Microsoft .Net Compact Framework: Core Reference

I have some .NET C# experience, and this book is great. If you were new to C# it would probably be difficult, but for those with some .NET experience this book is perfect.I expected the book would come with a CD containing code samples, but you have to download them from Microsoft.http://www.microsoft.com/mspress/books/companion/5960.asp -MattListening to: 'God Fearing Man' from 'Fight For Your Mind' by 'Ben Harper' on Media Center 9.1

For a little background, I've read about 10 .NET books. I have the MCSD.NET certification. And I've previously done some programming for the Palm PDA. I'd actually have to say that this is the best .NET book I've read, period. It's clear, it's generally to the point, and it covers everything I need to get well on my way to developing enterprise-level applications. HOWEVER, you do need some background in C# or Visual Basic.NET. It doesn't teach you those languages, nor should it. But it does give you all the code examples you need to readily accomplish every subject each chapter covers. By the way, all the code examples are in C#, but anyone who knows Visual Basic.NET probably knows how close the languages are, so there should be little problem understanding and converting the examples.You do need Visual Studio .NET 2003 to develop apps for the Compact Framework. The book does a cursory job of explaining VS.NET, but a good job of explaining the emulators included with it. Unfortunately .NET is not an environment a hobbyist can pick up anymore like eVB might have been. You need to understand object orientation now, which if you haven't done it before, is a hurdle that takes people a little bit to get over. And things like the additional worry about security, Web Services, and ADO.NET (which requires knowledge of data modeling) have made it even more complex. This is a "professional" book written for experienced people.The book does an excellent job of explaining interaction with a host SQL Server, fully covering RDA and merge replication. Throughout the book it points out the differences between the full .NET Framework and the Compact Framework as it addresses each subject. There are significant differences between the full framework and the compact onewhen working with SQL Server and the book handles them well. It also covers graphics programming as well as you'll need for any business application, with examples of some nice charts and pie graphs. It also covers security fairly well and touches on interacting with Web Services. There is no real coverage of ASP.NET.I'm usually not a huge fan of Microsoft Press books because they're sometimes incomplete while at the same time not very concise. Not the case with this one. Even though it's 700 pages, there isn't the usual 400 pages of inconsequential filler to waste your time with as in most other large programming books. I feel that this is probably the only book I will need to buy on the Compact Framework.

I am half way through this book and I liked it. The authors are definitely doers and you can see it from the tips they provided. The samples are very extensive.It's the book for Compact framework programming.Don't forget to get the AskDotNet sample from GotDotNet.com, very good project too.

Jan Yeh This book is good for .NET developers who want to port their application to .NET Compact Framework, and also must-have for eMbedded Visual Tools developers who want to migrate from eVB, eVC, VBCE, VCCE. Although this book is full of C# codes, there are samples for VB.NET as well.There are many important topics included in this book, such as Data Accessing(ADO.Net & SQLCE), XML & XML Web Services, Multi-threading, Interoperating with Native Code, Custom Controls for .NET Compact Framework, and more than that.If you want to learn more about .NET Compact Framework programming, or you are familiar with eMbedded Visual Tools, this could be your text book or survival guide.After surveying books talk about .NET Compact Framework, this is what I can say, "NEVER MISS THIS"!

I've been reading this book for a couple of weeks now and this is a good book for those who are beginning .NET programming with mobile devices using the .NET Compact Framework. Here are the different parts of the book:1. .NET Compact Framework ArchitectureThis section mainly goes through the history of PDAs, starting with the first portable computer, the Osborne-1. It then compares the different development tools with .NET, such as eMbedded Visual Basic. It does a great job explaining the .NET framework fundamentals (CLR, MSIL...), as well as what the .NET compact framework is all about. For those who aren't familiar with .NET, this is a great beginning to your .NET journey. If you are already familiar with .NET, just skim through it since you probably already know most of what this section contains.2. Developing Applications with the .NET Compact FrameworkThis section goes through building the GUI and windows forms, testing and debugging your application, and completing and distributing your applications. This section is very well written and has been helpful. It goes through building different controls and what problems you may have to think about because of the limited form size on PDAs. It also talks about all the debugging functionality .NET has built into it, such as breakpoints, exception handling, and watching variables. Probably the mort important part is completing and distributing your application and it does a satisfactory job, although the book didn't actually go through a full example.3. Common Programming TasksThis section talks about different collection classes, such as arrays, arraylists, and stacks. It also discusses date and string manipulation. XML, File I/O, networking, and security each have a chapter dedicated to each subject. I spent most of my time with XML and security in this section.4. Connecting With DataThis section goes through ADO.NET. It does a fantastic job of describing each .NET data object and has plenty of code to show how to use each. I got a bit confused some of the time due to the number of ADO.NET objects out there. Also, it talks about connecting your data with SQL Server, XML web services, and SQL Server CE. Plan on spending a lot of your time in each of these chapters, although I kind of skimmed through the SQL Server section since I plan on storing data locally in SQL Server CE and using RDA/XML web services to connect the data to enterprise systems. For those of you who are new to .NET, this part of the book is well worth the money.5. Advanced Mobile Application DevelopmentThis section goes through custom controls, globalization/localization, multithreading, graphics programming, interoperating with native code, and cross-framework development, i.e. migrating eMbedded Visual applications. I didn't spend much time in this part because by the time I was done with ADO.NET, I was ready to rock.Overall, I'm very pleased with this book. If you want to do PDA development, definitely