development

This is definatley the most comprhencive and infomative book about pocket pc out there.

Buy this book first, you will not regret it.

I have some .NET C# experience, and this book is great. If you were new to C# it would probably be difficult, but for those with some .NET experience this book is perfect.

I expected the book would come with a CD containing code samples, but you have to download them from Microsoft.
http://www.microsoft.com/mspress/books/companion/5960.asp <-, then click on Companion Content.

-Matt
Listening to: 'God Fearing Man' from 'Fight For Your Mind' by 'Ben Harper' on Media Center 9.1

For a little background, I've read about 10 .NET books. I have the MCSD.NET certification. And I've previously done some programming for the Palm PDA. I'd actually have to say that this is the best .NET book I've read, period. It's clear, it's generally to the point, and it covers everything I need to get well on my way to developing enterprise-level applications. HOWEVER, you do need some background in C# or Visual Basic.NET. It doesn't teach you those languages, nor should it. But it does give you all the code examples you need to readily accomplish every subject each chapter covers. By the way, all the code examples are in C#, but anyone who knows Visual Basic.NET probably knows how close the languages are, so there should be little problem understanding and converting the examples.

You do need Visual Studio .NET 2003 to develop apps for the Compact Framework. The book does a cursory job of explaining VS.NET, but a good job of explaining the emulators included with it. Unfortunately .NET is not an environment a hobbyist can pick up anymore like eVB might have been. You need to understand object orientation now, which if you haven't done it before, is a hurdle that takes people a little bit to get over. And things like the additional worry about security, Web Services, and ADO.NET (which requires knowledge of data modeling) have made it even more complex. This is a "professional" book written for experienced people.

The book does an excellent job of explaining interaction with a host SQL Server, fully covering RDA and merge replication. Throughout the book it points out the differences between the full .NET Framework and the Compact Framework as it addresses each subject. There are significant differences between the full framework and the compact onewhen working with SQL Server and the book handles them well.

It also covers graphics programming as well as you'll need for any business application, with examples of some nice charts and pie graphs. It also covers security fairly well and touches on interacting with Web Services. There is no real coverage of ASP.NET.

I'm usually not a huge fan of Microsoft Press books because they're sometimes incomplete while at the same time not very concise. Not the case with this one. Even though it's 700 pages, there isn't the usual 400 pages of inconsequential filler to waste your time with as in most other large programming books. I feel that this is probably the only book I will need to buy on the Compact Framework.