I will break the suspense right away: this book is a disaster.
Under the pretext that it seems to turn to "beginners", it explains absolutely nothing. It is not long, but one might say that it is to focus on the essentials. Unfortunately, this is not the case.
The architecture of the chapters is often as follows (fifteen pages per chapter):
- An introduction of platitudes that do not advance anything (or so high level that it is of no use)
- A list of classes used for the topic of the chapter. For each class, a few words on each considered important function. Still very high level or with undefined concepts / explained, so we often do not understand the subtleties (seen on the internet later)
- When he would explain "how to" run these classes together, go your way. You find yourself in front of an "exercise", which is actually a tutorial where you are told what to copy / paste, without of course to explain at all how to walk the bits of code that you enter in the sources we live in "compiled by pressing F6".
To take a concrete example, the Binding is absolutely not explained. The author explains the design pattern "observer". Then it gives members "DependencyObject" and "DependencyProperty." It does not explain how it all works together. By cons after you know what code you need to copy / paste to run the example.
Second case in point: after showing how a Binding very simple walk, you find yourself next to a code involving DataContext and related resources. No explanation. So we seek "Data Usage" in the index: missing. So we close the book and say definitively that we learn nothing.
Difference between x: Name and x: Key that are used in different places in contexts that seem similar to the untrained eye? You dream!
In short, the author says how the example he built, but gives no weapon to understand the underlying concepts. So when you want to make your app, you will not be more advanced than before I read these 300 pages, except perhaps on some additional elements that we still glean in passing (Model-View-MODELVIEW).
But clearly, the game is not worth the candle.
I certainly gives the impression of being put together against this book, but it is not wrong: no educational value, is like reading the source code downloaded from the Internet. No need to book for this.
I can not imagine who could enjoy such a book. I read a book prog package that far, but none has been as frustrated me.
