Book Description
The author takes readers on an in-depth walkthrough of the Torque Game Engine—one of the most popular, powerful, and easy to use game engines available today. With clear explanations of how to use Torque to create your own games and detailed discussions of the engine's inner workings, this book is a must read for any programmer interested in making games for fun or profit. It offers
* Step-by-step examples,
* Detailed system descriptions,
* In-depth references,
* Practical tips, tricks, and more
that will provide readers all they need to understand the Torque Game Engine.
Customer Reviews:
Impossible to review.......2007-02-13
Impossible to review because after a month i have not received the book that I bought!!!!
By far the best book on Torque.......2007-01-15
I can't recommend this book highly enough, i have read all the docs and the website information plus the other two books on Torque but this one just shines. You can open it at random and learn something useful from every page. The Appendix contains the documentation that Torque lacks
Good Reference!.......2007-01-10
I liked very much. The book is a great idea for game developers discover and program games with Torque. Showing the way....
not a casual read.......2006-12-01
This is a good book to get if you are thinking of getting or have a copy of the torque engine. Be aware that you need some decent knowlage of OOP (object oriented programing). The more programming background the better. It does not make the best refrence book. It is however a good tool to learn the torque engine.
A complete reference..........2006-11-06
I wanted a reference that would allow me to learn and use the TGE. I was traveling and often didn't have a solid internet connection to view the online resources. The guide allowed me to move forward despite that... #1 book on the shelf when using this engine.
Average customer rating:
- Good for catch up!
- Graphic SF Reader
- Surprised Me
- One more great Bat-book *WARNING* Spoilers
- A Terrible Idea Done Incredibly Well
|
Batman: Under the Hood, Vol. 1
Judd Winick
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ASIN: 1401207561 |
Customer Reviews:
Good for catch up!.......2007-09-27
I was out of comics for a while, and picked this Graphic Novel, great way to catch up!
Graphic SF Reader.......2007-09-25
Another example of the often overused device of bringing super characters back from the dead. It is not done too badly here, though. The Jason Todd character, who people voted to get rid of, is brought back to be a destabilising force in Gotham City. He has become a vigilante, Punisher style, taking out the crooks around the place in a permanent shuffle off the mortal coil fashion.
Surprised Me.......2007-04-29
You know... I read some of the flaming reviews and thought this book was going to be horrible. I was wrong. The more I read it, the better I liked it, and the more I got into it. It's the first part of a two book series and I was really into it by the end of it. The art is fantastic! I don't know why the haters flamed this book. It's got some really great writing and super-duper art. I think the writer is that guy from the real world. Maybe that's why people were flaming him. I wasn't really into the guy on the real world but after watching iFanboy's video podcast on Revision3 and them picking one of his books I bought this book. It was great. He really knows what he's doing. I normally follow comic writers more than I follow characters and I'll be sure to pick up another one of his books. I really dug this book, not in the it was the most brilliant book ever, but in the it was really solid and enjoyable.
One more great Bat-book *WARNING* Spoilers .......2006-11-04
Few writers have the ability to truly capture Batman's essence. But Judd Winick pulls it off with little effort.
The art work here is nothing short of great, but it's not quite as good as Jim Lee's work in "Hush." Still, if you're looking for some great art and one of the best interpretations of The Joker, this is a book you shouldn't miss.
The story picks up shortly after War Games and Identity Crisis and leads directly into Infinite Crisis, if you read both volumes.
This first volume really concentrates on where Batman is as a hero and as a person.
During War Games Stephanie Brown, The Spoiler and Robin IV, is killed. For those who didn't know, Tim Drake quit soon after Identity Crisis due to the death of his father. It was very tragic, I suggest you read it before reading this. War Games lacks as a story but it's important to understand the events of this story.
Here we get the re-introduction of a character known as The Red Hood. He's out to take over the crime in Gotham City and sees both Black Mask and Batman as problems. However, his efforts are more concentrated on taking out Black Mask.
For those who remember, The Red Hood was the original identity used by The Joker before his chemical bath. This is a clue to Red Hood's actual identity, which most people figured out long before it was revealed in volume two.
