About the Author

Philip Conrod has authored, co-authored and edited over two dozen computer programming books and tutorials over the past 30 years. Philip holds a Certificate in Computer Programming for Business from Warren-Tech, a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Information Systems and a Master's certificate in the Essentials of Business Development from Regis University. Philip has held Information Technology leadership roles in companies like Sundstrand Aerospace, Safeco Insurance, FamilyLife, Kenworth Truck Company, and PACCAR Inc. Today, Philip serves as the Chief Information Officer for large manufacturing company based in Seattle, Washington. In his spare time, Philip still enjoys writing and publishing computer programming books for students and he serves as the President of Kidware Software. Kidware Software LLC publishes computer programming books and tutorials under the trade names of KIDware, Kidware Software, BibleByte Books and ComputerScienceForKids.com. Lou Tylee holds BS and MS degrees in Mechanical Engineering and a PhD in Electrical Engineering. Lou has been programming computers since 1969 when he took his first Fortran course in college. He has written software to control suspensions for high speed ground vehicles, monitor nuclear power plants, lower noise levels in commercial jetliners, compute takeoff speeds for jetliners, locate and identify air and ground traffic and to let kids count bunnies, learn how to spell and do math problems. He has written several on-line texts teaching Visual Basic, Visual C# and Java to thousands of people. He taught a beginning Visual Basic course for over 15 years at a major university. Currently, Lou works as an engineer at a major Seattle aerospace firm. Lou and his family live in Seattle, Washington.

Reviews

"Most computer programs in use today require some interaction with information stored in a database so learning to program with databases increases the marketability of a developer exponentially. This book is structured as a self-study guide but it is easily adapted to classroom lectures and discussion. The content of the book is excellent. It starts with the basics and graduates in small and clear but functional increments. It makes database programming much easier to teach and learn. "Visual C# and Databases" provides a complete, thorough, and easy to understand explanation of database program development from two people who came up through the ranks as software developers. Their examples reflect real-world applications that will help new developers quickly master database software development. Students can easily convert and expand the examples for their own applications. For example, the Books Database in Chapter 4 could easily be modified to search a similar database of cars, bikes, or passwords, etc. Examples are created using Microsoft's Access database management system (DBMS) and SQL Server. This makes it easy for the student to compare their capabilities and syntax. I have sincerely enjoyed reading and working through the examples in, "Visual C# and Databases." The examples are clear and easy to follow. If I had any questions or if my code did not work I could simply peek at the authors' completed code examples to get back on track. Throughout the book the authors bring attention to the importance of user interface (UI) design. This is more important than may be obvious at first but developers tend to focus on the code and forget about the UI but eventually someone needs to use this program so a functional and attractive presentation of the program can be the difference between success and failure of the end product. A major plus for this text is how the authors include additional and very useful parallel topics such as the On-Line Help system created in HTML in Chapter 5 and the Graphics Methods in Chapter 7. The book is not about HTML or graphics but the coincidental inclusion give the student a valuable glimpse at other topics of importance. These are just two examples that didn't have to be included but they are added as part of other chapters and will ultimately benefit the student. This took a lot of forethought by the authors and demonstrates the real value of the book. As a programmer, a long-time college professor, and as the former head of the Computer, Engineering, and Business Department, I have reviewed countless programming books for most of the popular programming languages. "Visual C# and Databases" by Conrod and Tylee is my favorite text for helping developers make the leap into the rewarding field of database development. I highly recommend this book for anyone who is serious about becoming a professional software developer/engineer." - David B. Taylor, B.S.E.T., M.A.Ed., Ed.S., Former Professor and Department Chair, Computer, Engineering, and Business, Seminole State College, Sanford, Florida"I bought and used Learn Visual C# followed by the Visual C# and Databases course. I quickly and relatively easily became a very useful member of the team developing a medical database project because I was the only physician with a background in both the medical and programmer knowledge necessary to communicate intelligently with both doctors and programmers. Both of the courses were enough to help me continue to be productive." - Dr. Harry Goldstein M.D., Netanya, Israel