Silverlight is Microsoft’s application development framework for developing rich Web applications. The Silverlight plug-in is a lightweight version of .NET, which is hosted in a browser. Silverlight provides a very capable but trimmed-down version of Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), and allows developers to write client-side applications in C# and other .NET languages. Silverlight is strong competition for Adobe Flash.

Readers with no knowledge of WPF will need to learn much new material, new ideas, and new ways of thinking. Fortunately, this book is a rewarding endeavor.

The first two chapters are good introductions to Silverlight and Extensible Application Markup Language (XAML). The next five chapters cover the essential core of Silverlight, including layout, navigation, Silverlight elements (from borders to textboxes and togglebuttons), the Silverlight application model, and the key concepts of dependency objects and routed events.

The next four chapters cover material for creating eye-catching interfaces--drawing and manipulating two-dimensional (2D) graphical content, making the interface dynamic with animation, and adding video and sound.

The remaining chapters cover material for creating really useful applications: data binding and controls, creating Web services that can be called from Silverlight, Silverlight’s support for multithreading, and support for getting data from non-.NET network sources.

This book does for Silverlight 3 what MacDonald’s excellent book [1] does for WPF. Since WPF and Silverlight have much in common, it is no surprise that the books are very similar, with parts that are virtually the same. A side-by-side comparison of the corresponding topics in the two books is an excellent way to compare and contrast WPF and Silverlight, to learn one if you have knowledge of the other, or to learn both at the same time.

This book is printed in color, and it is surprisingly easy on the eyes. It is well written, with only a few very minor typographical errors. The author understands what detail is important and what is not. The short code examples clearly illustrate the feature being discussed. Only important C# and XAML code is given--not boilerplate code. The full C# and XAML code is available on the publisher’s Web site.

As in WPF, much of the graphical user interface (GUI) programming is in XAML--most of which is created by appropriate visual tools in Visual Studio or Expression Blend 3. Developers can tweak the XAML code and add appropriate code to the generated “code behind” code. Since the current versions of Visual Studio and Expression Blend work well together, the developer can use Visual Studio and the graphic designer can use Expression Blend. Of course, many developers will use both. This book is aimed at C# programmers and does not cover Expression Blend.

This book assumes knowledge of the .NET platform, C#, and the Visual Studio development environment. Since much of Silverlight is borrowed from WPF, knowledge of WPF would be useful. The book has no exercises and is not a textbook, but it could be used effectively as a textbook for motivated students who have a knowledge of C#. Anyone with the assumed background knowledge can easily use the book to learn Silverlight. This excellent book is most suited for a C# developer who wants to develop rich Web applications. It is very well written and an excellent resource, especially for its intended audience. I recommended it highly.