Winick deserves a lot of credit for getting inside each of the characters he chose to focus on. Here he demonstrates a deep love and understanding of what makes Batman who he is.
The only person who probably understands Batman better than Winick is Jeph Loeb. However, given where this story eventually winds up, even Loeb might not have been able to pull this piece off with as much grace and style as Winick.
The problems with this book are few but they are there.
Some people will complain that this story undoes years of history and that it violates the character of Jason Todd and Batman and that Infinite Crisis was used as a cheap way of bringing Jason Todd back to life.
Maybe, but Jason Todd has played an intricate role in Batman's life ever since his death and it stands to reason that he would eventually make another appearance. Especially given that his death was caused by a 1-900 number instead of an editorial decision. His death was a clear example of why fans should not be allowed to determine the outcome of a story arc.
Given the choice between killing someone and letting them live, fans always seem to want death. Probably because they didn't actually believe DC would go that far.
Jason Todd really has made for a great villain and, in the hands of such good writers and artists, he's really making the most of his new lease on life.
Another thing Winick does better than most other writers is working humor into his stories. The dialogue Black Mask has with Mr. Freeze and The Red Hood is simply hilarious. I never knew just how funny his character could be until this story.
This story ends with a nice cliffhanger so you'll have to get the second volume to find out what happens. I suggest you do so and ignore the unjustifiable criticism, judge it for yourself.
A Terrible Idea Done Incredibly Well.......2006-10-18
I loved "A Death in the Family". The Joker's massacre of Jason Todd is still a haunting moment in Batman history. When I heard Todd had been revived and was back as the Red Hood, I thought it was a ridiculous idea. Picking up the volume I was welcomely suprised by just how good it was. The artwork is superb, the dialogue engaging, and the entire atmosphere addictive. The build-up to the Red Hood's unmasking was well paced, even if I allready knew the climax. Black Mask, as always in these recent titles, is a joy to read and a fantastic villain, now in control of the Gotham underworld. He is a ruthless, sadistic buisnessman with some very memorable, often hillarious lines. I was also happy to see a villainous gem like Mr. Freeze included. Very well executed.
Average customer rating:
- Good for catching up!
- Awful Writing, Inconsistant Art
- The art is good, however...
- A Dissapointment
- 0 stars is not an option
|
Batman: Under the Hood, Vol. 2
Judd Winick
Manufacturer: DC Comics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Superman/Batman Vol. 4: Vengeance
ASIN: 1401209017 |
Customer Reviews:
Good for catching up!.......2007-09-27
I was out of comics for a while, and picked this Graphic Novel, great way to catch up!
Awful Writing, Inconsistant Art .......2007-05-11
The first "Under the Hood" book was actually pretty good. Not the best thing I've read (far from it) but pretty good for mainstream superhero comics. It doesn't try too hard to be revolutionary, but it had a nice twist, a well paced story, and solid art. This second volume starts out with the same artist as the first, but switches after the second issue to a guy I have to say I don't really like. His linework isn't great, the inking is pretty bad, and the characters look really unbalanced, especially in their facial features.
But the art doesn't bring this book down as much as the writing does. The first 3 or 4 issues in this book are pretty easy to read and understand, but the last issue tears everything apart. It tries to explain why Jason Todd is back and fails miserably at it. I just had to put the book down on the last issue because the explanation was so utterly incomprehensable. Also the writer has no idea how to successfully write the Joker. He cheapens the character beyond belief.
If you like Batman stories I recommend something like "Batman: The Long Halloween" or even the FIRST "Batman: Under the Hood". Just don't buy this.
The art is good, however..........2006-10-12
Batman: Under the Hood 2 is overall a good item. It follows the events after the first volume in which it is revealed that the second Robin, Jason Todd, is still alive. This Red Hood is a vigilante who is willing to kill criminals. Batman must confront inner demons of guilt and try to stop Jason.
The art and inking is really good in this work, and the characters are pretty well-written. Jason still thinks that life is a "game" and believes that killing criminals is the only way to save Gotham. Batman, who refuses to kill, sees things differently.
Also, if you were curious how Jason came back to life, there will be some closure for you in this volume. The end came rather abruptly and unexpectedly, and I hope that a third volume shows up. Indeed, the way it was written strongly suggests that possibility. Overall, this is a good graphic novel.
