I just read Windows Forms Programming with C#, by Erik Brown. Well, okay, I skimmed some of it; I can't be expected to read every word of these multi-hundred-page programming reference books.

The book is very focused on Visual Studio .NET, which, of course, isn't bad if you do all of your development in that environment, and don't mind certain things being done behind the scenes, but when I'm learning a new technology, I like to stay away from the big tools. To be fair, he frequently shows and explains critical segments of the source code that is generated by VS.NET, so it isn't all that bad.

The chapters of the book follow the development of a “photo album” application, one step at a time. I really liked this approach; the book flows well from beginning to end. If I was less experienced in Windows and .NET programming, and had a bit more time on my hands, I'm sure I would have greatly benefitted from developing the application right along with the book, experimenting along the way. As it stands, many chapters didn't include much that I couldn't figure out from the documentation. That said, I think that the book makes a far more accessible reference guide than the documentation, and when next I work with a Windows Forms control that I'm not familiar with, I'll be sure to read more carefully the chapter in the book that describes it. The “visual index” in one of the appendices (and on the front and back covers) looks like a great way to quickly find the section of the book that describes any given component.

The most interesting chapter to me was the one on data binding. This book is one of the few that doesn't require the installation and use of an SQL database; it was refreshing to see that data binding is possible even with simple .NET objects. I'll think I'd better read that chapter again...

There are many topics missing from the book – security, localization, deployment, etc. – so you'll have to find another source for material that covers the entire software development process for a Windows Forms application. All in all, I think the book does a good job of introducing the reader to Windows Forms development under VS.NET, providing enough detail to figure out what is possible so you can start coding.