Real World Software Architecture

Real World Software Architecture is dedicated to providing information and experiences from the field of Software Architecture.



Subscribe with RSS or ATOM Add to Google

Links

  • Home Page
  • Real World Software Process Engineering
  • Suggested Reading
  • .NET Dev and Arch Collection
  • SEI Essays on SA
  • Software Architecture
  • Bredemeyer
  • wwisa
  • Product Line Engineering
  • PLEES
  • Software Product Lines
  • MSDN Architecture Center
  • patterns & practices






Wednesday, February 10, 2010

Introducing .NET 4.0 With Visual Studio 2010 Book Review

This book is a smorgasbord of .NET 4.0 goodies. This book does an excellent job of pulling all the new features in .NET 4.0 into one place. It covers the topics in enough detail that you leave the topic understanding what it is about and in many cases with references to find out more.

I am currently working as the SME on some of the Microsoft Learning tracks for Visual Studio 2010, so I have had to dig deep into Visual Studio 2010. I wish I would have had this book at the beginning of the project. I have not found anything missing as far as new features go.

Below is the table of contents from the book.

Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Visual Studio IDE and MEF
Chapter 3: Language and Dynamic Changes
Chapter 4: CLR and BCL Changes
Chapter 5: Parallelization and Threading Enhancements
Chapter 6: Windows Workflow Foundation 4
Chapter 7: Windows Communication Foundation
Chapter 8: Entity Framework
Chapter 9: WCF Data Services
Chapter 10: ASPNET
Chapter 11: Microsoft AJAX Library
Chapter 12: jQuery
Chapter 13: ASPNET MVC
Chapter 14: Silverlight Introduction
Chapter 15: WPF 4.0 and Silverlight 3.0
Chapter 16: Windows Azure

The biggest ding to this book is the typos. Holy smokes, editors should not drink on the job. I won’t ding the book the book for that.

Another ding is that although they talk about code samples, I cannot find any. They give you the database they used throughout the book, but I have found no use for it without the code to attach to it.

All in all I recommend this book to anyone interested in getting up to speed quickly with the new features in .NET 4.0. It is nice to have them all in one place. It is also nice to have them in a book that does not cover every feature. For example an ASP.NET 4.0 book will have every feature in the 4.0 release along with all the past releases.

The book is definitely worth the purchase.

posted by tadanderson at 12:34 PM 0 comments

Monday, February 08, 2010

The Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4 Release Candidate (RC) is Available

Microsoft has released the Visual Studio 2010 and .NET Framework 4 Release Candidate (RC).

MSDN subscribers can get it now.

Also check out the Visual Studio 2010 Release Candidate Walkthroughs.

posted by tadanderson at 7:35 PM 0 comments

Monday, February 01, 2010

C# 4.0 in a Nutshell Book Review

This book is great. It’s no nonsense approach to covering the C# 4.0 language is like a breath of fresh air. It is clean, to the point, and thorough. It makes finding a topic, and learning it, or getting a refresher, a very fast process.

This new version includes new chapters on parallel programming (including PLINQ), and dynamic programming, and new sections on code contracts and COM interoperability.

The authors have a great writing style which makes the book a very enjoyable read. You can read this cover to cover, or use it as a very handy reference. You won’t find any case studies, or made up scenarios, to help the authors describe the technology. They stick to writing about the technology, which is nice.

One of my favorite features of the book is the way the authors do their diagramming. They include a lot of diagrams that give a visual representation of the feature they are describing. The diagrams really help with getting a quick understanding of the overall picture of the topic. The authors also demonstrate with code that is always easy to understand and within the scope of the topic at hand. You don’t have 2 pages of code with 3 lines highlighted.

Another part of this book I love is the way the authors deliver the code samples using LINQPad. I own the full auto completion version of LINQPad and it rocks. I have been using it since its first release and it has become my favorite tool when working with databases.

My only complaint about the book is the construction. The gluing job they did is horrible. It has big clumps of glue embedded in the pages which cause the binder to really bend. It will probably fall apart within a month of heavy use. I won’t ding the book for that. It is a publisher issue, not an author issue.

All in all I highly recommend this book. It belongs on the shelf of any serious developer.

Review Update- The editor of C# 4.0 in a Nutshell Book read my blog and suggested I contact O'Reilly Media for a new copy since my binder was a mess.

They made good on the request for a new copy of the C# 4.0 in a Nutshell Book and I received it today with the binder in perfect condition. No glue blobs in between any pages. Hats off to O'Reilly Media!!!!!


posted by tadanderson at 11:48 AM 0 comments

Previous Posts

  • DevOps: A Software Architect's Perspective Book Re...
  • Scaled Agile Framework (SAFe) LiveLessons Video Se...
  • Bulletproof Android: Practical Advice for Building...
  • Swift for Programmers Book Review
  • Security in Computing (5th Edition) Book Review
  • Swift in 24 Hours, Sams Teach Yourself Book Review
  • Sparx Systems Releases Enterprise Architect 12
  • Learning Swift Programming Book Review
  • Android Security Internals: An In-Depth Guide to A...
  • Adaptive Code via C#: Agile coding with design pat...



Archives

  • December 2005
  • January 2006
  • February 2006
  • March 2006
  • April 2006
  • June 2006
  • August 2006
  • October 2006
  • November 2006
  • December 2006
  • January 2007
  • February 2007
  • March 2007
  • April 2007
  • May 2007
  • June 2007
  • July 2007
  • August 2007
  • September 2007
  • October 2007
  • November 2007
  • December 2007
  • January 2008
  • February 2008
  • March 2008
  • April 2008
  • May 2008
  • June 2008
  • July 2008
  • August 2008
  • September 2008
  • October 2008
  • December 2008
  • January 2009
  • February 2009
  • March 2009
  • April 2009
  • May 2009
  • June 2009
  • July 2009
  • August 2009
  • September 2009
  • October 2009
  • November 2009
  • December 2009
  • January 2010
  • February 2010
  • March 2010
  • April 2010
  • May 2010
  • June 2010
  • August 2010
  • September 2010
  • October 2010
  • November 2010
  • December 2010
  • January 2011
  • February 2011
  • March 2011
  • April 2011
  • May 2011
  • June 2011
  • July 2011
  • August 2011
  • September 2011
  • October 2011
  • November 2011
  • December 2011
  • January 2012
  • February 2012
  • March 2012
  • April 2012
  • May 2012
  • June 2012
  • July 2012
  • August 2012
  • September 2012
  • October 2012
  • November 2012
  • December 2012
  • January 2013
  • February 2013
  • March 2013
  • April 2013
  • May 2013
  • June 2013
  • July 2013
  • August 2013
  • September 2013
  • October 2013
  • November 2013
  • December 2013
  • January 2014
  • February 2014
  • March 2014
  • April 2014
  • May 2014
  • June 2014
  • July 2014
  • August 2014
  • September 2014
  • October 2014
  • December 2014
  • February 2015
  • March 2015
  • April 2015
  • June 2015
  • July 2015
  • September 2015

Powered by Blogger