A Dissapointment.......2006-10-02
After a great start to the year long "Under the Hood" Storyline, presented in the first volume, we are subjected here to string of fill-in artists to make up for the departure of outstanding series artist Doug Mahnke. Although Mr. Mahnke stays on for a few parts of this volume, the rest of the book is completed by Shane Davis, who does a great job, and Eric Battle, who makes a complete mess of the last two chapters. Sadly, the end result is a mish-mash of styles that the editors at DC could have avoided by changing artists only once, and at least trying to keep a consistant style throughout the book, which they failed to do.
The reviewer above points out some valid flaws in the storyline, such as the tie-in to the "Infinite Crises" mega-event from DC comics, which undermines the spirit of realism established in last year's outstanding Batman Begins movie as well as many fine Batman comics of the last two decades.
I disagree with the comments above regarding Black Mask, who is one of the better Batman villians of the last ten years. He has some funny one-liners and proves to be quite a menace to Batman, while the Joker is squandered as ussual.
Overall, the saga is worth reading, but your money would be better spent on the outstanding Batman and the Monster Men by Matt Wagner, or the classics like the Killing Joke, Year One, the Cult or Arkham Asylum.
0 stars is not an option.......2006-07-18
I still am against the idea of Jason Todd (especially), whose death added another tragic layer to the Batman mythos, returning from the grave. The impact and fear of losing one's life in a heroic act - the ultimate sacrifice one could make - is almost nil in modern comic books. Characters die and return from the grave almost constantly, an unfortunate cliche that has hurt the mainstream's view of comics-as-art and rendered death as nothing more than a temporary setback for superheroes.
Aside from the very concept itself, Jason's return is also poorly executed. The new Black Mask, who is woefully out of character, is still present. The Joker is sacrificed to Jason Todd's credibility. And how does Jason come back, you ask? What's the cool creative explanation that isn't a tired IC-related explantion that doesn't fit the Batman universe motif? *Spoilers*: Superboy-Prime punching the walls of a paradise in another dimension is the explanation. Jason wakes up in his coffin and digs his highly battered young body out of his coffin and 6ft of dirt using only his belt buckle. The coffin had sensors that could detect people getting in, but amazingly could not detect people getting out. What kind of crazy silly sensors are those? A new coffin is reburied, and the greatest, I repeat greatest, detective in the world, who forensically examines the coffin in all its minutia, neither notices the reburial or the new coffin. I couldn't make this junk up. A must not read for batfans, in my opinion.
Book Description
Get ready to roll up those shirtsleeves, pop the hood, and get a little Windows grime under those fingernails! This is a book about tools, nuts and bolts. Through lucid tutorials and examples, Windows XP Under the Hood shows how to use scripting and batch tools to automate repetitive tasks. You'll master the gory details of the automation, management, command-line and diagnostic tools that are often given short shrift in both online documentation and standard end-user books. Then, the detailed reference sections will keep you coming back time and again. This book will help you make the leap from accomplished user to bona fide Windows hero.
- Finally, a hardcore Windows book that digs into the XP interface while not putting the reader to sleep! Lively and written for Windows mechanics who live for more power.
- Learn how to create and deploy tools to manage your computers and networks. Here you'll find a straightforward introduction to scripting with VBScript, coverage of dozens of powerful programming and management objects, and from-the-trenches advice on distributing and managing your new toolkit.
- Learn how to master the Command Line. Many books cover Windows Script Host, but none of the others address the powerful and still-useful batch file language and command-line utilities.
- Clear, practical examples show how each scripting object, batch file or command line utility can change lives, make the dog behave, and eliminate bad hair days.
- Although Microsoft provides the tools, users are hard pressed to find much-if any-documentation on these tools. Rather than learning by osmosis, we suggest that you pick up a copy of this indispensable book.
