblies and application domains; the latter may or may not be of use to you depending on what sort of programs you are actually writing. It's also worth noting that if you plan to use COM components a lot, this is probably not the book for you, since its coverage of COM interop is very perfunctory.

At the end of the book is a series of appendices on using different languages with .NET. Bizarrely, C++ is not covered, although Basic, C#, Python, Pascal, Scheme, Mondrain (a relatively new functional Language) and Oberon are covered. Do I detect just a teensy bit of bias here?

In spite of that it has enough useful material and clear exposition that it has earned a place on my bookshelf.

Alan Lenton
27 November 2005

'Programming in the .NET Environment' by Damien Watkins, Mark Hammond & Brad Abrams
0-201-770186-0
Addison-Wesley, 523pp @US$44.99


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