Steven Mandel

It's quite clear from reading this book that Peter Gasston is very knowledgeable about CSS 3 and, as he points out in the preface, this book is a culmination of five years of work that he has spent writing about CSS3. There is a clear order to the chapters. The earlier chapters are well implemented and the items discussed there are used on a regular basis. The final chapters are more speculative in nature. The author takes a very methodical approach in the book. He covers numerous topics in a clear and well-thought-out manner. He provides several examples for each topic that is covered. There are 17 chapters and an appendix. After each topic is introduced, the author informs you as to which of the major browsers implements the feature. The last chapter discusses the future of CSS3. The appendix collects all of the browser support tables that are found in each chap... (more)

Book Review: Beginning C# Object-Oriented Programming

Beginning C# Object-Oriented Programming is a well-written book that meets the stated goals of its author: "The target audience for this book is the beginning C# programmer who wants to gain a foundation in object-oriented programming along with C# language basics." This book works on a lot of different levels. It gives the beginner a good feel for the software development life cycle (sdlc). It goes from cradle to grave in discussing the application design and implementation. The book starts by laying out the foundation for a sample application called the office supply ordering ... (more)

Regular Expression Recipes for Windows Developers

One of the most powerful tools that a developer can use for validating data is the regular expression. A regular expression makes use of pattern matching to determine if an item fits within the definition of the pattern. Some validation that might take many lines of code to validate can be simply validated by building the correct pattern. However, many developers are put off by the feeling that regular expressions are too hard to master. Several months ago, I started reading a book called Regular Expression Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach by Nathan Good. It became quite clear... (more)

Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML

I'm sure that there are times when you visit your favorite bookstore to look at new books on your favorite .NET topics and you cringe at the weighty tomes sitting on the shelves. You open these books and page upon page of continuous print swims before your eyes, but you figure it's important so you plop down your hard-earned money, take the book home, begin to read it in you rocker recliner and fall asleep. O'Reilly has developed a new series of books called Head First that .NET developers would be wise to take a look at. It uses a markedly different approach to important topics... (more)

Book Review: Beginning ASP.NET 4 in C# 2010

It's a daunting task to author a book of over 1000 pages and maintain the interest of the reader. Matthew MacDonald is able to do so for several reasons. He maintains a good sense of humor and he is not afraid to express his opinion about a topic. Two examples come to mind. The first example is during his mention of the creation of a new Microsoft framework for the Internet called "MVC." He states that "to some the MVC pattern is cleaner and more suited to the web, to others it's a whole lot of extra effort with no clear payoff." In regard to some of Microsoft's practices he stat... (more)