Books by Matthew MacDonald

Focusing solely on Visual Basic, with no code samples duplicated in other languages, award winning author Matthew MacDonald introduces you to the very latest thinking and best practices for the ASP.NET 4.5 technology.Assuming no prior coding experience, you'll be taught everything you need to know from the ground up.

Expert advice guides readers through creating rich media applications using Silverlight in the environment they're most productive in - whatever the target platform. Full-color graphics and screenshots make this a must-have book for professional developers.

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.

Microsoft's Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) provides you with a development framework for building high-quality user experiences for the Windows operating system.

Silverlight 5 is the latest iteration of Microsoft''s cross-browser technology for creating rich user experiences on the Web. Like its predecessor, it rides atop the .NET Framework for maximum ease of use and coding efficiency. The new technology carries forward much of the work that has been done before and augments it in many important respects, including support for H.264 video, major improvements to the graphics engine (including true 3D rendering), and much richer data-binding options for interfacing with other applications.Pro Silverlight 5 in C# is an invaluable reference for professional developers who want to discover the new features of Silverlight. Author Matthew MacDonald''s expert advice guides you through creating rich media applications using Silverlight in the environment you''re most productive in—no matter what the target platform. As you learn about the features that put Silverlight in direct competition with Adobe Flash, such as rich support for 2D and 3D drawing, animations, and media playback, you''ll experience the plumbing of .NET and the design model of WPF through Silverlight—all of the same .NET technology that developers use to design next-generation Windows applications. Pro Silverlight 5 in C# is a comprehensive tutorial, written from professional developer to professional developer.Please note: the print version of this title is black & white; the eBook is full color.

When .NET first appeared, it introduced a small avalanche of new technologies. There was a whole new way to write web applications (ASP.NET), a whole new way to connect to databases (ADO.NET), new typesafe languages (C# and VB .NET), and a managed runtime (the CLR). Not least among these new technologies was Windows Forms, a library of classes for building W- dows applications. Although Windows Forms is a mature and full-featured toolkit, it's hardwired to essential bits of Windows plumbing that haven't changed much in the past ten years. Most significantly, Windows Forms relies on the Windows API to create the visual appearance of standard user interface elements such as buttons, text boxes, check boxes, and so on. As a result, these ing- dients are essentially uncustomizable. For example, if you want to create a stylish glow button you need to create a custom c- trol and paint every aspect of the button (in all its different states) using a lower-level drawing model. Even worse, ordinary windows are carved up into distinct regions, with each control getting its own piece of real estate. As a result, there's no good way for the painting in one c- trol (for example, the glow effect behind a button) to spread into the area owned by another control. And don't even think about introducing animated effects such as spinning text, sh- mering buttons, shrinking windows, or live previews because you'll have to paint every detail by hand.

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 evolving fast, and you need a reliable guidebook to make sense of it.With four–color graphics and screenshots throughout, Pro Silverlight 2 in C# 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 WPF 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.