Rating:  - Fun to learn about virtual machines in general...
I'm more of a Java and Ruby developer, but I found this book fun to read anyway. It's a great read to understand how languages interact with core libraries and how it all fits together inside of a virtual runtime environment. Very well done.
Rating: - Another five-star review
Most of what needs to be said about this book has already been said. But I feel a need add my two cents, if only to toss another five stars out there.
Really, this one is an example of what a good technical book should be. It's style is both understandable and unpretentious and it covers topics with depth and clarity. The overall organization is such that it never seemed like that terms, ideas, and concepts were being used that had not been introduced previously. Reading this book was a true pleasue and I know I will be referring back to it many times.
The book provides a developer's view of the internals of the .Framework and its CLR. It's more than you need to know to hammer out a lot of code. But if you want to build really good apps - or just want to know what .NET is all about - buy the book, read it, and keep in at hand.
Rating: - Good book with caveats
This is a good book, considering it is primarily a reference/internals book. Those are notoriously hard to write and also be easily consumed. A bit dry at times, but for the most part is readable. The book also has minimal errors and is logically structured.
A couple of observations:
1. An experienced developer will benefit more from the content that someone with less experience or someone that is new to .NET. This book covers a lot of fundamentals, but you will learn more if you have time writing code in C#/.NET 2.0.
2. The factual content is quite useful, and most other books don't even come close to this. In addition to the facts, Jeff injects some of his opinion. An experienced developer will recognize these segments as opinion and reconcile that with the realities of their own work environment.
For example, Jeff prefers using the formal CLR syntax for primitive types over the C# shorthand (e.g., "Int32" instead of "int"). This of course is a matter of preference, and will most likely be determined by the coding styles and practices at your workplace.
Jeff also does not like Properties, and wishes that Microsoft had not included them as part of the framework. Again, an experienced developer will probably not read this and immediately stop using properties. It is not inconceivable however, that an inexperienced developer may read it and develop a bias against properties, something that may not be advisable.
Rating: - The seminal .NET work
There's not much I can say that hasn't been said already, but this is the single-most important book for a .NET developer. The author's technical writing ability is second-to-none. I have yet to find another source that covers the same material with the level of clarity and depth as this book. Until you've absorbed the information presented in this book, you'll never be more than an intermediate developer.
Rating: - The must-have .NET book
The only thing I can add to the other reviews is the perspective of a professional developer and mentor for over 10 years with a library large enough to start my own book store. The is THE book that every .NET developer needs to own and STUDY. It will help keep you out of trouble and help you create better product.
You will learn important things you will not learn elsewhere and find yourself referring to it again and again. Fortunately, you'll find this a very pleasurable experience as Richter is a terrific and entertaining technical writer.
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