Mastering Visual C# .NET Review

Average Reviews:

(More customer reviews)I read through this book at the local bookstore and then bought it online. I agree with the other reviewers: this book is simply the best one around.
There are so many books on C# now, but a few really shine as being great. This book is one of them.
I liked this book because it can be used as both a user guide to learn C# _and_ as a reference book to C# and .NET. No other book even comes close to that goal, and the authors have done a really great job.
Another great thing about this book is that it can be used by beginners and advanced users, so if you don't know C# you can learn everything you need from this book. Even if you don't know programming, this book is written in a style that you can understand - all without talking down to the reader.
There are also topics covered in this book not covered in any other book - such as security and other advanced topics.

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Get Everything You Can Out of Visual C# and the .NET Framework
Mastering Visual C# .NET is the best resource for getting everything you can out of the new C# language and the .NET Framework. You'll master C# language essentials, quickly taking advantage of the many improvements it offers over C++ and see tons of examples that show you all the ways that .NET can make your programming more efficient and your applications more powerful. You'll learn how to create stand-alone applications, as well as build Windows, web, and database applications. You'll even see how to develop web services—a technology that holds great promise for the future of distributed application.
Coverage includes:
Mastering the fundamentals and advanced aspects of the C# language
Using Visual Studio .NET for increased coding productivity and debugging
Creating distributed applications with remoting and web services
Understanding object-oriented concepts
Delivering data across the Internet with web services
Using XML to communicate with other applications
Accessing databases with ADO.NET
Building Windows applications
Creating web applications using ASP.NET
Reading and writing data from/to files or the Internet
Using advanced data structures to store and manipulate information
Using multi-threading for greater application efficiency
Using reflection to manipulate running code
Building distributed applications with remoting and web services
Securing code and authenticating users
Using built-in encryption facilities
Making your applications world-ready
Parsing strings with regular expressions
Using delegates to handle runtime events
Programming defensively with exception handling

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Practical Programming: An Introduction to Computer Science Using Python (Pragmatic Programmers) Review

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(More customer reviews)I had not programmed for 30 years and wanted to do a bit for a small project. After trying several Python books I found this one. I suspect that no one programming book will appeal to all, but this one was a great book to get me started again. Well-written. Good examples. Clear explanations.

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Computers are used in every part of science from ecology to particle physics.This introduction to computer science continually reinforces those ties by using real-world science problems as examples.Anyone who has taken a high school science class will be able to follow along as the book introduces the basics of programming, then goes on to show readers how to work with databases, download data from the web automatically, build graphical interfaces, and most importantly, how to think like a professional programmer. Topics covered include: Basic elements of programming from arithmetic to loops and if statements. Using functions and modules to organize programs. Using lists, sets, and dictionaries to organize data. Designing algorithms systematically. Debugging things when they go wrong. Creating and querying databases. Building graphical interfaces to make programs easier to use. Object-oriented programming and programming patterns.

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Reversing: Secrets of Reverse Engineering Review

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(More customer reviews)This book is a very good introduction and instructional manual on a subject that is both relevant and shadowy. Uttering the
phrase, "reverse engineering", these days conjures up visions of crackers and other criminals breaking into websites and stealing private information. But for anyone serious about improving their programming skills, "Reversing - Secrets of Reverse Engineering" is a must read. For example, debugging and reversing activities are very close kin; you will improve your skill in tracking down and understanding bugs in your code by learning some of the techniques presented in this book.
The highlight of the book (for me) was Chapter 11 where the author presents step-by-step sessions in reversing progressively more difficult protection schemes. If you feel uncomfortable with this activity, rest assured that the author has neatly sidestepped some murky legal issues by using Internet examples created for this purpose and his own program, designed to illustrate some of the protection techniques presented in other chapters of his book. Another chapter, "Deciphering File Formats", uses this same trick by reversing an encryption program Mr. Eilam wrote for this purpose. The appendices are another valuable contribution where the discussion turns to common code patterns produced by most compilers and how to interpret and extract the last bit of information from them.
Minor nits - I wish the assembly listings were broken up to better highlight points made by the author in his discussions. It became very tedious to match addresses mentioned in his discourse with those in the listings and reduced the overall effectiveness of the material. Also, I was not able to find in the book what seemed to be bibliographical references to other works that were cited in discussions on decompilation and other
topics. But putting these small criticisms aside I highly recommend this book and wish something as comprehensive as this had been available years ago.

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Beginning with a basic primer on reverse engineering-including computer internals, operating systems, and assembly language-and then discussing the variousapplications of reverse engineering, this book provides readers with practical, in-depth techniques for software reverse engineering. The book is broken into two parts, the first deals with security-related reverse engineering and the second explores the more practical aspects of reverse engineering. In addition, the author explains how to reverse engineer a third-party software library to improve interfacing and how to reverse engineer a competitor's software to build a better product.* The first popular book to show how software reverse engineering can help defend against security threats, speed up development, and unlock the secrets of competitive products* Helps developers plug security holes by demonstrating how hackers exploit reverse engineering techniques to crack copy-protection schemes and identify software targets for viruses and other malware* Offers a primer on advanced reverse-engineering, delving into "disassembly"-code-level reverse engineering-and explaining how to decipher assembly language

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