Microsoft ADO.NET (Core Reference) (PRO-Developer) [ペーパーバック]

This is currently the best ADO.NET book on the market. While there are a couple of areas where I believe some other books have provided better coverage (concurrency handling, for example), I know of no book that covers the whole of ADO.NET as well as this tome.

The flow of the book is very nice. Starting you out with DataConnections, the book logically moves through commands, readers, adapters and DataSets, which it further breaks down into its constituent parts. The last few chapters cover updates, transactions, XML and a few other advanced topics.

While the writing makes this book easier to read than the competition, I would not rate this as a beginner's book. If you are just getting into ADO.NET, and have not coded many data-driven apps, you will do well to revisit this book in a few months.

The strongest section in this book is probably the extensive coverage of the DataSet. Learning how to manipulate data with a DataSet is core to success with ADO.NET.

One of the biggest disappointments, for me, is the reliance on the System.Data.OleDb namespace. While certainly the most flexible, there should have been a few more SqlClient examples. In all fairness to the author, the SqlClient, OleDb and Oracle providers are covered in the Appendix. The author also warns you about differences between OleDb and SqlClient that you will have to take into account moving your code from one to the other.

I also wish the author had taken a little more time setting up a web application, as most of the application development I do is for the web. As the models for Windows applications and WebForm applications are very similar, this is not a major beef.

The highlight of the book is the bits and pieces the author has inserted into each chapter on the best way to code for performance. While performance is not the only aspect of application development, it is nice when you can write high performance code without creating an overly complex application. Most of the examples shown are as easy, or close to as easy, as the lower performing versions.

As an additional plus, the CD that comes with the book has an electronic copy of the book. As this book will make a good reference, and it is hardbound, it is nice to know you can carry this information around without breaking your back.

Here is why.

First of all, I never review without reading a book cover to cover. I read this book cover to cover, and I love the way the author keeps the text anything from dull. I love it the way he puts in small jokes, which still are somewhat pertinent.
Secondly, I love it's practical touch. He points out specific problems that I have faced, and this book puts me right in the forefront as far as problems I will only know about, after having worked with ADO.NET hardcore for 2-3 years.
Thirdly, it's relevance. Most books start beating around the bush, atleast in certain topics they do. This book picks very pertinent issues, and gives practical explanations including criticisms as and when appropriate.

BUY IT. :)