Latest News from Steven Mandel

The Book of CSS3: A Developer's Guide to the Future of Web Design

Fri, 30 Dec 2011 14:15:00 EST

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 chapter.

Book Review: Beginning C# Object-Oriented Programming

Thu, 24 Nov 2011 13:15:00 EST

This 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 with laying out the foundation for a sample application called the office supply ordering application (oso). The first four chapters lay out the requirements and design of the application. It starts with the design of the application using UML and a free tool called UMLet. The author encourages you to use UML but points out that you can do the design with paper and pencil as well. The author discusses who will be the consumer of the application and what functionality is needed to build the application.

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

Sun, 01 May 2011 11:45:00 EDT

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 states, “Microsoft has a time-honored reputation for creating innovative technologies and wrapping them in buzzwords that confuse everyone.” His examples are small and to the point and his goal is to be "as relentlessly practical as possible.” If you already have experience with ASP.NET and C#, the author directs you to read a companion volume Pro ASP.NET 4 in C# 2010 instead.

Book Review: SQL Antipatterns

Mon, 14 Mar 2011 14:08:00 EDT

I never thought I would ever describe a technical book that I have reviewed as delightful but that is exactly how felt when I read the book SQL Antipatterns by Bill Karwin. The book’s subtitle ‘Avoiding the Pitfalls of Database Programming’ really summarizes the goal of the book in a nutshell. The book consists of 25 chapters divided into four distinct topics. Each chapter reviews a different antipattern. Mr. Karwin defines an antipattern as “a technique that is intended to solve a problem but that often leads to other problems.” Each chapter starts off with a problem to solve or as Mr. Karwin calls it an “objective.” He then presents the antipattern as a way to solve the problem, and shows you how to identify the antipatttern by asking a series of questions. He will explain if there are any legitimate uses for the antipattern. Finally he will present solutions that avoid the pitfalls of the antipattern.

Book Review: Professional ASP.NET MVC 1.0

Fri, 24 Sep 2010 10:00:00 EDT

In recent years there has been a growing interest in applying design patterns to various aspects of programming. One of the more well-known patterns is the Model-View-Controller pattern or MVC. This pattern has a great deal of appeal in the web design environment because it offers the developer more control and a greater separation between the major aspects of web design – the presentation layer (View), the business layer (Controller), and the data layer (Model). In fact the pattern should probably have been called MCV as the controller portion really serves as the glue that holds the Model layer with the View layer.

Book Review: Sams Teach Yourself ASP.NET 4

Sat, 04 Sep 2010 10:00:00 EDT

There are certain authors whose books I look forward to reading because they don't just repackage a manual but offer practical real-work examples and advice. One such author is Scott Mitchell. He has revised his previous version of this book to encompass ASP.NET 4 . This book is well written and directed at beginners. If, however, you have the 3.5 version of this book, I would not recommend this version as there is very little new being offered. On the other hand, if you are new to ASP.NET, this book is a great starting-off point to learning the basics of ASP.NET 4.

Book Review: Sams Teach Yourself ASP.NET 3.5

Wed, 03 Feb 2010 18:15:00 EST

There are several authors of .NET books who not only know their material but are able to present the information in a practical manner. One such author is Scott Mitchell. This book is well written and is divided into four parts with a total of 24 chapters. While the level of the book is directed at beginners, it’s a good refresher for more experienced developers who want to learn some of the new features available in ASP.NET 3.5.

Book Review: Murach’s SQL Server 2008 for Developers

Mon, 15 Jun 2009 12:30:00 EDT

Murach’s SQL Server 2008 for Developers is an upgrade from an earlier version that was written for SQL Server 2005. It employs the Murach approach of dual pages that repeat and enhance the concepts being presented on each page. As the authors have done with previous releases of SQL Server, this book serves as a good review and as an introduction to the new features added to SQL Server 2008.

