I was looking forward to reading Inside Microsoft Visual Studio .NET (2003) as I have a need to extend Microsoft Visual Studio .NET - the focus of the book.

In the main I was not disappointed and even picked up some everyday usage hints. Most subjects are covered in detail, occasionally to the point of being slightly tedious. These mostly concern macros and the various forms of add-ins and topics related to them and include customising Visual Studio .NET help and designing setup projects, useful if you plan to distribute your add-ins.

In one or two places the book is less detailed, describing a solution based on the downloadable code that accompanies the book. This was understandable as these cases tended to require knowledge beyond the scope of the book such as writing ActiveX controls.

I found the material generally easy to read and understand but the text was marred by several obvious typos. Although covering the latest 2003 version of Visual Studio .NET most of the material also applies to the 2002 version. I particularly liked the notes and asides on tips, bugs and pitfalls, which will no doubt save hours of frustration.

On balance I think this book will prove to be as useful as I had hoped and I would recommend that anyone who wants or needs to know more about extending and customising Microsoft Visual Studio .NET take a look at it.Java& C#