[.ca] Visualstudio .Net: The .Net Framework Black Book (ISBN 193211114X)

Excellent book!:
If you want to know how to use the .NET framework this is a great book for you - particularly if you are using VB.NET since the examples are all in VB.NET instead of C. The layout is great and make sure to look at the in-depth sections - that's where all the meat is. I had used 3 other books but threw them away after I got this one.

Good overview of .Net:
This book is really good to get an overview of the .Net framework. It helps you to see the big picture of how it all fits together. This will not teach you how to interface with VS, but it will help you get a better understanding of all the features .Net offers and what kind of toolsets are available.

Free SDK + notepad.exe + vbc.exe + this book = great things:
The comments about the VB.net bias and the fairly sparse IDE examples are correct (though you do get a modest share of C#, and a smidgen of managed C++). Fortunately, I approached this book as a newcomer to Windows programming who's just bought VB.Net Standard, installed the dotNet SDK, and wants to know what can be done with it. As such, this is a great resource. And as a proponent of actually knowing how to code as opposed to knowing how to use a GUI, the "notepad development" tendency was right up my alley. ... I found this book for a steep discount, but after reading it I would have paid full price--bearing in mind my situation/desires.

Beginners, your second book awaits you...:
Having read (most of) Beginning VB.NET Second Edition from Wrox, I find myself having a good grounding in VB.NET (just so you know, I have been learning VB.NET for 3 weeks (with no prior vb experience whatsoever)). My first recommendation is go and buy that book, its worth every penny. Once you have read that book and trust me, you will have learnt more than you thought possible, then go and buy this one. What I like about this book is that is really in a way expands on everything I learnt in the first one. Now that I have some experience and know what I am looking for, I find myself thinking, 'how can I add this feature to my app, or how can I achieve this task'. This book has vast snippets of how to use the additional controls and features not discussed in the Wrox book. I wouldn't recommend starting with this book as the Wrox book is much better to start with. I find the writing style in this book quite good, but after only 3 weeks of programming I don't really need my hand to be held anymore, I just need a brief explanation of how do something - this book delivers. I particularly like the way the book is divided into Framework sections. I have found many snippets from other books that deliver a section of code, tell you how it works, but neglect to mention that you need to import a particular namespace...so the code just doesn't work... Enough said. If you have the Wrox one, then buy this one next.

Awesome Book:
I have little to no prior experience to vb.net so I didn't want to get a book that didn't go in to any details or did not explain why things work the way they do because the author may assume that you know what's going on. This is by far the best .Net book I've read so far and I'm only on Chapter 4. If you want to learn VB.net, order this book!