.NET Book Review: Murach's SQL Server 2005 for Developers

Thu, 14 Feb 2008 11:15:00 EST

This book is an update of an earlier version that was written for SQL Server 2000. It employs the Murach approach of dual pages that repeat and enhance the concepts being presented on each page. If you're new to SQL Server 2005 you'll gain a lot from this book. It has three goals: to teach T-SQL (Transact SQL), introduce you to the new .NET CLR integration, and introduce you to the new graphical user interface called SQL Server Management Studio that replaces the enterprise manager and query analyzer that were part of the SQL Server 2000 package of software tools.

.NET Book Review: Core Internet Application

Sun, 10 Feb 2008 15:00:00 EST

Buy this book! I don't often give such a blanket endorsement but this book works on many levels. It's one of the few books that really addresses the needs of more experienced ASP.NET developers as well as providing a well thought out text that can be used by instructors. There's a plethora of things in this book that make it worthwhile. There are walkthroughs, code listings, in depth examples, and code snippets. There are 16 chapters and an appendix. At the end of each chapter there's a summary, exercises, key concepts, and references for further investigation.

Build Your Own ASP.NET 2.0 Web Site Using C# & VB.NET

Wed, 21 Nov 2007 18:00:00 EST

This book contains 14 chapters and an appendix. Its subtitle is 'the ultimate ASP.NET beginner's guide.' As its two titles imply, this book covers the basics on a lot of ASP.NET topics. The chapter titles convey this: ASP.Net basics, VB and C# programming basics, constructing ASP.NET Web pages, database design and development, etc.

.NET Book Review: Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Stored Procedure Programming in T-SQL and .NET

Thu, 31 May 2007 17:00:00 EDT

With the release of a major new version of SQL Server, it's incumbent on developers to take time to refresh and enhance their knowledge of this new version of T-SQL (Transact SQL) and stored procedure programming. The challenge is to find a good book that will cover the highlights but not give you a hernia in the process. Dejan Sunderic's book fits this bill.

Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML

Sun, 27 May 2007 12:30:00 EDT

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.

.NET Book Review — Visual Basic 2005 Jumpstart

Sun, 17 Dec 2006 08:00:00 EST

Microsoft released VB6 at the start of 1999, which is almost 8 years ago. It's hard to imagine that there are developers who are still actively using VB6, but from the blogs and letters to the editors of many .NET magazines that I have read, it seems that this is truly the case.

ASP.NET 2.0: A Developer's Notebook

Tue, 27 Jun 2006 15:00:00 EDT

There are many ways to approach the presentation of a major upgrade to a software platform and how to address its various audiences. O'Reilly has decided that to get seasoned ASP.NET developers up to speed, it has added three new books to its Developer's Notebook series. The idea behind the series is to let existing developers 'look over the super coder's shoulder' and capture this concept on paper. The notebooks are example-driven, aimed at developers, and enjoyable to work through. Each chapter is organized around a specific task with examples reinforcing these new ideas.

.NET Book Review — Best Kept Secrets in .NET

Wed, 17 May 2006 15:00:00 EDT

Lately, it seems that every computer book that you find is a weighty tome of at least 500 or 600 pages. You groan just thinking about having to schlep another monster-size book around. It is so nice then to inform you that sometimes good things do come in small packages. This book, while only 200 pages, contains lots of nuggets that will appeal to all levels of developers.

.NET Gotchas

Wed, 10 May 2006 16:15:00 EDT

You might be wondering what this book is all about. As the author explains, the dictionary's definition of a gotcha is 'an unexpected usually disconcerting challenge, revelation, or catch'. Mr. Subramaniam defines the gotchas in his book as 'those things that pop up unexpectedly when you're programming in .NET. ? In this book I focus on the .NET framework and features that have consistently exhibited behavior that was not obvious to me.' Mr. Subramaniam explains that the purpose of his book is not just to explain how to use a technology 'but how to use it well and do things right'. The book is intended for '.NET programmers in the trenches'. He assumes that you are fairly familiar with .NET and all gotchas are presented in C# and VB.NET.

