This book is not for the experienced programmer. It is ideal as a beginner's guide to Visual C++.Net. It is not an in depth book, which is surprising, given the title and the 1500 page volume. However, the text is an extensive 'How to book'. It covers many areas of .NET and does provide a good starting point by giving many useful tips.

It begins by using a series of tutorials to explain and guide the reader. Then there is an introduction to Visual C++ .NET fundamentals. We are moved rapidly to more advanced topics including; multithreading, ADO .NET database integration, ASP .NET Web services, network programming and XML processing. The manual closes with a detailed treatment of unmanaged code, including attributed programming, Web-based application development with ATL Server and managed and unmanaged interoperability.

Developers will find that Visual C++ .NET offers them good flexibility in writing managed and unmanaged code and ATL-Server applications. However, the reader must remember Visual C++.NET is not 100% in compliance with C++ standards. Nevertheless, it is a good development language/tool to develop software.

This is a better than average book, ideal for somebody new to programming. It would not suit an experienced programmer.

[I think that the author means anyone who has any programming experience when he writes 'experienced programmers. Francis]