Download Description
Get ready to roll up those shirtsleeves, pop the hood, and get a little Windows grime under those fingernails! This is a book about tools, nuts and bolts. Through lucid tutorials and examples, Windows XP Under the Hood shows how to use scripting and batch tools to automate repetitive tasks. You'll master the gory details of the automation, management, command-line and diagnostic tools that are often given short shrift in both online documentation and standard end-user books. Then, the detailed reference sections will keep you coming back time and again. This book will help you make the leap from accomplished user to bona fide Windows hero. Finally, a hardcore Windows book that digs into the XP interface while not putting the reader to sleep! Lively and written for Windows mechanics who live for more power. Learn how to create and deploy tools to manage your computers and networks. Here you'll find a straightforward introduction to scripting with VBScript, coverage of dozens of powerful programming and management objects, and from-the-trenches advice on distributing and managing your new toolkit. Learn how to master the Command Line. Many books cover Windows Script Host, but none of the others address the powerful and still-useful batch file language and command-line utilities. Clear, practical examples show how each scripting object, batch file or command line utility can change lives, make the dog behave, and eliminate bad hair days. Although Microsoft provides the tools, users are hard pressed to find much-if any-documentation on these tools. Rather than learning by osmosis, we suggest that you pick up a copy of this indispensable book.
Customer Reviews:
Excellent book.......2007-01-22
As a Windows author myself I tend to be very demanding when I look for books about the Windows operating system. I was overly pleased with both the book's content and presentation. This book never even found my bookshelf. It has a permanent home on my desk.
Great Technical Writer.......2005-08-10
Brian Knittel gets an A+ from me for being one of the most lucid technical writers I've ever read. I'm a social worker by day and a hobbyist at night who likes to tinker with the command-line. I have found the book easy to understand. Chapters are well laid out with ample reference sections. kudos!
delivers.......2004-08-21
This book opened my eyes as to the command line power that Windows actually has. Unix user may turn up their noses but even they have to admit WSH is pretty cool and smashes some of the traditional stereotypes about Windows only being for the technically challenged. The book does a good job of preparing you to start scripting in an MS environment.
Worth every cent you are going to spend.......2004-03-12
This book is perfect overview of VBScript and Scripting Windows XP. Author explains every aspect of Scripting without going into too much of details. Beginners will probably need additional info. But if you ask me nobody could do better job explaining of so many topics in one book. There are plenty examples you could use right away on the PC.
Thumbs up!!!
OK - But there are much better options.......2004-02-27
1. I find the organization of the book fairly difficult to follow. It just doesn't flow for me (can't figure out why the topics are organized as they are). Clearly this is a personal preference thing - but the following books all felt more clearly organized to me:
Microsoft Windows 2000 Scripting Guide
Managing Enterprise Systems with the Windows Script Host
Windows 2000 Scripting Bible
2. There's a lot of text, but not that much concrete/applicable information. I like books that teach by doing - lots of short/sweet examples to illustrate the points. This book seems to have repurposed a great deal of MSDN documentation to describe the detail of functions and objects, but isn't really laid out as a reference. It feels like an unhappy marriage of reference book and how-to.
3. There are a number of frighteningly basic/obvious errors in the book - which pretty much ruin the credibility of the author. Just a few examples:
3a. COM is defined as Common Object Model (it's Component Object Model)
3b. CIM is defined as Common Interface Model (it's Common Information Model)
3c. Knittel says all CIMv2 objects start with Win32_ (clearly not the case)
4. There's very little on WMI (Knittel himself says "...this chapter gives the barest introduction to WMI".
5. Knittel's command-line section doesn't address WMIC at all, which is inarguably the MOST powerful command-line tool introduced in Windows XP.
It's not terrible or totally wrong, I just don't think it's as approachable, as deep, or as credible as the books mentioned above.
Book Description
The Mac command line offers a faster, easier way to accomplish many tasks. It's also the medium for many commands that aren't accessible using the GUI. The Mac OS X Command Line is a clear, concise, tutorial-style introduction to all the major functionality provided by the command line. It's also packed with information the experienced users need, including little-known shortcuts and several chapters devoted to advanced topics. This is a book to get you started, but also a book you won’t soon outgrow.
Customer Reviews:
This book is more for Unix novices.......2007-04-08
I found 2 chapters to be very useful, Chapter 12 on Working with Users, Groups and Permissions and Ch. 14 on Managing Programs and Processes. The remaining chapters are pretty much standard Unix commands; but, very well written for Unix novices. Overall the book is well written that I would use it as a Unix reference for commands that I am familiar with (example, didn't know ls -F would show me the directories with a slash).
