Shawn Stratton PHP Geek

Book Reviews and C#

Why C#?

I’ve been trying to get more and more into C# as of late, especially after having talked with Josh Holmes (Microsoft Evangelist) and subsequently signing up for the Microsoft WebSiteSpark Program.  I’ve also managed to attend Lap Around PDC here in Nashville where I got to learn more about the .NET platform (and listen to droning on and on about Azure which is a decent product but was definitely overhyped at the conference.)  Yes I’m a PHP Programmer by nature, however, I think C# will be a welcome addition to my toolbox due to some of it’s unique properties that are distinctly different yet similar to PHP; In particular, C# to me allows a feeling that more closely resembles C/C++ while allowing me to write code directly for Web Applications thereby allowing me the luxury of a bridge to desktop development from the Web Development I’ve been involved in as of late.

Professional ASP.NET 4 in C# and VB

Backstory

So when @wrox on Twitter was looking for several developers to review a book titled “Professional ASP.NET 4 in C# and VB” and I was lucky enough to be one of the contenders.  This was really a great opportunity for me as I’d already purchased a book on Accelerated C# 2010 and have been spending working through it and learning more about the platform but had realized after beginning reading the book that it would only scratch the proverbial surface of the library as it covers primarily the language itself.

Initial Impressions

So today I finally got the copy from Wrox to review, I opened the box expecting a 400-600 page book showcasing Professional Development Techniques with ASP.net 4 and perhaps some server configuration, maybe even some “code recipes”.  I was not expecting a 1477 page behemoth that can easily be used as a table weight (ie. it’ll keep a table from flying away in a strong gust); I was in awe thinking that “yeah I’ll get this reviewed in 2 or 3 months” but I started flipping through the pages and started to calm down.  Keep in mind this is only a first impression but, flipping through the pages I noticed that as much text as there was for discussion there were even more screen shots of Visual Studio, Snippets of Code in VB & C#, and finally browsershots of expected output.  To be fair though the chapter list is also very impressive and by the time I actually get through the book I should be well versed in ASP.NET 4

Chapters included:

1. Application and Page Frameworks.
2. ASP.NET Server Controls and Client-Side Scripts.
3. ASP.NET Web Server Controls.
4. Validation Server Controls.
5. Working with Master Pages.
6. Themes and Skins.
7. Data Binding.
8. Data Management with ADO.NET.
9. Querying with LINQ.
10. Working with XML and LINQ to XML.
11. Introduction to the Provider Model.
12. Extending the Provider Model.
13. Site Navigation .
14. Personalization.
15. Membership and Role Management.
16. Portal Frameworks and Web Parts.
17. HTML and CSS Design with ASP.NET.
18. ASP.NET AJAX.
19. ASP.NET AJAX Control Toolkit.
20. Security .
21. State Management.
22. Caching .
23. Debugging and Error Handling.
24. File I/O and Streams.
25. User and Server Controls.
26. Modules and Handlers.
27. ASP.NET MVC.
28. Using Business Objects.
29. ADO.NET Entity Framework.
30. ASP.NET Dynamic Data.
31. Working with Services.
32. Building Global Applications.
33. Configuration.
34. Instrumentation.
35. Administration and Management.
36. Packaging and Deploying ASP.NET Applications.

First Chapter

By the time I sat down to write this, I’ve already gone through the introduction and am 30 pages into Chapter 1 which unfortunately thus far has been a little dry (it’s a very thorough analysis of Structure, Directives, Events and Compilation Processes.) However I’m hopeful that the authors are getting past the initial hump of knowledge that has to be known about the platform before actual development can begin.

The plan from Here

Seeing how this book is so large and covers so much ground, it’ll be near impossible for me to give an accurate portrayal especially as I’m not only reading it but also working in both C# and PHP while picking up whatever technology I must while doing my job.  As such, I think it’s only correct to track my progress on this blog and share what revelations I come across while reading and learning.  Hopefully my posts and reviews will be informative and at least somewhat entertaining.