The Mono Project is the much talked-about open source initiative to create a Unix implementation of Microsoft's .NET Development Framework. Its purpose is to allow Unix developers to build and deploy cross-platform .NET applications. The project has also sparked interest in developing components, libraries and frameworks with C#, the programming language of .NET.The controversy? Some say Mono will become the preferred platform for Linux development, empowering Linux/Unix developers. Others say it will allow Microsoft to embrace, extend, and extinguish Linux. The controversy rages on, but--like many developers--maybe you've had enough talk and want to see what Mono is really all about.There's one way to find out: roll up your sleeves, get to work, and see what you Mono can do. How do you start? You can research Mono at length. You can play around with it, hoping to figure things out for yourself. Or, you can get straight to work with Mono: A Developer's Notebook--a hands-on guide and your trusty lab partner as you explore Mono 1.0.Light on theory and long on practical application, Mono: A Developer's Notebook bypasses the talk and theory, and jumps right into Mono 1.0. Diving quickly into a rapid tour of Mono, you'll work through nearly fifty mini-projects that will introduce you to the most important and compelling aspects of the 1.0 release. Using the task-oriented format of this new series, you'll learn how to acquire, install, and run Mono on Linux, Windows, or Mac OS X. You'll work with the various Mono components: Gtk#, the Common Language Runtime, the class libraries (both .NET and Mono-provided class libraries), IKVM and the Mono C# compiler. No other resource will take you so deeply into Mono so quickly or show you as effectively what Mono is capable of.The new Developer's Notebooks series from O'Reilly covers important new tools for software developers. Emphasizing example over explanation and practice over theory, they focus on learning by doing--you'll get the goods straight from the masters, in an informal and code-intensive style that suits developers. If you've been curious about Mono, but haven't known where to start, this no-fluff, lab-style guide is the solution.

A wealth of open and free software is available today for Windows developers who want to extend the development environment, reduce development effort, and increase productivity. This encyclopedic guide explores more than 100 free and open source tools available to programmers who build applications for Windows desktops and servers.

When Microsoft introduced the Visual Basic .NET programming language, as part of its move to the .NET Framework two years ago, many developers willingly made the switch. Millions of others, however, continued to stick with Visual Basic 6. They weren't ready for such a radical change, which included an object-oriented environment similar to Java. They liked the old Visual Basic just fine.In an effort to win over those diehard VB6 developers, the company has included a new version of VB.NET in its upcoming next generation release of the Visual Studio .NET development platform. Visual Basic 2005 comes with innovative language constructs, new compiler features, dramatically enhanced productivity and an improved debugging experience. The language's new version is now available in beta release, and Microsoft is encouraging developers to give it a test drive.Visual Basic 2005: A Developer's Notebook provides the ideal test track. With nearly 50 hands-on projects, this practical introduction to VB 2005 will bring you up to speed on all the new features of this language by allowing you to work with them directly. The book summarizes the changes that VB 2005 brings, and tells you how to acquire, install and configure the beta version of VB 2005 SDK. Each project or experiment explores a different feature, with emphasis on changes that can increase productivity, simplify programming tasks, and help you add new functionality to your applications.This one-of-a-kind book also offers suggestions for further experimentation, links to on-line documentation and other sources of information, and practical notes and warnings from the author.The new Developer's Notebooks series from O'Reilly offers an in-depth first look at important new tools for software developers. Emphasizing example over explanation and practice over theory, they focus on learning by doing you'll get the goods straight from the masters, in an informal and code-intensive style. For those who want to get up speed with VB 2005 right away, this is the perfect all lab, no lecture guide.

Since development first began on Spring in 2003, there's been a constant buzz about it in Java development publications and corporate IT departments. The reason is clear: Spring is a lightweight Java framework in a world of complex heavyweight architectures that take forever to implement. Spring is like a breath of fresh air to overworked developers.In Spring, you can make an object secure, remote, or transactional, with a couple of lines of configuration instead of embedded code. The resulting application is simple and clean. In Spring, you can work less and go home early, because you can strip away a whole lot of the redundant code that you tend to see in most J2EE applications. You won't be nearly as burdened with meaningless detail. In Spring, you can change your mind without the consequences bleeding through your entire application. You'll adapt much more quickly than you ever could before.Spring: A Developer's Notebook offers a quick dive into the new Spring framework, designed to let you get hands-on as quickly as you like. If you don't want to bother with a lot of theory, this book is definitely for you. You'll work through one example after another. Along the way, you'll discover the energy and promise of the Spring framework.This practical guide features ten code-intensive labs that'll rapidly get you up to speed. You'll learn how to do the following, and more: install the Spring Framework set up the development environment use Spring with other open source Java tools such as Tomcat, Struts, and Hibernate master AOP and transactions utilize ORM solutions As with all titles in the Developer's Notebook series, this no-nonsense book skips all the boring prose and cuts right to the chase. It's an approach that forces you to get your hands dirty by working through one instructional example after another-examples that speak to you instead of at you.

