REVIEW: Lotus Notes and Domino 6 Development

M2 Best Books, July 7, 2003 by Jamie Ayres

M2 BEST BOOKS-(C)2000-2003 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD

Having used Lotus Notes extensively from a client point of view for several years I would say that I was at least an intermediate level user. I would also say that from many dabblings behind the scenes in Designer that I can get a good idea of what most development books are trying to tell me. I was confident that I would be well suited to this 'intermediate/advanced' manual on all things Notes and Domino, and I was right.

The first thing you will notice is that the word 'development' in the title is vitally important. This should indicate that you have to have at least a modicum of prior experience of how Notes works and preferably have a bit of practice at developing small databases and views on earlier versions. The novice really should turn away now! Equally anyone hoping to get to grips with advanced Domino administration might as well look further down the shelf because this book is not for you!

The great thing about learning to develop in Notes, from this relatively unpractised user's point of view, is that the learning curve seems to go up in stages. This book effectively follows that strategy which allows the reader to see peaks to strive for before having to strive for the next one. The structure of the book is such that the reader will be creating handy-looking forms and views a long time before he will be creating fully functional databases. But those early stages should help to whet the appetite a bit and keep the boredom from setting in.

The language used fluctuates between chatty and relaxed to being more formal and precise. This is fine and actually helps the reader to understand where the authors are trying to force the reader to take note.

There are a few simple conventions used throughout the book which help to guide the eyes to pertinent pieces of information but you won't find these being overused like they are in so many other books. Screenshots make regular appearances and are used to good effect. Equally a lot of thought has gone into the placing of source code (indicated by true-type text). Fortunately the publisher has kindly placed a downloadable file onto its web site so that the reader doesn't have to arduously type all of that code in... unless they really want to!

My relatively limited knowledge prevents me passing judgement on the comprehensiveness of the book but it certainly contained extensive instruction on everything I looked up, including some obscure questions which I've meant to look up elsewhere previously.

The student developer will get a great deal of help from the contents listing and the well labelled pages/chapters, while the seasoned developer will benefit from the typically well constructed and extensive index, something which I appreciate SAMS books for. Both groups will appreciate the vast amounts of information available and this reference manual will likely become an important addition to the libraries of large numbers of Notes developers across the world.

CONCLUSION: An indispensable powerhouse of information for the Notes/Domino developer.

Title: Lotus Notes and Domino 6 DevelopmentAuthor: Steven Kern, Deborah Lynd, et alPublished by: IBM PressISBN: 0-672-32502-0Price: GBP43.99Reviewer: Jamie AyresThis book was provided for review by Computer Manuals (http://www.computer-manuals.co.uk).