It is really good book, pleasure to spend time with........2005-09-24
OS X UNIX is amazingly friendly and accessible. Some people who had never used command line before, type commands and work with the operating system directly as a "cool guys" in movies! This book is very helpful and well written and it is serves as a very nice reference. If you really need the initial training I would say that "UNIX Essentials" DVD I found here on Amazon is a nice option. It is complete UNIX course recorded and this book and a video they contribute one another greatly. You improve the reading and by reading you improve what you have seen.
The book is very particular about the subjects that related to OS X and because there are some differences between OS X and other UNIXes it is nice to have a book that deals with it.
Mostly good stuff.......2005-09-10
Structured in a distinctive but helpful way, "The Mac OS X Command Line: Unix Under the Hood" is quite a solid introduction to the command line, a mechanism that not only speeds and simplifies many tasks but also lets you do a number of things unavailable under the GUI. Its 400+ pages, arranged fundamentally as a tutorial, are replete with basic steps and shortcuts alike. The book covers everything from Terminal ("gateway" to the command line) to the file system to text editing and printing; in the later chapters, it moves on to such relatively advanced topics as file compression and archiving, groups and permissions, networking, program and process management, system maintenance, and shell configuration. Interleaved between the chapters (and here is where the book's structure is distinctive) are sections devoted to key Unix concepts that recur to the point of transcending multiple chapters; these nine sections, referred to as Interludes, tackle things like command syntax, pathnames, redirection, the "open" command (more powerful than it may sound), wildcards, and ways of automating commands.
Besides obviously providing a nice treatment of the basics, the book offers plenty of advanced material for the experienced user. The index is nice to see and easy to use. Other nice touches are a command list, chapter summaries in the introduction, and an appendix with additional readings.
Allowing for a variety of problem areas, in large measure evidently outside the author's control, this is a book well worth reading and using. It is true that some of the editing errors are thoroughly confusing (references to subsequent material as supposedly already presented, references to misidentified chapters, related graphics positioned out of logical order, and so on); still, the book is redeemed by the readily understood and applied, comprehensive, and mostly well-organized content.
Chuck Brandstater
Clear and easy to follow.......2004-12-05
As anyone who's used one of Kirk McElhearn's other books on the Mac OS will be unsurprised to hear, I found this book very easy to follow -- so easy in fact that I found I could skip the first few chapters. That's probably because I'm not a complete command-line virgin (I remember the days before Windows and the first Mac OS, and as a web designer I've done a bit of tinkering in Unix on some of the web servers I use) but even if you are, from my impression of the first chapters, this book can tell you everything you need to know to start using the command line.
The book is designed as a chapter-by-chapter tutorial, teaching you the things you need to know in a methodical order, but it contains enough information, and has a good enough index, to be used as your main reference for the command line once you've mastered the basics.
My only criticism would be that while it tells you how to do all sorts of useful things, it doesn't have enough real-world, detailed examples of the kind of uses you could put your new knowledge to -- I was expecting some kind of 'case studies' feature, giving real examples of how to use commands you've just learned to automate your back-up procedures, for example. The information's all in there, but to some extent you have to work out what you can do with it for yourself.
But I guess that's only a minor criticism -- you probably wouldn't read this book in the first place if you didn't have some idea of the kind of thing you can do with the command line.
So all in all, it's a great starting point, and I can see that in the future I'm going to find it a valuable reference.
Customer Reviews:
average book.......2003-07-05
not enought examples, topics are not fully explain. not recommend for MFC beginner.
Best Book for Experienced Unix Programmers to Learn MFC.......1999-07-11
After searching for 3-4 years for the right book to learn MFC and Windows programming, I finally found it. Laura Draxler, you are a goddess for writing this very intelligent guide for experienced programmers to learn MFC and Windows programming. I hope you and Prentice Hall will extend a revise the book to cover advanced topics such as COM+. One of the real complaints I've had about other Windows programming books is they never made the connection between MFC and the underlying Windows architecture. This book is the RARE exception. Written for experienced programmers, it takes the reader from the basics of the Visual Studio tool suite, through most of the MFC controls, up to DLL's. Contains great illustrations and excellently documented code fragments.
