Applied .NET: Developing People-Oriented Software Using C# [Paperback]

Ronan Sorensen (Author), George Shepherd (Author), John Roberts (Author), Russ Williams (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 18, 2001

Applied .NET strikes the perfect balance between .NET theory and practice. It doesn't just show you how to apply C# and .NET: it demonstrates just how much you can achieve with .NET once you've mastered it. More than any other book, Applied .NET is focused on the implementation cycle of software development, and the specific challenges developers will face while developing for the .NET platform. Using real-world code examples, the book addresses the realities of developing software using C#, and integrating components written in C# with other tools like BizTalk Server and ASP+. Along the way, the authors introduce the overall architecture of .NET, explain the powerful paradigm shift represented by the .NET Common Language Runtime (CLR), demonstrate how .NET technologies fit together, and explain which types of components .NET is best suited for. Coverage includes: C# structure and syntax; C# types and type safety; C# classes, delegates, exceptions, assemblies, and the build process. For all developers, software architects, and IT managers considering or implementing .NET technology.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Aimed at the more experienced developer seeking to do more with the new .NET platform in C#, Applied .NET: Developing People-Oriented Software Using C# provides both a programming tutorial and a guide to the new possibilities for creating collaborative software using today's Web services and XML-based standards.

While there are a number of good C# books available, this title's focus on "people-oriented software" is what gives it a unique edge. The authors first define some guiding principles of what the next generation of software will entail (generally more mobility and collaboration) and then show the advantages of .NET for such a paradigm shift. They first illustrate what they have in mind with their custom online document-management system built with ASP.NET and C#.

With this example in mind, the book slows down with a quick introduction to the C# language and the .NET platform. These sections will allow more experienced developers to get acquainted with C# (though beginners will certainly want a more comprehensive title to supplement the tutorial here).

Where this text really shines is in its "big-picture" explanation of why .NET is a better way to share components and functionality. One standout chapter here looks at the evolution of component reuse on the Windows platform, from the early days of DLLs to COM and COM+ and the improvements afforded by .NET. Clearly, Microsoft has raised the bar with .NET when it comes to ease of deployment.

Later chapters offer some excellent advice of where Web services and XML fit into Microsoft's other server products for Enterprise Application Integration (EAI) and B2B e-commerce. Here, the authors use BizTalk Server 2000 (with a nod to Commerce Server 2000 and its business processing pipeline), illustrated with plenty of screen shots of these tools at work. Besides gaining an understanding of these Microsoft products, experienced developers can get a look at the final case study here, which uses these two tools to process credit card information for an order fulfillment system.

Though somewhat of a mixed bag (owing probably to its team authorship), the focus on a new way to write more reusable, more shareable software with Web services and .NET makes Applied .NET: Developing People-Oriented Software Using C# a challenging and very worthwhile resource for getting a handle on the new capabilities of .NET for architecting and building the next generation of Web applications. It offers some intelligent new ways to think about software, plus some real code to get you started on exploiting the new distributed and collaborative features available in .NET. --Richard Dragan

From the Back Cover

"There is a revolution underway in the software industry--and it goes by the name of XML Web Services. Applied .NET provides a valuable perspective on this change and shows how Microsoft .NET technologies can be applied to creating the next generation of software."
--Sanjay Parthasarathy, VP, Microsoft .NET Platform Strategy

"Applied.NET makes an important contribution to the field of software engineering by applying new principles in software development to building practical Internet applications based on the Microsoft .NET framework. There is no doubt that Web services, in many forms, will have an ever-increasing impact on the field of software engineering."
--William Swope, VP, Intel Architecture Group, and General Manager, Solution Enabling Group, Intel Corporation

A revolution is taking place in the software industry--object-oriented technology is now becoming people-oriented. As software's ability to increase connectivity between people grows, a more specialized focus on the online community is needed. The new .NET technologies enable software architects and developers to meet these growing needs. Designed to be a reference manual as well as a good cover-to-cover read, Applied.NET: Developing People-Oriented Software Using C# shows readers the .NET platform at work from the C# point of view.

One of the most important elements of the .NET platform is the introduction of a formal runtime environment--Common Language Runtime (CLR). Programming for the CLR represents a paradigm shift in the development environment, wherein C# introduces new syntax, types, and application architectures. The .NET platform can facilitate the creation of software that is much more oriented to people's lives, with the implementation of three concepts embodied within the people-oriented programming paradigm: universalization, collaboration, and translation (see http://www.people-oriented.net). Using this paradigm, the authors show how .NET technologies can help build a new and exciting class of software for creating the next generation of the Internet.

C# is emerging as a prominent Web development language. Applied.NET illustrates this through the development of several .NET applications using C#. It describes C# structure and syntax in detail, including types and type safety, as well as classes, delegates, and exceptions. This book takes you even further by examining how people-oriented software can be created with ASP.NET and the .NET Enterprise servers--BizTalk Server and Commerce Server. Through the .NET technologies, software architects and developers will be able to more completely and seamlessly connect people in the global online community. This book provides the necessary know-how to do just that for today and tomorrow.

0201738287B10102001

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Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Pearson Education; 1st edition (October 18, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0201738287
• ISBN-13: 978-0201738285
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.3 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,982,740 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Different type of book, December 6, 2001

By 

[e-mail] - See all my reviews

This review is from: Applied .NET: Developing People-Oriented Software Using C# (Paperback)

If you have kept up with the .NET revolution, you have no doubt seen and read a lot of books on .NET and the .NET languages. Most of the books on C# deal with the basics of syntax with a couple of small samples applications. Very few, however, deal with any sort of real world situations.
While this book does cover a few of the basics, it is more focused on the people aspect. I feel this is an important, often overlooked, aspect of software development and the fact that it is overlooked is why so much software is hard to use.
If you are looking for a best practices book, this tome is not quite there. The same goes for a book strong on code. While you can use the CD to look at a good amount of sample code, the book is rather thin. This is not, however, the focus of the book; and, since so many other books cover this, the niche filled here is rather nice.
If I had to pick the proper audience for this book, there would be two categories: 1) Anyone who has ever had a piece of software fail as the end-users never bought in, and 2) anyone who wants to ensure this never happens. While it is not an excellent book, I have to laud the publisher for taking a chance on this subject matter selling. I hope it does.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Applied.NOT, January 7, 2003

By 

AJ Twist "gemini176" (Sammamish,WA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Applied .NET: Developing People-Oriented Software Using C# (Paperback)

This book's title is misleading, as it appears to feed off the familiarity with the Applied Programming series of books from Microsoft Press. It is truly a mixed-bag, as the above editorial review admits. After expounding on the 'revolutionary' idea that software should be people oriented, it dives into pages of code that lays out an Asp.Net application. It then sandwiches in a C# fundamentals tour, and then dives right into more code. If there is a purpose to this book, I couldn't distill it. It truly appears as if each author wrote their portion of their book without talking to the other, and then the editor mashed them together the night before the deadline hit.