When I began my Pocket PC app a couple of years ago, I found that the
documentation in VS.NET 2003 was quite good (MSDN) as was the Microsoft site
for the .NET Compact Framework, including the FAQs.
As for books, I found that I was referencing the "Microsoft .NET Compact
Framework" by Andy Wigley and Stephen Wheelwright quite a bit in those early
days, and it is still a good reference. The above book was the only one I
had in my library so it got me right through to completion of my application
for the Pocket PC.
I recently purchased "Writing Mobile Code" by Ivo Salmre and I am currently
reading it cover to cover, so I am not finished with it yet. It was released
this year (2005) so it is still a new book. While it certainly has some
coding examples in it, I do like the common-sense approach Ivo gives to
thinking about good design and performance and his many tips. Apparently,
Ivo was the Lead Program Manager for the design of the .NET Compact
Framework v1 so his experience in solving some design problems definitely
shows through. Though having read only half of the book, I would definitely
recommend it for anyone's .NET Compact Framework library.
Regards,
Neville Lang