Pro Visual C++/CLI and the .NET 2.0 Platform (Expert's Voice in .Net) | List Price: $79.99
Discount Price: $49.98
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Binding: Hardcover
A computer language resource with some personality [Posted on 2007-02-22]
As a person well-versed in C++ and looking to make a transition to the Managed world (the times they are a-changing), C++/CLI seemed to be the perfect language to take up. As this was one of the only books out when I took up this task, I decided to give it a shot.
Firstly, the material in this book is comprehensive. A simple look at the chapter list will quickly reveal this. The first 4 chapters or so will provide the reader with a solid base of new concepts, such as the handles, properties, and the managed heap. While none of this might be new to someone already within the .NET world, to a native C++ developer they're....well....they're like a foreign language. As this book is so encompassing, naturally, it is also looooong. One would surely struggle to get through the whole thing sequentially like one would do with so many other books. However, this book is laid out so that the reader can skip to any chapter after those first four and tackle the topic of his/her choice. As such, this book serves less as a structured learning environment so much as it does a reference. When you need it, go find it.
Secondly, as my title implies, the author has personality, and he shows it in his writing. This is a refreshing departure from so many dryly written books that are just trying to get the information across. The book doesn't read like stereo instructions, it reads like a guy sitting there telling you how to program. Books of the former nature often threaten to put the reader to sleep, which sort of defeats the purpose of the book. You shouldn't fall asleep with Fraser's book.
If I have one criticism about this book, it's that there aren't too many practical examples. While it does include copious amounts of code to show how things work, it would have been nice to have some real programs to do along with the chapters. A growing program that runs the length of the book might put this one over the top. Given the non-sequential nature of the book, and the fact that it covers so much may have made that an impossibility, but it would've been nice.
For someone making a transition from C++ like I did, this is a great resource to help the switch. I can't really speak for someone brand new to programming. Overall, this book probably deserves a 4.5, but I'm knocking off a half star for Fraser's admitted Dungeons and Dragons obsession. Geek test!
If you purchase just one book on C++/CLI, make sure it's this one [Posted on 2007-10-21]
I'm not sure when to start to review this text. I've read it cover-to-cover, at least four times. I've read over the material and examples so many times, I can practically quote it chapter and verse. This book is hands down the best reference manual on C++/CLI that exists in print. If you had to select just one book to purchase on the topic, this one is it.
One of the things that particularly amazes me about this text is the sheer volume of it. Books this large are usually 75% reference material that can be found elsewhere. This is not the case with this text. It's has very little straight reference material, but instead is jam packed with original content, that's laced with useful insight and terrific examples.
I don't think there is much I can say critical about the material. About the only weaknesses are in the coverage of triple slash documentation and XMLReader/Writer usage.
The triple slash docs lack really useful examples -- and are built around NDoc. A more more useful set of examples, that show the output that results from specific input would have been more helpful. And NDoc development has halted, and is now replaced by Sandcastle.
I had never read another book by this author, but you can be sure I'd purchase one anytime I have need of a topic he's treated. Steven Fraser is an excellent author -- a real credit to his trade.
Be cautious! [Posted on 2007-12-22]
I got this book almost 2 years ago, when there were almost no C++/CLI books on the market.
This book is fairly well written, and the author is undoubtedly a very experienced tech writer/software developer.
That said, I am a little dissappointed that after 2 years, there is one significant error in the book that is still not corrected in the errata.
On page 104 of the book, "Memory Management Destructors", it is said " You can call the delete operator on the handle of the ref class object, and the managed memory will be dealllocated IMMEDIATELY in reverse order to which is was allocated".
This is compleletly wrong. After calling delete, the physical memory hold by a reference class can NOT be deallocated immediately but will be reclaimed during next garbage collection cycle, it is STILL managed by garbage collector. C++/CLI just allows "delete" as an eye candy for C++ developers but still it is garbage collector that plays.
This cast serious doubt on the authors understanding the essence of C++/CLI.
Besides that, the book is a very good book, and I have great respect for the author's efforts. But it is still looks like the author translate it from his previous version in managed C++ and rush it to publish two years ago.
Weak, but nothing else is out there. [Posted on 2008-06-26]
This book is full of problems. Unfortunately I can't point to anything better.
From the chapter about Windows Services:
"Windows services, I'd like to point out, is a bit of a misnomer, as this same functionality is also available on the Mono/Linux platform using what is called a monod, which (I believe) is an implementation of a forked daemon and has nothing to do with Windows at all. I am also pretty sure the other .NET-implemented platforms don't use Windows in any way to implement the functionality. Admittedly, I have not looked into it. Personally, I think Windows services should be called service processes, as the implementing .NET Framework namespace suggests."
What is the author doing making pronouncements riddled with "I believe", "I have not looked into it", etc.?
Furthermore:
"Also, due to the fact that the Windows service has no interface, it is ideal for running in the background thread on a server. Since I do not cover multithreading until later in the book (Chapter 16), I will not the cover placing of a Windows service in a background thread, but after you have read Chapter 16, you should have little difficulty doing so."
If the services are ideal for threading (which they are) why is the chapter on threading deferred until after the chapter on Windows Services? Why weren't threads covered, and then the services could be covered including threads?
The whole book reads like this. It's a superficial reading at best.
Not the book I'm looking for [Posted on 2008-08-15]
I have been programming in C++ for almost 20 years. I go back to VAX/VMS, spent several years on Unix, and then moved on to Windows in the mid-90s. About five years ago I began learning about the .NET platform from a language agnostic viewpoint (I actually had the luxury of attending a good seminar before writing a program) and have spent about 50% of my time over the intervening time programming in C#. I consider it a much better language for managed code than C++, and between language features and IDE support, there is no reason I would ever write a pure managed assembly in C++.
I have not read this book, but I have read all the other reviews on here and the book's detailed table of contents, and I have to say, this book is not for me. What I am looking for is a book which focuses on mixed mode programming and interop issues. This book is 90% about the C++ language (including native C++) and the Framework Class Library. So it's not the book for someone like me. I have had the opportunity to use Expert C++/CLI as a reference and have read a few of its chapters and consider it a much better resource for someone like me.
Now if you are someone who has been in C++ land and is just starting into .NET, maybe you can use this book. I would suggest you learn C#, but if you don't want to learn a whole new language (and don't consider the new features of C++/CLI a new language) then maybe this book is for you. I don't know how to give this book a numerical grade, but other reviewers have given this book every other possible score, so I'll give it a 3.
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