Continuous Integration in .NET [Paperback]

Marcin Kawalerowicz (Author), Craig Berntson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 25, 2011

Continuous integration is a software engineering process designed to minimize "integration hell." It's a coordinated development approach that blends the best practices in software delivery. For .NET developers, especially, adopting these new approaches and the tools that support them can require rethinking the development process altogether.

Continuous Integration in .NET is a tutorial for developers and team leads that teaches readers how to re-imagine their development strategy by creating a consistent continuous integration process. This book shows how to build on the tools they already know - .NET Framework and Visual Studio - and to use powerful software like MSBuild, Subversion, TFS 2010, Team City, CruiseControl.NET, NUnit, and Selenium.

Purchase of the print book comes with an offer of a free PDF, ePub, and Kindle eBook from Manning. Also available is all code from the book.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Marcin Kawalerowicz runs a consultancy in Silesia, Poland. He has more than 8 years experience in software development in fields ranging from automotive to finance.

Craig Berntson, a 25-year veteran of the software industry, has been Microsoft MVP since 1996 and speaks regularly throughout the US, Canada, and Europe. He lives in Salt Lake City, UT.

Product Details

• Paperback: 375 pages
• Publisher: Manning Publications; Pap/Psc edition (March 25, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1935182552
• ISBN-13: 978-1935182559
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 0.7 x 9.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #181,732 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Marcin Kawalerowicz has a master degree in computer science from Technical University of Opole, Poland. He has now a decade experience in software development. He started do develop software (PHP and Java) during his studies. Then he went to live and work in Munich, Germany where he learned his basics in .NET development. Now he is back in Poland writing software and running his own company CODEFUSION. Through his German contractors he has worked for the financial branch of a quite big car manufacturer with base in Munich, Germany and even bigger credit bank based in Zürich, Switzerland. He is writing about the stuff that matters on his blog: http://www.iprogrammable.com. Since his studies he regularly writes articles for polish computer magazines. Marcin lives in Silesia, Poland with his wife and daughter.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Overview of CI in the .NET World January 22, 2012

By T. Anderson TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

I still remember the first time I was on a project that used NAnt and CruiseControl.NET. It was years ago and both were new tools with plenty of bugs. The project manager took one of the team's architects and dedicated him to getting CI up and running. I didn't work with him for another 9 months. It was a complete nightmare. Every morning was dedicated to finding out why the builds failed, fixing the issue, and then manually rerunning the builds until successful. Then it was off to show management the new build reports. It didn't take long for them to not want to be hassled with the process. A year after it all began the code base was removed from the CI process and went back to manual builds.

Not a very good story to start the review of a book on CI that I highly recommend you read. Times have changed, the tools have improved, and with books like this available you have no reason to not give CI a go. You may have plenty of excuses, but no reasons. Luckily this book contains a nice summary of excuses commonly used and does a nice job of debunking them.

The book starts off with a chapter titled Understanding continuous integration which gives a nice overview of CI and introduces the CI tools. They include source control, CI server, feedback mechanism, build manager, unit test framework, documenting, and code-analysis tools.

The book continues with chapters on Setting up a source control system, Automating the build process, Choosing the right CI server, Continuous feedback, Unit testing continuously integrated code, Performing integration, system, and acceptance testing, Analyzing the code, Generating documentation, Deployment and delivery, Continuous database integration, and Extending continuous integration.

One of the things I like about the book is that it is .NET centric and not Microsoft centric. It introduces the Microsoft tools, other vendor's tools, and open source tools. For example Subversion, TFS, SourceSafe, Git, and Vault are introduced as source control options, Nant and MSBuild are introduced as build tools, and CruiseControl.NET, TFS 2010, and TeamCity as CI servers.

The authors do a great job of providing in-depth examples of the different tools and technologies. The example's accompanying downloadable code is very well organized and usable.

Although implementing CI can be a big change for a team, this book will definitely help educate you and your team on all the different tools available in the context of .NET projects. That give a big advantage when planning your team's path to CI.

All in all I highly recommend using CI on your projects, but I recommend reading this book first even more.

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Good book for Beginners January 13, 2012

By Gabriel Martinez

Format:Paperback|Amazon Verified Purchase

This is a great book for beginners, but doesn't go into great details that you ultimately need to become an expert. The book probably covers 50-60% of the things you'll need, the rest is your own research and trial/error process.

5 of 7 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Five stars all around! April 11, 2011

By B. S. Meera

Format:Paperback

The book is well written. The authors have gathered so much information in this book that it will help those of you who want to use CI. I'd heartily recommend this book for anyone making the transition to Continuous Integration in the .NET world.
It is simple to rate this book: every .NET team not using Continuous Integration should own and read this book!
I have been using CI in my own team, and have also been assisting several clients in setting up CI. Over the past several years, I have seen many teams using CI just to compile their code. If your team is doing just that, than this is the book you need to read and follow. All CI concepts are illustrated with examples. The authors use a large number of diagrams, tables, and code snippets with detailed explanations.

Note: This was also the first technical book which I read on my Kindle, and the rendering of the diagrams, tables, code snippets was just great.

Target Audience:
The target audience for this book is the entire .NET development team. For a beginner trying to understand Continuous Integration, for a Tester who wants the system to be in a working state before and after integration, and the Manager who want to reduce risks, this book will give a solid foundation of CI and its concepts. It is for all kinds of .NET developers: Beginners, Intermediate as well as Experienced CI users.

Tools Covered:
The authors cover several tools required for setting up a successful CI system, and the book has working examples to setup and use each of the tools listed below. The list below itself makes this book an important part of every .NET developer's arsenal.

1. CI Servers
* CruiseControl.NET
* TeamCity
* Team Foundation Server 2010
2. Build Automation Tools
* Nant
* MSBuild
3. Unit Testing Frameworks
* NUnit
* Microsoft unit testing framework
4. Test Coverage
* PartCover
5. UI Testing Frameworks
* White
* Silverlight
* Selenium
6. Acceptance Testing Frameworks
* FitNesse
7. Code Analysis Tools
* FxCop
* StyleCop
* NDepend