Pro Silverlight 2 in VB 2008

By Matthew MacDonald

Silverlight is a lightweight browser plug-in that frees your code from the traditional confines of the browser. It's a rules-changing, groundbreaking technology that allows you to run rich client applications right inside the browser. Even more impressively, it's able to host true .NET applications in non-Microsoft browsers (like Firefox) and on non-Microsoft platforms (like Mac OS X). Silverlight is still new and evolving fast, and you need a reliable guidebook to make sense of it.

With four-color graphics and screenshots throughout, Pro Silverlight 2 in VB 2008 is the perfect reference: you'll learn about the features that put Silverlight in direct competition with Adobe Flash, such as rich support for 2D drawing, animations, and media playback, and best of all, you'll experience the plumbing of .NET and the design model of Windows Presentation Foundation through Silverlight--all of the same .NET technology that developers use to design next-generation Windows applications. Author Matthew MacDonald provides an expertly crafted tutorial written from professional developer to professional developer. You'll learn to create rich media applications using Silverlight in the environment you're most productive in-no matter what the target platform.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1430216026
• ISBN13: 9781430216025
• Release Date: December 2008
• Publisher: Apress
• Length: 605 Pages
• Weight: 2.23 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.6" x 7.0" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

One of the most thorough books on Silverlight

Bought this book about a month ago and couldn't be more pleased. (well, I wish I had bought the C# version since I recently decided to switch, but that's beside the point). I have several other books specifically detailing data access, web services, and animation within Silverlight, but even after reading those, I was pleased to learn several new aspects of each area just in the chapters dedicated to those areas in this book. This book is very thorough without becoming boring. The examples are provided in full in most cases in the book and its easy to follow whether you are simply reading through or trying to follow along while coding. There are also several inset "Tips" every several pages which help to explain the reasoning behind why something is happening or how/why Silverlight differs from WPF. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is eager to program with Silverlight 2. Even if you already are familiar with the software as a whole, this book is a solid reference that is well organized and easy to digest.

wonderful book on the subject

just recd the book today but so far seems to be VERY comprehensive & well written especially for old vb programmers like myself looking to include silverlight 2 in their projects. also like that we can easily download sample code from the website. STRONGLY recommend & will actually look to see what else the author has written for vb!