I generally like the ‘recipes’ type of book. I certainly don’t have the patience to study a 1000 page programming book in strict sequence from page 1 to page 1000.
And, to be perfectly honest, I can’t think of any programming books that really merit that kind of study. Unless you are learning to program from scratch every book will undoubtedly contain many things that you know already and don’t want to read about all over again!
Programming recipe books are for people like me who want to dip in and find specific information quickly. Visual C# 2010 Recipes is just the job. It contains 17 thematic chapters covering everything from broad ranging topics such as ‘Application Development’ to tightly focused subjects such as ‘Security and Cryptography’ and ‘Using LINQ’.
Given its wide scope, it is inevitable that the recipes vary from the commonplace to the specialised: from how to sort an array and add a control programmatically to how to ensure data integrity using a keyed hash code or how to parallel process a collection.
According to the publisher’s description, this book is for “newly qualified and relatively inexperienced developers”. I think that’s unfairly dismissive. While it will undoubtedly be useful to such programmers, it will also be a handy reference to more experienced developers.
Speaking from personal experience (as someone who has been programming C# ever since the language was created) I can tell you that I still have to look up information on C# and .NET on a fairly regular basis. Sometimes I just can’t remember which particular class contains the method I need. At other times, there may be some programming ‘trick’ whose details I have just forgotten. In short, it doesn’t matter how long you’ve been programming in a language or a framework - there are still times when it’s easier and faster to look up a reference to some technique than to work it out from scratch.
Moreover, a C# programmer who’s spent most of the last ten years with database development is not likely to know much about graphics; one who’s worked entirely with WinForms may find the WPF baffling. So a book such as this one is a useful ‘quick reference’ to old hands as well as newbies!
In short, it’s one that has already found a spot on my own bookshelf.
Add
to del.icio.us