There's nothing ordinary about JBoss. What began as an open source EJB container project six years ago has become a fully certified J2EE 1.4 application server with the largest market share, competitive with proprietary Java application servers in features and quality. And with its dynamic architecture, JBoss isn't just a J2EE server. You can alter the services to make J2EE work the way you want, or even throw J2EE away completely. After more than a million downloads, many JBoss users are no longer trying it out on internal test boxes, but rolling it out on production machines. JBoss: A Developer's Notebook takes you on a complete tour of JBoss in a very unique way: rather than long discussions, you will find code--lots of code. In fact, the book is a collection of hands-on labs that take you through the critical JBoss features step-by-step. You don't just read about JBoss, you learn it through direct practical application. That includes exploring the server's many configurations: from bare features for simple applications, to the lightweight J2EE configuration, to everything JBoss has in store-including Hibernate and Tomcat. JBoss: A Developer's Notebook also introduces the management console, the web services messaging features, enhanced monitoring capabilities, and shows you how to improve performance. At the end of each lab, you'll find a section called "What about..." that anticipates and answers likely follow-up questions, along with a section that points you to articles and other resources if you need more information. JBoss is truly an extraordinary application server. And we have an extraordinary way for you to learn it.

Maven is a new project management and comprehension tool which provides an elegant way to share build logic across projects. In terms of capabilities, Maven is an improvement to Apache Ant-thanks to numerous plug-ins and built-in integration with unit testing frameworks such as JUnit. Tired of writing the same build logic for every project? Using Maven, you can leverage the experience of the community to avoid the tedious process of creating yet another build script for each new project.Maven: A Developer's Notebook begins by introducing you to the concept of project object model (POM), and then offers further details on the essential features of Maven. Like all titles in O'Reilly's Developer's Notebook series, this no-nonsense book skips the boring prose and cuts right to the chase. It's an approach that forces you to get your hands dirty by working through a series of poignant labs-exercises that speak to you instead of at you.Plus, Maven: A Developer's Notebook is the first book on the subject to hit the market, so you know the information is fresh and timely. If you're a Java programmer, you'll be armed with all the critical information you need to get up to speed on this powerful new build tool. You'll discover how Maven can help you: manage a project's build, reporting, and documentation, all from a central piece of information break a complex project into a series of smaller subprojects report on code quality, unit tests, code duplication, and project activity create a custom remote repository build simple and complex plug-ins In the end, you'll find yourself spending less time working on your project's build system and more time working on your project's code.

Is there any sexier topic in software development than software testing? That is, besides game programming, 3D graphics, audio, high-performance clustering, cool websites, et cetera? Okay, so software testing is low on the list. And that's unfortunate, because good software testing can increase your productivity, improve your designs, raise your quality, ease your maintenance burdens, and help to satisfy your customers, coworkers, and managers. Perl has a strong history of automated tests. A very early release of Perl 1.0 included a comprehensive test suite, and it's only improved from there. Learning how Perl's test tools work and how to put them together to solve all sorts of previously intractable problems can make you a better programmer in general. Besides, it's easy to use the Perl tools described to handle all sorts of testing problems that you may encounter, even in other languages. Like all titles in O'Reilly's Developer's Notebook series, this "all lab, no lecture" book skips the boring prose and focuses instead on a series of exercises that speak to you instead of at you. Perl Testing: A Developer's Notebook will help you dive right in and: Write basic Perl tests with ease and interpret the results Apply special techniques and modules to improve your tests Bundle test suites along with projects Test databases and their data Test websites and web projects Use the "Test Anything Protocol" which tests projects written in languages other than Perl With today's increased workloads and short development cycles, unit tests are more vital to building robust, high-quality software than ever before. Once mastered, these lessons will help you ensure low-level code correctness, reduce software development cycle time, and ease maintenance burdens. You don't have to be a die-hard free and open source software developer who lives, breathes, and dreams Perl to use this book. You just have to want to do your job a little bit better.