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Unusually, this book's title actually describes it fairly well. The book is an introduction and overview of all sorts of client/server (C/S) issues on the Win32 platform. Starting from the basics of what C/S development is all about, the author describes various important technologies such as ODBC, Netware, Named Pipes, WinSock and Remote Procedure Calls (RPCs). There are also several overview chapters, as discussion of some tools besides C/C++ and the author's thoughts on the future of C/S development. To my surprise, I could find no reference to CORBA or DCOM. As far as the book goes, though, it covers its ground sufficiently to give you a basic understanding of each technology. I particularly liked the way he talks you through the examples.

The example code, which is supplied as source and executables on the disc, is in a mixture of C and C++. The code is passable, although the author hardly ever uses const, casts things too much for my liking and doesn't use any of the recent additions to C++. He is very much a practitioner and there isn't necessarily anything wrong with this approach.

If you are new to C/S development and are based on the Win32 platform, this book should give you an easy to read, practical introduction to some of the technologies involved. The examples will help you get started; however, you will also need a solid reference book for real development.