Professional .NET Framework has been designed as a practical guide to the .NET Framework. It covers the Common Language Runtime environment in which .NET applications are deployed and managed along with the fundamental structure of the base class libraries upon which Microsoft's .NET platform relies. It has been written using beta 2, a feature complete version of the .NET Framework.
This book provides the essential aerial view of the framework, placing .NET in a meaningful context with current programming frameworks, before delving into detail with a thorough, practical, example-led approach to exploring and working with the constituent parts of the framework. It systematically covers namespaces and their extended classes, which professionals will need to work with to build distributed, scaleable, applications. It also covers the techniques required to expose or consume code over the Internet as Web Services.
Professional .NET Framework also examines best practice for designing and constructing applications, engineering .NET components, and utilizing COM interoperability. The final section of the book provides a chapter and case study dedicated to approaching migration to .NET.
The book drills down to a level which scopes specific classes in detail yet retains a focus on imparting information in the most practical, relevant and useful way, to make the transition to .NET as smooth and clear as possible.
This book covers:
An introduction to the .NET Framework
The Common Language Runtime and execution
The .NET class library
The System namespace
Working with data
Engineering applications and Web Services
Remoting
Migrating to the .Net Framework
A great choice for both Windows developers and managers,
Professional.NET Framework provides an in-depth guide to Microsoft's exciting new platform. This title explains the architecture and essential features that you will need to know to be effective on the new .NET. Mixing practical advice for designing software with a good introduction to "core" APIs, this text can definitely jumpstart your knowledge of .NET.
Written by a team of Wrox authors, this title brings a variety of strengths to the table beginning with a solid tour of the .NET run-time environment from the Common Language Runtime (CLR) and Microsoft Intermediate Language (MSIL). With a predictable amount of cheerleading for the advantages of .NET, the authors back up what they say with a host of improvements for easier deployment in .NET. They also clarify important acronyms and terms such as managed, unmanaged and unsafe code and how they will impact your use of .NET. (Reading this book will make you fully cognisant of new Microsoft standards, like CLS, MSIL, assemblies, Windows Forms and ASP.NET.)
After explaining the way programs run on .NET, this text turns to a solid survey of "core" .NET APIs such as strings, collections and file APIs, plus new support for regular expressions. Standout later chapters include detailed advice on designing components in .NET, plus an extremely rich guide to planning and migrating your projects to .NET. Filled with invaluable advice, these sections adapt "traditional" software-engineering best practices to the new world of .NET. The book ends with a discussion of topics in distributed computing, a real strength of the platform, with material on Web services and .NET remoting (the designated replacement for DCOM).
Final chapters on case studies provide more extensive code, first migrating an existing VB6 to .NET (and C#) and then a sample Web service for an online store written in VB.NET. Handy references to .NET System APIs (along with diagrams) will help you find core methods in a hurry.
By concentrating on the architecture and in-depth features of .NET for much of this book, the authors have created a resource that will appeal to a wide spectrum of readers, including developers and managers who will need to design and code with .NET in the near future. --Richard Dragan
