Windows Presentation Foundation Unleashed: A Review of Adam Nathan's Book

Windows Presentation Foundation (XAML) helps you to build true, classic Vista style applications for Windows and web environments. Many developers are eager to learn about this new technology and they are in search of good learning material. Adam Nathan has indeed done a good job by examining the complete features and functionalities of WPF in his latest book "Windows Presentation Foundation Unleashed."

The book consists of five parts including an Appendix. The first part provides a solid explanation to WPF, XAML and some of the important concepts in WPF. The second part introduces you to the controls shipped with WPF and various features, such as Sizing, Positioning, Transforming elements, and Panels. The final chapter discusses the deployment aspects of a WPF application. The third part provides a comprehensive overview about the various features, such as Resources, Data Binding, Styles, Templates, Skins and Themes. I feel that these chapters will be of great use for advanced developers.

Some of the interesting features of the book are colored screenshots and source codes, useful tips and FAQs at relevant pages, and additional reference material under the banner Dig Deeper. I feel that colored screenshots help a reader to taste the real essence of the code output. Moreover, the author has labeled certain portions of the source code, such as in Page 289, which will surely help a reader to understand the code much better. I must say that the book is highly code intensive. All the concepts have been examined only with codes and not using any development environment. I believe that tools such as Orcas and Expression Blend were not available at the time of the release of the book.

Part 4 explores the usage of Graphics (2D/3D), Animation and Audio/Video speech capabilities of WPF with the help of complete source code along with relevant explanation. I am amazed to see the kind of effort the author has put in to compile the facts in a meaningful manner. The final part delves deep into some of the advanced topics such as Interoperability, User custom controls and development of layout with custom panels.

The source code for all the examples along with complete table of contents, sample chapter and a list of errata can be accessed from the publisher's website. Moreover, you can also view the related information on the website maintained by the author at http://adamnathan.net/wpf/. The book also includes one Appendix which contains a list of tools and utilities available for WPF development. I would suggest the author publishes information about new tools available currently, such as Expression Blend on the Publisher's website so that readers can know about them as well.

I feel that the book will be of real value for all developers who wish to master the nuances of Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF).