Programming WPF | 
 enlarge | Authors: Chris Sells, Ian Griffiths
Publisher: O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Category: Book
List Price: $49.99
Buy New: $28.98
You Save: $21.01 (42%)
New (35) Used (12) from $20.49
Rating:  55 reviews
Sales Rank: 42777
Format: Illustrated
Media: Paperback
Edition: 2
Pages: 863
Number Of Items: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 3.1
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 7 x 2
ISBN: 0596510373
Dewey Decimal Number: 005.2768
EAN: 9780596510374
Publication Date: August 28, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand new item. Over 4 million customers served. Order now. Selling online since 1995. Few left in stock - order soon. Code: I20081201033114S
| |
| Similar Items:
|
| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
If you want to build applications that take full advantage of Windows Vista's new user interface capabilities, you need to learn Microsoft's Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF). This new edition, fully updated for the official release of .NET 3.0, is designed to get you up to speed on this technology quickly. By page 2, you'll be writing a simple WPF application. By the end of Chapter 1, you'll have taken a complete tour of WPF and its major elements. WPF is the new presentation framework for Windows Vista that also works with Windows XP. It's a cornucopia of new technologies, which includes a new graphics engine that supports 3-D graphics, animation, and more; an XML-based markup language, called XAML, for declaring the structure of your Windows UI; and a radical new model for controls. This second edition includes new chapters on printing, XPS, 3-D, navigation, text and documents, along with a new appendix that covers Microsoft's new WPF/E platform for delivering richer UI through standard web browsers -- much like Adobe Flash. Content from the first edition has been significantly expanded and modified. Programming WPF includes: Scores of C# and XAML examples that show you what it takes to get a WPF application up and running, from a simple "Hello, Avalon" program to a tic-tac-toe game Insightful discussions of the powerful new programming styles that WPF brings to Windows development, especially its new model for controls A color insert to better illustrate WPF support for 3-D, color, and other graphics effects A tutorial on XAML, the new HTML-like markup language for declaring Windows UI An explanation and comparison of the features that support interoperability withWindows Forms and other Windows legacy applications WPF represents the best of the control-based Windows world and the content-based web world. Programming WPF helps you bring it all together.
|
| Customer Reviews: Read 50 more reviews...
One of the best technical books I've ever read [updated] September 30, 2007
Jesse Liberty (MA USA)
16 out of 18 found this review helpful
I've read hundreds of technical books; this is one of the best. Period, and without exaggeration.
Sells and Griffiths combine phenomenal insight into the technology with years of practical application and an extraordinary ability to convey highly technical material in a way that is clear, concise and coherent. I wish I knew as much as they, or wrote as well; and that is not false modesty: they are the gold standard.
The second edition builds on the foundations they laid in the first, but goes well beyond. If you bought the first edition do not hesitate to buy the second; it not only updates the material, but adds at least half again as much new information and greatly expands on the insights they have to offer.
There are other books on WPF well worth owning, but this book is absolutely mandatory. If you have only enough money for one, this is the one. If you can't afford this one, then give up Starbucks and start drinking Dunkin'... 'cause you have to have this one.
On a personal note, Ian has tech-reviewed one of my books, and I can personally attest to the depth and breadth and comprehensiveness of his knowledge. He knows whereof he speaks; and I've yet to find a single instance where his understanding was shallow, let alone wrong. He brings a rigor to his writing that is not marred by pedanticism, and together, he and Chris Sells have managed that most difficult of feats: a two-author book that speaks with a single, clear voice that leaves you with few questions.
This is a six-star book; don't hesitate. In fact, stop reading my silly review and buy the book.
[NB: My opinions expressed here are my own and do not reflect those of Microsoft Corporation, O'Reilly Media or any other entity real or fictitious. Your mileage may vary. Contents are hot. Void where prohibited.]
=====
Updated 2/24/08
I'm working on learning Silverlight 2 very fast. And I have very limited resources: the compiler (which is changing every day), the documentation (which is changing every day) and numerous books on WPF (which is very nearly a superset of Silverlight 2).
When I read through the 3 main books on WPF I liked them all, though at the time I gave this one the nod, albeit just barely. But now I'm not reading through them, my professional life is on the line. I have real work to do on very tight deadlines and tough concepts to understand fully (concepts like Dependency Properties and Routed Events) and little time to learn them fully and viscerally.
No other book comes close. The documentation is very good, but it doesn't come close. This book is by far the best resource and it is because Chris and Ian have the ideal combination of a deep understanding of the technology and an unusual ability to convey that to their target audience (which, as far as I can tell, is me).
Writing a book that can make powerful and important concepts immediately clear, accessible and usable is uniquely valuable, and makes this book a clear candidate for Programming Book of the Decade.
-Jesse Liberty
Senior Program Manager - Silverlight Development Division
Silverlight Geek
Author
(Opinions expressed are mine alone)
Learn To Use WPF & XAML October 21, 2005
Daniel McKinnon (Tewksbury, MA USA)
18 out of 23 found this review helpful
Wow things sure have changed since the early days of Windows programming!! The first thing that hits you as you open up '
Programming Windows Presentation Foundation' by Chris Sells and begin to learn how to program Windows for the future is how different things are compared to where they were just a few years ago when MFC was still the norm.
Gone are the confusing syntax of MFC and deciding whether to put things in the Document or View part of your application. Gone is the hard to follow API and gone are the basic graphics and simple controls that you once had!! As I went through this book I was truly astounded at how different programming in Windows will be for Vista... while daunting in HOW different this is from the past, I love that fact that Microsoft has worked to try and simplify things in that each "page" is like an application in itself. Since everything is class-based in .NET, each XAML page has its very own class associated with it that can be used to easy talk and populate the Vista page in question that you are coding.
It's quite clear that with the next generation of Windows, one of the main focus points was the graphical side of things. With WPF, there are a myriad of graphics APIs built in, and it's very easy to create shapes, animations, effects, etc. with a very simple set of code.
This is an important work, important because it is getting a taste of Avalon out to the public very early and will allow programmers to start getting familiar with it right away. The writing style is easy to follow and examples are present throughout to give the reader plenty of opportunity to see the next generation of Windows in all its glory. I was happily surprised to turn to the middle of an O'Reilly book and see COLOR pages to emphasize the kind of graphical abilities that are built in = nice touch!!
No doubt with this being a beta book that things will change as we get closer to the Vista release date, but this is a required read for anyone that will be programming on the newest generation of Windows in the future.
***** HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
Ignore the 2 and 3 star reviews April 25, 2008
Jason Goemaat (Des Moines, IA)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
I say to ignore those reviews because they do not refer to this book. This is the second edition published August 28, 2007 with 863 pages. Those reviews are based off of the first edition published nearly two years before (September 12, 2005) and with only 447 pages.
Using Amazon's 'Search inside this book' takes you to the 2005 edition also. That shows only 10 chapters while this edition has 17. Most of the negative comments from the 2 and 3 star reviewers seem to have been resolved.
Must have pre-release reference! December 30, 2005
JFo (Redmond, WA)
5 out of 6 found this review helpful
If you're thinking of learning "Avalon" before it releases this is a "must have" to get started. Combine this with some of the videos from the PDC[1] and you have a comprehensive introduction to "Avalon".
Some things have changed since the book was written, but Chris and Ian have a website dedicated to what has changed. If you type in the code and it doesnt work check the "Change Notes" page [2] first to see if its something they've noted.
There are several other books in the works by Chris Anderson [3] and Charles Petzold[4] which may also help after "Avalon" releases.
December 2005
[1]http://microsoft.sitestream.com/PDC05/Default.htm
[2]http://www.sellsbrothers.com/writing/avbook/
[3]http://www.simplegeek.com
[4]http://www.charlespetzold.com
Not Just XAML, Great on 3D February 26, 2008
Marcelo Lombardi (Minneapolis, MN, United States)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
The biggest strength of this book is that it focus on using WPF programatically, not just laying out XAML. This is extremely useful if you are writing an application for 3D data visualization or a database driven application. You get to learn to create event handlers, generate meshes... all programmatically. I also believe that this book is great, not just as a learning tool, but as a reference guide. It is the most comprehensive book on the subject and a must for the aspiring WPF developer.
If you just want to focus on XAML, however, I will have to recommend "Windows Presentation Foundation Unleashed" by Adam Nathan.
|
|
|
