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a new mono book

Sunday, January 01, 2006 9:56:22 AM

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People interested in mono generally come from one of 2 camps, either they are .NET developers looking to port their skills and their applications to linux/unix/Mac OSX or they are experienced linux users who would like to take advantage of the rapid application development abilities inherent in .NET and now available on linux via mono. I would say this new book from Apress is great for those coming from the linux camp who need an introduction both to .NET and the mono implementation of .NET.

While experienced .NET folks will find some good nuggets in this book, especially Chapter 7 which introduces GUI development using Gtk+ and Glade, the bulk of the book would be review unless you are a beginner in .NET.

But thats the beauty of mono for .NET developers, if you know .NET you already know 90% of what you need to know to develop cross platform applications targeting both mono and .NET. The other things you need to learn are really just learning linux and some mono specific extensions of .NET that you may wish to take advantage of. I think it is well worth it to learn that other 10% and get your feet wet in the world of linux and open source.

I suppose there is also a third camp of folks out there who are niether experienced in linux nor .NET but are interested in learning both simultaneously. This is also a great overview for people of that ilk.

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re: a new mono book

Sunday, January 01, 2006 12:26:43 PM shw

Nice book - too bad it is so expensive for a person like me (in Poland). As for me - I've started to interest in .NET because of Mono. Without mono .NET is just something slower than c++, and maybe good for small, "have to be done fast" apps - with mono it is big, powerfull and what is most important - cross-platform technology - and that's why I've started to interest myself in .NET

re: a new mono book

Sunday, January 01, 2006 12:41:44 PM Joe

I have to agree I wish they had made it a paperback and priced it a little lower.

re: a new mono book

Monday, January 02, 2006 2:41:12 AM Romulo

I want to know : how I can buy it? Where?. I live in SudAmerica, Chile. How or Where I can request it?.
Thanks in advance

re: a new mono book

Monday, January 02, 2006 3:04:59 AM Joe

Amazon (www.amazon.com) has it but its a little cheaper at bookpool (www.bookpool.com)

I'm not sure about the international shipping though, given that its already more expensive than it should be, by the time you add overseas shipping I'm not sure it would be worth it. Most of what is covered you could also learn from a less expensive book on .NET

re: a new mono book

Monday, January 02, 2006 4:58:07 AM Eric Windisch

I don't think this is that expensive. $50 might be slightly more than other books, but not much more so. The cheapest programming books are about $35, but most are $40-50. Thats pretty common. I'm actually glad to see books go hardcover!

Cheers :)

re: a new mono book

Monday, January 02, 2006 2:11:05 PM shw

you see - for americans maybe $50 is something normal but here in Poland $50 is almost 2/10 of what can earn in one month - it is about 2 times more than most expensive books about programming that you can buy here [and they are expensive already]. i would like to read it in original because i don't trust polish translators :) this book can be bought as e-book for $25 which is more acceptable - but e-book.. when it comes to reading books - i like to do it old fashion way - with paper in my hands :) but AM Romulo - if you really want this book - on apress page you can buy this book for $25 as an ebook

re: a new mono book

Wednesday, January 04, 2006 5:13:22 AM El gorila

Link ebook pdf version please

thanks

link to eBook version

Wednesday, January 04, 2006 8:59:04 AM Julie

The eBook can be purchased by going here: http://www.apress.com/book/bookDisplay.html?bID=10027.

Under the cover image, click on the "Purchase as eBook" button.

re: a new mono book

Sunday, January 08, 2006 11:00:47 PM Corwin

I've only noticed a couple of mono books. Is this the best book or would you recommend something else for someone who has some .NET experience but limited knowledge of mono?

re: a new mono book

Monday, January 09, 2006 3:08:51 PM Joe

I haven't seen the other books so I really can't say about them.

A good chunk of this book covers learning C# and core .NET concepts like using ADO.NET and Xml, Windows Forms, ASP.NET, the CLR etc so depending on where you at already with .NET those parts may or may not be what you're looking for. The book does walk through some things using MonoDevelop and has a good chapter on using Gtk+ and Glade.

Hope it helps

re: a new mono book

Monday, January 09, 2006 3:14:05 PM Eric Windisch

shw: I understand your view, and you're right -- as an American, its hard for me to see it that way -- even if I do know what its like in countries like Poland.

Btw, my wife was born and raised in Poland. She goes back every year, I go about once every other year. While I certainly don't know what its like to live there, I have seen a glimse.

We have considered moving there, but not until I can get my own business to a point that it can sustain us there without additional income -- probably this, or next, summer.

re: a new mono book

Tuesday, January 10, 2006 2:29:27 PM shw

Eric: I was not attacking you or something - I was just saying that this price is a little big for programmers from other countries - like Poland. You see - here you can buy a book about programming - it's not a problem, but - there's only 1 good publisher [for books about "computers"] - helion. There prices are starting from about 70 PLN - it is about $20 [for some reasonable book - 300+ pages and so on] - and you can say it is not much.
But as a beginnig programmer I earn 1000 PLN for 100 hours of work - and I think I am very lucky. So to buy a good book, in a hard cover I have to spend at least 1/10 of my salary. And taht book will be translated by some guy which not always know what he's writting about, book a little old - so.. only reasonable choice I have to be in touch with, let's say .NET is to read on the internet, because even if I would like to buy a book in english I would have to spend 50$ = 150 PLN + shipping costs - something I can't afford :/

If you'll move to Poland - you can contact me - we could start business ;)

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