Remove the mystery from Visual C++!.......1999-05-08
I have read all the popular books on MFC and C++. They all make assumptions that you understand the underpinnings of the environment. This book goes into explaining not only the most commonly used features of MFC with much clarity, but also explains numerous other details such as the use of .lib files and their role in conjunction with dll's. 'THE' MFC book!
Still the best book on MFC!.......1998-08-28
Best choice for those who want to learn MFC without missing the understanding of Windows! If you looked at hundreds of books on MFC and find it hard to pick the right one, read this book, it will prove to be most effective! I read it twice and I keep going back to it, especially when I have difficulties with MFC documentations. Code samples in this book are ready to use in your software and save time. Finally, this book is not too huge! It contains only necessary information and keeps the reader interested. Now, when Visual C++ 6.0 is out, all of the information in this book is still relevant since MFC hasn't really changed with this new release.
Amazon.com
The little old lady who knows all about fixing cars, Treganowan is the Martha Stewart of auto repair. She went into the auto-shop business in the sixties, became a popular success and went on to develop a cable TV show on car mechanics for those who are not mechanically-minded. (Co-author Catanzarite is the producer of the TV show.) Now she has a huge audience for her non-technical, no-fuss advice on how to keep your car on the road. She resists the obvious temptation to indulge in down-home folksiness and manages to convey in clear simple language the basics of do-it-yourself auto maintenance and repair.
Customer Reviews:
Outstanding.......2003-05-14
I bought my first car and this book at the same time. I have had many car problems in the past few years and this book was the only thing that made conversations with a mechanic seem almost painless. Lucille's book helps to identify smells, fluids, sound and much more. Without this book I'd never know how or when to change fluids, what smells or sounds to be concerned with. What is safe and what is not...even if a job will be very expensive! A great book, maybe the most well used book I've ever bought.
A great introduction.......2003-02-11
This was a great introduction for someone who knows very little about cars. She explains what the major systems of the car are (like the drive train, suspension, etc) and identifies key components (like the radiator and catalitic converter) and explains what they do in simple terms. My only complaint is that as someone who just bought a classic car and wants to really learn to be a weekend mechanic I wanted to know more about certain things and was frustrated by not being able to "double-click" to get more information about something she had described too generally. She really does explain things in an easy-to-understand and entertaining way and gives a great maintenance plan for the average car owner who wants to save money by doing it themselves or just know what mechanics are talking about so they don't get taken for a ride.
Lucille herself is quite inspiring - I'd like to know her! Stop by greasergrrls dot com if you like and say hi :)
A great reference for mechanically challenged drivers........1999-06-05
This book is a valuable reference for all drivers who would like to understand how their cars work and how to talk to and understand a mechanic. It is well written and organized. I learned what many of those squeaks, clunks & chirps mean & how to do my own maintenance. I'm giving Lucille's to my neice for her 16th birthday.
Book Description
Winter is here
and it's time to
put on your gloves
and mittens
and scarf
and hat
and...
Only award-winning poet Karla Kuskin and illustrator Fumi Kosaka could make bundling up for the snow so much fun!
Customer Reviews:
it's cold outside.......2005-01-17
In this simple picture story book we meet a little girl. She is getting all dressed for a day of playing in the snow. She puts on a hat and a hood and several sweaters. She's all dressed and goes outside. When she gets there she says that she hopes she doesn't fall down because she will never be able to get back up. She has so many layers on she can hardly move.
We read this story to my 1 ½ year old sister. She enjoyed looking at the winter time scence in the story as I read her th e book.
We recommend this book for kids ages 1-3. The text is short and simple.
Book Description
The Common Intermediate Language (CIL) is the core language of .NET. Although .NET developers often use a high-level language (such as C# or VB .NET) to develop their systems, they can use CIL to do anything allowed by.NET specifications--which is not the case for C# and VB .NET. Understanding how CIL works will provide you with a deep, language-independent insight into the core parts of .NET. This knowledge is essential for creating dynamic types, a powerful part of the .NET Framework.