ASP.NET Cookbook

Fri, 09 Dec 2005 09:45:00 EST

The 'cookbook' format has become quite popular in recent years as a vehicle for presenting ideas and code. Each chapter focuses in on a particular topic. Each topic contains a number of 'recipes' that build upon other recipes to present ideas that may be of value to developers. As with real cookbooks, the quality of these programming 'cookbooks' varies. Some cookbooks present only the entrees while others present a full-course meal. This book falls into the latter category. It is chock-full of recipes that as the authors state, 'help you quickly and efficiently solve many of the day-to-day problems you face developing Web applications with the .NET platform.'

Regular Expression Recipes for Windows Developers

Thu, 08 Dec 2005 22:45:00 EST

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.

Maximizing ASP.NET: Real World, Object-Oriented Development

Sat, 22 Oct 2005 07:00:00 EDT

After reading this book, I spent a great deal of time trying to figure out where it fits in the ASP.NET scheme of things. The author states that the book was written because 'a lot of smart developers are having some problem making the transition to the object-oriented world of ASP.Net.' He says that this book is written for those developers who have worked with ASP.NET for a while who now want a book to help them understand 'the underlying concepts.'

Microsoft .NET XML Web Services Step by Step

Fri, 20 May 2005 12:00:00 EDT

If you are a beginner and want to learn about creating XML Web services from a very structured and detailed perspective then you'll want to look at this book. The authors present the material by building a Web service that will validate credit cards. Each chapter builds upon the one before it to give the user a good foundation in creating Web services using both HTTP and SOAP protocols. The development tool used to build the clients and Web services is Visual Studio.NET. I recommend using Visual Studio 2003 because the wizard for adding Web references is much improved compared to the one provided in Visual Studio 2002. The examples can be downloaded from the Microsoft site and are provided in VB.NET as well as C#.

Programming ASP.NET 2nd Edition

Wed, 11 May 2005 09:00:00 EDT

Now that ASP.NET has hit its stride, the number of books out that deal with it on an intermediate level has increased nicely. The problem, though, is that if the books all cover the same topics, how do you decide which one to buy?

Book Reviews

Tue, 06 Apr 2004 00:00:00 EDT

A very enthusiastic recommendation by Steven Mandel of a book for VB.NET developers - aimed particularly at beginning or intermediate developers - and a note by Dan Maharry about a useful desktop book on XML Schema.

Book Reviews

Fri, 13 Feb 2004 00:00:00 EST

I wanted to read this book before it was ever announced. At the time, I was just beginning work on a project here at Expand Beyond to connect our Java-based application server, the XBAnywhere Server, with our .NET-based Web service, the Windows Gateway.

Book Reviews

Mon, 12 Jan 2004 00:00:00 EST

Christmastime has come and gone, and the only thing left to worry about is the present for yourself. You mean you didn't reward yourself for buying everyone else presents and developing like a mad dog? Why not grab a copy of A First Look at ASP.NET v2.0?

Book Reviews

Tue, 11 Nov 2003 09:00:00 EST

It's all a question of balance. You can apply these words of wisdom to managing software development projects and to planning out the contents of a book, but it's still a tightrope walk.

Book Reviews

Wed, 28 May 2003 00:00:00 EDT

Ms. Prince's goal in writing this book is to teach beginners how to develop simple but complete Windows applications. She shows users how to code, test, and debug their applications as well. The book is divided into five sections. The first section teaches you how to code and test object-oriented programs.

Book Reviews

Mon, 28 Apr 2003 00:00:00 EDT

I came upon this book under very odd circumstances, to say the least. I am a developer first and foremost, so the suggestion by my employer that I sit through a half-day seminar on the art of making technical sales was greeted with less than enthusiasm.