Anne Boehm
April 2009
ISBN: 978-1890774523
Another great Murach "paired page" book! They're still "focused on learning". This one is updated from the Framework 2.0 edition and features the new Microsoft technologies LINQ and the Entity Framework! (And ... the VB version of the book is available now. The C# version won't be here until late summer!)
LINQ to Murach
I've written several reviews of Murach books (mainly because I think they offer a really unique and valuable way to learn). I suggest that you check out some of the earlier reviews to see what's new and different about Murach:
And, of course, the previous version of this book:The Murach Difference: You can understand it
In the review of the previous version, I wrote, "If you've been trying to figure out ADO.NET by reading Microsoft's web pages, this book will be like water in the desert for you." You'll find that is just as true in the featured new technologies this time around, LINQ and the Entity Framework.
LINQ is Microsoft's Language Integrated Query and I've written about it a few times at this site. Most of my LINQ content is part of the Visual Basic .NET 2008 Express - A "From the Ground Up" Tutorial. According to Microsoft, LINQ is intended to, "apply to all sources of information, not just relational or XML data." Hmmmm .... that was what they said about ADO back when it was new. Making "one size fit all" is easier said than done.
Again quoting our friends in Redmond, the Entity Framework is intended to, "Eliminate the impedance mismatch between data models and between languages that application developers would otherwise have to deal with new features available in the upcoming version of ADO.NET." [sic] Not only confusing, but ungrammatical.
Here's Murach's description, "The Entity Framework is Microsoft's first attempt to address the mismatch that often exists between the structure of a database and objects used in an application."
Yeah ... I get that. Anyone who has worked with a database knows that fields in the database just don't translate well to variables in a program sometimes. This is why you need this book. Depending on Microsoft's documentation for things like this is a recipie for frustration.
What's Here and What's Missing
There's a lot in this book that is completely new. And, of course, to make room for it, they had to leave some things out. In addition to LINQ and Entity Framework, here's a box score of the rest of the changes:
What's Still In The Book
The first sections of the previous version are still part of the book, although Murach has organized it slightly differently:
- An introduction to ADO.NET programming
- How to use datasources and datasets for Rapid Application Development
- Three-layer Windows Forms applications
And that's good! These sections cover the basics of databases. Why and how databases are used in the real world doesn't change very much.
What's Missing
Don't worry! The new edition is still a hefty 700 pages long. You're certainly going to get a lot for your money.
To make room for all the new stuff, however, they eliminated:
- Datasets and Windows Forms applications
- Other data access skills
That's good too. In a new world of LINQ and Entity Framework, these topics are ... so "twentieth century." As I've stressed in my introduction to WPF on this site, Windows Forms is not the future; Presentation Framework is. Blending what's still worthwhile in the "other" section back into the rest of the book makes the whole thing tighter and better organized, too.
What else do you get?
Murach is continuing the feature of making an Instructor's CD available for this new edition in case you're thinking of using this book in an organized classroom environment. (It doesn't come with the book however. You have to contact Murach to get one.) The Instructor's CD includes:
- PowerPoint slides for classroom presentations
- Instructional objectives by chapter
- Test banks for all the chapters
- Solutions for the exercises in the book
- Student projects and model solutions
- Source code and data for the book applications
The appendices cover those nitty gritty details about installing the software you need to go through the book. (Did I mention that everything you need can be downloaded free of charge from either Murach or Microsoft?)
You also get a support download that expands into over two thousand files containing:
- Book applications
Full source code that you can run on your PC.
- The "Payables" Database
The database used by the applications, along with bat and sql files to manage it. Learn database administration along with programming! You even get a backup database to restore it to its original state.
- Exercise starts
Because this book is structured learning, there are unfinished exercises throughout to extend your learning experience. These 'starts' give you a push in the right direction to program the exercises.