In CIL Programming: Under the Hood of .NET, Jason Bock offers an in-depth tutorial on programming in CIL. First, Bock discusses the basics of .NET assemblies and manifests. He then shows how to create assemblies in .NET--including the ilasm directives and CIL opcodes, and how these are used to define assemblies, classes, field, methods, and method definitions. Bock also covers the ways in which C#, VB .NET, and other non-Microsoft languages emit CIL, and how they differ. Finally, he reveals how developers can create dynamic assemblies at runtime via the Emitter classes.
After reading this guide, you will gain a better understanding of CIL and how to program directly into it. CIL Programming: Under the Hood of .NET is a must-have on every .NET developer's desk!
Download Description
For the most part, .NET developers use a high-level language, such as C# or VB .NET, to develop their systems. However, the core language of .NET is the Common Intermediate Language, or CIL. This language is the language of .NET— developers can use CIL to do whatever is allowed by the .NET specifications, which is not the case for C# and VB .NET. Although it is unlikely that the majority of .NET developers will create their assemblies in CIL, understanding how CIL works will give them a deep, language-independent insight into the core parts of .NET. Furthermore, such knowledge is essential for creating dynamic types, a powerful part of the .NET Framework.
In CIL Programming: Under the Hood of .NET, Jason Bock covers the essentials of programming in CIL. First, Bock discusses the basics of what .NET assemblies are and how manifests fit into the picture. He then shows how to create assemblies in .NET— including the ilasm directives and CIL opcodes, and how these are used to define assemblies, classes, field, methods, and method definitions. Bock also covers how C#, VB .NET and other non-Microsoft languages emit CIL and how they differ. Finally, he reveals how developers can create dynamic assemblies at runtime via the Emitter classes.
After reading CIL Programming: Under the Hood of .NET, developers will have a better understanding of the CIL and how to program directly into it. A must-have on every .NET developer's desk!
Customer Reviews:
Great for learning Reflection.Emit.......2005-03-05
My goal in reading this book was not to learn how to write IL in notepad and compile it via ilasm.exe. I wanted to learn the basics of IL and learn how to use the Refelction.Emit namespace to create dynamic types at runtime. This book does a great job at teaching this. I think the two chapters about Reflection.Emit are the best in the book.
CIL - Microsoft's Assembly for .NET.......2002-12-24
Has this ever happened to you... There's this new technology or programming language that you're dying to learn, but there are no books. Finally, someone writes a book, you get the book from the bookseller (Amazon), you open the book, and you thumb through the pages. Well, that's the way I felt about learning Microsoft IL for .NET. I really was keen about learning .NET's "assembly language" because throughout my career I found that having low level knowledge about how a system is put together is very, very useful. Now, I'm not suggesting that you stop everything you're doing and run out to learn CIL programming. However, I believe that if you want to be a serious .NET professional, learning CIL should definitely be on your To-Do list.
So what about Bock's Book: "CIL Programming: Under the Hood of .NET"? In a word - disappointing. Bock spends most of the book's first chapter entitled "Language Interoperability" on detailed discussion of programs written in a variety of languages. He's trying to make the point that the CLR allows programs written in different languages to freely interoperate. Duh? Why spend the better part of the book's opening talking about everything but CIL. There's even an Oberon (?) programming sample here.
The second and third chapters on ILASM Directives, and, CIL Opcodes, respectively, read like my weekend shopping lists. While it is true that programming books have to regurgitate all the nasty details of the programming language, the good books tell its readers how to internalize the information and describe useful ways of summarizing the information in one's mind. That is, the authors of the better books have figured out some rhyme and reason to the language and they share these insights with their readers. On the other hand, this is what I found in these two most important chapters of Bock's book: the more I read, the more questions I had. I wound up spending significant time on the NET trying to resolve questions that were raised in the material in these two chapters. Clearly, the author did not anticipate these questions.
The fourth chapter, "ILASM and CIL in Practice" is a decent discussion of a typical sample program in IL. It demonstrates some of the IL constructs and programming concerns discussed in the previous chapters.
Chapter 6 is interesting. Here the author talks about and contrasts the IL generated by various programming languages. Some of the VB.NET and C# exposés were eye-opening, but then Bock goes back to Oberon again.
