Having already reviewed three other books on Windows Forms, it wasn't likely that I'd find anything too surprising in .NET Windows Forms in a Nutshell, by Ian Griffiths and Matthew Adams.

The first part of the book is an accurate overview of various features of the Windows Forms library. I was particularly glad to see a chapter on property grids, as they look to be a quick-and-dirty way to provide UI for user options. Kudos for mentioning that putting the user-displayed strings (for the property names, etc.) directly in the class attributes is not a good idea; it was nice to see how you could do proper localization of the control.

I was going to complain about the fact that the rest of the book is simply reference material for the many classes, enumerations, etc. provided by the Windows Forms library. Except I actually started reading through them, and found it interesting to read the short summary statements of each type to get a good feel for what is really available in the library.

I'm not actively doing Windows Forms development these days, so my opinion probably isn't very relevant, but I'd say that this could be a useful reference book to have on your shelf when working with Windows Forms.

Coder to Developer, by Mike Gunderloy, is a unique book that should be read by every software developer. In particular, you should read this book if you are working solo or in a small group, if you are working with the .NET Framework, or if you are new to the software industry.

The book is an unusual mix of general and specific advice about project planning, source control, unit testing, bug tracking, etc. Quite a bit of the material is helpful descriptions of currently existing tools, which makes it very useful for the developer of 2004, but will certainly become dated as the months go by. Still, the general advice is solid, and each chapter ends with a bullet list summary of the main points, which would be great to review whenever you are starting a new software project.

Coder to Developer is a short, inexpensive book, and it is a great collection of the “little things” that every developer needs to worry about when they're developing quality software. As such, I highly recommend it.

I'm a weed puller, too. Glad to know I'm not the only one.

Herb Sutter on C++/CLI (also from the April 2004 C/C++ Users Journal) [emphasis mine]:

“C++ and C++/CLI are actively collaborating to respect C++ evolution and craft high-quality C++ language extensions that will help to ensure C++'s continued relevance, nay supremacy, on important platforms.” And earlier in the article: “They [the C++/CLI revised extensions] make developing for the CLI/.NET platform in C++ a first-class experience, just as easy as in Those Other Languages you may have heard about that might sometimes claim to be the Last Word on that platform.”

I can't wait.

I still try to read trade magazines on occasion, and I thought I'd share this great programmer's blessing I found at the end of Alexandrescu and Held's article in the April 2004 C/C++ Users Journal:

May you be referenced for a long, long time.