.Net Compact Framework Pocket Guide

this book is small--truly pocket-sized and also cheap. for its size and cost, it is truly a great starter for anyone just starting out with mobile development.

This A6/B6-sized book with only 100 pages certainly justifies the "Pocket Guide" in its title. One could write a whole book on what is missing from it in terms of covering the .NET CF, but that would be unfair, as the purpose of the book is just to get you up and running with programming against the CF. It would also be unfair for this review to be longer than the book, so I'll try and keep it short.It starts with a quick intro to the CLR, devices and Visual Studio. At the end of these small 30 pages the reader has written the typical "Hello World" app and has had all the terminology put in context; impressively straightforward writing style and explanations. The second part of the book consists of 10 pages describing every single control (with a sentence or two) and includes a very good section on SmartPhone differences and considerations. The fourth part is the same size and discusses deployment hitting all the right points.The third part is the largest and contains 3 end-to-end projects: Currency Converter, Book Ordering System and Bluetooth Chat. It is a good selection of sample code as it covers data, communications and web services amongst other things. If you are a complete novice these sample projects should prove valuable in getting you started. Note however that all the code is in VB.NET (whether you'll be glad or sad with that depends entirely on your upbringing).