Who Should Read This Book?

This book uses a fast-paced, hands-on, examples-based, quickly get to the point, applications-oriented approach ”in summary, a Kick Start approach. In tune with the Kick Start philosophy, the goal is quick, concise , and practical text around .NET application development and integration.

From a skill-set perspective, if you have developed Microsoft COM/ASP applications before and would like to evolve your skills around development for the .NET platform, this book is for you. At the same time, if you have developed Java/J2EE “based applications and have made the decision to either switch to the .NET platform or would like to expand your technology skills by understanding a competitive platform, this book is for you. If you have already picked up some components of the .NET platform and would like to broaden your horizon by understanding other related components and technologies, you get to pick and choose which technologies (and their corresponding chapters) interest you the most. Of course, if you are starting fresh and .NET is your first application development platform (a smart choice!), you have the right book in your hand.

As you might have already realized (or will soon realize), learning to develop on the .NET platform isn't really the same as learning a new programming language. On the other hand, you will find that you can actually develop .NET platform “based applications using your skills in your favorite programming language. There are, however, a number of components that are quite different ”the core framework, programming languages, a rich class prebuilt library, application development models (Web applications, traditional Windows applications, Web services, and mobile applications), a new set of tools (such as Visual Studio .NET) and APIs for interoperability with existing applications. Currently, each of these topics individually has been the subject of full-blown books, and rightly so. If you haven't had the opportunity to review a couple of them, I would like to introduce you to some of my favorite books for further reading. However, what I have felt that was missing was quick, concise, and practical inductions to the various components of the .NET platform. The result is in your hands ” Microsoft .NET Kick Start .

The last thing to highlight here is that this book, although targeted for developers, is a good reading candidate for the likes of IT managers, project managers, and technical architects . In this fast-paced world, it is important for managers to understand more details about the technologies that their developers are using and the related benefits and issues, so that they can make the right investments in tools, resources, and training. This book should be an ideal partner for your next two- hour -plus flight.