Foreword by Alan Cooper

Years ago Gary Kildall, the late computer scientist and guru of operating systems and programming languages, was infamous for his documentation. It was precise, accurate, and complete, but so terse and austere that it was next to useless. But amazingly, once you had learned about his software the hard way, you could read his doc and see that the answers had always been right there , hidden in plain sight. That same "right-but-useless" style of documentation continues to plague us today, and .NET is certainly a devil 's playground of three-inch-thick books packed with facts that don't help. The book you have in your hand right now is different.

When I began to use .NET as a platform, the first secret weapon I discovered was Chris Sells. He is a master at not just giving you the facts, but also sufficient context to really understand how to get the most from the platform. That context includes insights into what WinForms is doing, hints on good .NET programming doctrine and style, and some of the most useful source code examples I've ever seen. Too many books and blogs give snippets of source code that are too brief to be useful (Gary Kildall would have been proud). Other books and Web sites give excruciatingly long source listings that obscure as much as they teach. I call Chris's source examples Goldilocks code because they are "just right." Chris can do this because he has satisfied the three big prerequisites: (1) he knows the material cold; (2) he has used it in real-world coding; and (3) he has taught it to others.

Chris is a most prolific author, speaker, and commentator on all things .NET. He knows how to help you get practical, real-world software onto your screen with WinForms better than anybody and is deservedly famous for his contributions. While not alone in this field, he is one-of-a-kind in clarity and usefulness with his natural knack for making the most obscure technical processes clear and obvious. When I found myself banging my head against some unclear, uncooperative object, I could always turn to the draft manuscript of this book (which Chris had generously shared with me) and find the answer right away. Along with the answer, I could always depend on finding a concise and clear explanation of what was really going on with WinForms, along with some useful insight into how to make my code cleaner and clearer, not to mention faster.

Chris has followed the same idea in Windows Forms Programming in Visual Basic .NET that guided me while creating the visual programming paradigm of Visual Basic (VB): It's nice to know how everything works, but it's nicer still to know how to work everything. The result was a tool that was powerful, but that could adapt to the user 's level of expertise. Like VB, regardless of whether you are an alpha-geek or a newbie, this book will serve you well. Chris's explanations and detailed examples gently speak to both.

I have another author's excellent WinForms book that, in Chapter 1, declares the IDE to be a crutch for wimps and goes on for a thousand pages without mentioning the IDE again. I admire that purist sentiment, but most of us are going to use the IDE to build our programs because we have deadlines to meet. I have still another book on my shelf that starts on page 1 with a screen shot of the IDE, taking me step-by-step through the construction of WinForms software inside the IDE without ever offering up any useful understanding of what the IDE is doing behind my back. Experienced programmers believe in "trust, but verify" when it comes to programming environments. It's up to me to know what is really going on so that I can fix it when it doesn't. Chris's book, on the other hand, uses the IDE more judiciously, giving a precise blending of the "how-to" and the "why," which arms you to solve your own problems.

Chris Sells writes from his heart as much as from his prodigious brain. He really loves .NET, and he cares that you are a success with it. As you read, you can hear his calm voice speaking, guiding, and supporting as you steer your way around the dangerous rocks and shoals of .NET complexity. He becomes your navigator and guide, gently steering you toward understanding and competence. If you are just beginning to use WinForms, or even if you are already an experienced hand, you will find this book an antidote to confusion and a friendly companion on the road to writing modern applications.

Alan  Cooper
Father  of  Visual  Basic