The author ends off the book in chapters 7 and 8 with some very long and tedious samples. I got nothing from this. Chapter 9, the last in the book, is a two-pager on "CIL Tips".
So why do I give this book 3 stars?
1) The book includes Chapter 5, a well-written and interesting discussion about CIL Debugging.
2) Right now, Bock's book is one of three books that talk about CIL. It is the only book that is targeted directly at programming. Although John Gough's "Compiling for the .NET Common Language Runtime" is an excellent book, it is very specialized and targets would-be compiler authors. I didn't read the third book in the IL arena, Serge Lidin's "Inside Microsoft .NET IL Assembler", but I did thumb through it several times (you know what little that is worth): this book strikes me as being very difficult.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
If you need to learn IL Programming right now, buy Bock's book - read the second half of chapter 1, and read Chapters 2-5, maybe Chapter 6. If you have the time, money, and inclination, then buy and read Gough's book. You'll need a lot of time for Gough, but you will definitely learn.
If learning IL is not that pressing right now, I would wait to see if someone else releases a better book.
CIL - Microsoft's Assembly for .NET.......2002-12-19
Has this ever happened to you... There's this new technology or programming language that you're dying to learn, but there are no books. Finally, someone writes a book, you get the book from the bookseller (Amazon), you open the book, and you thumb through the pages. Well, that's the way I felt about learning Microsoft IL for .NET. I really was keen about learning .NET's "assembly language" because throughout my career I found that having low level knowledge about how a system is put together is very, very useful. Now, I'm not suggesting that you stop everything you're doing and run out to learn CIL programming. However, I believe that if you want to be a serious .NET professional, learning CIL should definitely be on your To-Do list.
So what about Bock's Book: "CIL Programming: Under the Hood of .NET"? In a word - disappointing. Bock spends most of the book's first chapter entitled "Language Interoperability" on detailed discussion of programs written in a variety of languages. He's trying to make the point that the CLR allows programs written in different languages to freely interoperate. Duh? Why spend the better part of the book's opening talking about everything but CIL. There's even an Oberon (?) programming sample here.
The second and third chapters on ILASM Directives, and, CIL Opcodes, respectively, read like my weekend shopping lists. While it is true that programming books have to regurgitate all the nasty details of the programming language, the good books tell its readers how to internalize the information and describe useful ways of summarizing the information in one's mind. That is, the authors of the better books have figured out some rhyme and reason to the language and they share these insights with their readers. On the other hand, this is what I found in these two most important chapters of Bock's book: the more I read, the more questions I had. I wound up spending significant time on the NET trying to resolve questions that were raised in the material in these two chapters. Clearly, the author did not anticipate these questions.
The fourth chapter, "ILASM and CIL in Practice" is a decent discussion of a typical sample program in IL. It demonstrates some of the IL constructs and programming concerns discussed in the previous chapters. Chapter 6 is interesting. Here the author talks about and contrasts the IL generated by various rogramming languages. Some of the VB.NET and C# exposés were eye-opening, but then Bock goes back to Oberon again. The author ends off the book in chapters 7 and 8 with some very long and tedious samples. I got nothing from this. Chapter 9, the last in the book, is a two-pager on "CIL Tips".
So why do I give this book 3 stars?
1) The book includes Chapter 5, a well-written and interesting discussion about CIL Debugging.
2) Right now, Bock's book is one of three books that talks about CIL. It is the only book that is targeted directly at programming. Although John Gough's "Compiling for the .NET Common Language Runtime" is an excellent book, it is very specialized and targets (would-be) compiler authors. I didn't read the third book in the IL arena, Serge Lidin's "Inside Microsoft .NET IL Assembler", but I did thumb through it several times (you know what little that is worth): this book strikes me as being very difficult.
RECOMMENDATIONS:
If you need to learn IL Programming right now, buy Bock's book - read the second half of chapter 1, and read Chapters 2-5, maybe Chapter 6. If you have the time, money, and inclination, then buy and read Gough's book. You'll need a lot of time for Gough, but you will definitely learn.
If learning IL is not that pressing right now, I would wait to see if someone else releases a better book.
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