In-Depth

Books: .NET Development for the Entry-Level Programmer

Gunther Lenz and Thomas Moeller give entry-level programmers an overview of the development model with a .NET influence in their book, .NET - A Complete Development Cycle.

• By Mark Collins-Cope
• 11/23/2003

I wish I read .NET – A Complete Development Cycle two years ago when I started .NET development. This book by Gunther Lenz and Thomas Moeller explains how the .NET Framework works in high-level detail that lets you understand why it's different from other software development paradigms. The subject matter flows logically, and there are plenty of examples you can sink your teeth into.

The book describes various development models, giving the pros and cons of each. If you're an experienced programmer, you can use these chapters as a refresher, but you won't find anything groundbreaking. I enjoyed the "conclusions" and "review" sections, because they let you verify you understood what the authors were trying to convey. They discussed numerous topics in detail, including threading, GDI, and Web technologies. All the examples were helpful; the book includes a CD so you don't have to download the examples.

This book does a good job of describing the various aspects of software development. It is aimed at the developer working in the .NET environment, but many aspects of the book can be applied across all development platforms. .NET – A Complete Development Cycle is geared toward entry-level developers or programmers migrating to the .NET platform. This book is certainly worth the money in either case.