Application Architecture for .Net: Designing Applications and Services

Rating:
Summary: Bruises
Review: Bruises is about a Girl named Judith who is trying to be herself and live her life, she has alot of responsiblites and is not a problem child. Judith's mom finds excuses to beat Judith and really she does not do anything wrong, she takes all her anger out on her daughter. Judith is the only one her mom beats even though she is not an only child.
Judith's mom makes Judith do all the work around the house and expects way too much out of a girl so young.
Brusies is an intersting book that is reality (kids get beat for no reason). At the end of every chaptor it leaves you thinking what will happen next and keeps you reading on and on. Judith meets a friend (Micheal) and he has secrets about his family too, Micheal sticks by Judith and I think makes her stronger. The overall theme of the story is that no matter who you are and how bad your life maybe you stay strong and stick with your friends you will soon be stronger then anyone.

Rating:
Summary: I've been looking for something like this
Review: I'm not a Microsoft fan at all. But this book is really helpfull in answering lots of designing questions that arise when trying to design a complex system. It explains, tier by tier, layer by layer, all that has to do with OOD, security, communication, etc.
I'm really happy with this book. Although it has no examples or deep info about anything, it provides lots of links to MSDN articles with the missing info. I strongly recomend it.

Rating:
Summary: Oxymoronic
Review: The notion of application architecture applied to a "framework" like .NET is somewhat oxymoronic. This book is credited not to individuals but to Microsoft itself, and such books tend to be more marketing-oriented pitches about how cool Microsoft's software is than serious documents containing deatiled technical information. It has all the right buzzwords like "patterns" and "distributed solutions," but there's little of substance here that couldn't be gleaned elsewhere in a less pedantic package.

Rating:
Summary: Nothing new for the experienced developer
Review: There's a lot of sensible information and guidelines in this book, but its main problem is that most of it is a bit abstract, and should be known material for experienced developers or architects.

For inexperienced developers or people just starting out on the path of good software architecture, this book may provide some insights, but doesn't offer much practical advice on how to solve concrete problems.

However, it is a pretty good and comprehensive survey of the state of so-called "best practice" of .NET architecture as it looks today, and I didn't encounter much that I couldn't agree with.

As it is a blissfully short book (157 pages including appendices) compared to most books on software development, it may be worth if you need to get a quick overview of the subject. However, the tone is rather dry and condensed, so don't expect those 157 pages to be a light read.

Rating:
Summary: .NET from 50,000 feet
Review: This 156 page book, is an ultra condensed book on the Microsoft preferred design for .NET applications. Like many Microsoft books, this one is poorly written. It is obvious that the book was created by a team with a whiteboard, from an outline then filled in later.

The resulting disjoined book is somewhere between an explanative book and a reference.

Not recommended.

Rating:
Summary: .NET from 50,000 feet
Review: This 156 page book, is an ultra condensed book on the Microsoft preferred design for .NET applications. Like many Microsoft books, this one is poorly written. It is obvious that the book was created by a team with a whiteboard, from an outline then filled in later.

The resulting disjoined book is somewhere between an explanative book and a reference.

Not recommended.

Rating:
Summary: More worthy than appears.
Review: Yes, this book is more abstact than applicable. Yes, this book covers general design rather then specific approaches. Yes, this book covers information that is not new. That does not mean this book should not be recommended.

I strongly believe that software engineers need to read more abstract, general books such as this along with the specific, applicable type books. The help keeps us focused on problem solving as opposed to solution techniques. Both are needed to keep us fresh and effective in out roles. Kind of like spring training for baseball players - relearn the game basics and practice the needed skills.

Application Architecture for .NET is one of those books that should be read because the information is technically sound, is relevant to today's computing environment, and provides a solid understanding of designing enterprise level applications. Also, the book is short, direct, and straight-forward ( as a good abstract, general book should be ).

If you want or need a book to provide a concrete approach or a specific solution, no, this book is not for you.

But if you want a book to learn or keep abreast of the direction of current application design and the direction of application architecture, it's worth reading.