Book Review: Database Programming with C#
In these days when all publishers rush to press with their 800+ page
offerings on the new .NET technology, it is quite refreshing to
find an author that truly knows the subject matter, and knows how to
communicate the information without simply rewriting the online product
documentation. While reading this book I had the feeling that the author, like
me, made his living doing database programming with C#.
The author, Carsten Thomsen, says that this offering is based on his
earlier book Database Programming with VB.NET. It seems clear
that both his prior experience in writing about this topic, and his prior
experience with database programming in general have been combined to
produce not only a great tutorial, but also a good reference.
Database
Programming With C#
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Table of Contents
Part One - Getting Started
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A Lightning-Quick Introduction to C#
Part Two - Database Programming
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Using Databases
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Presenting ADO.NET: The Connected Layer
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Presenting ADO.NET: The Disconnected Layer
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Presenting the IDE from a Database Viewpoint
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Exception Handling
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Using Stored Procedures, Views, and Triggers
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Hierarchical Databases
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Message Queues
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Data Wrappers
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Data-Bound Controls
Part Three - Example Applications
Appendix A
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Using XML with SQL Server 2000
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Highlights
Although this book is written for the intermediate level programmer and above,
there is certainly no reason a beginner can't absorb much of this information.
There is a good, brief review of C# and Visual Studio basics. The
introductory information also covers many relational database
basics and includes a great, succinct review of normalization.
The examples throughout the book all show good C# programming
practices. In both the introductory information and also throughout
the examples, the author explains the differences between different
connections including OleDb, Sql and Odbc.
Specific examples are provided for the following:
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MySQL 3.23.45 or later
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Oracle 8i or later
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Microsoft Access 2000 or later
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SQL Server.
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XML with SQL Server 2000
All of the examples seem to appear free of errors or other problems
found in some of the "rush-to-press" books I've reviewed.
The more advanced topics, such as exception handling and using
delegates to handle events is very well explained with easy to understand
examples.
Summary
Thanks, Carsten. Database Programming with C# gets a
very high recommendation.
Steve Sharrock - www.AspAlliance.com/shark /
www.SharkCode.com
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