Customer Reviews

Inside Windows Communication Foundation (Pro Developer)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

While the author definitely has a command of the subject matter, this is perhaps the book's downfall. The book is written as less of a learning aide and as more of a reference to WCF. After reading it, I would say the target audience is an experienced SOA developer migrating over to WCF.

While I think it is a little better than MSDN, it is definitely not a casual read. SOA / Distributed-app beginners beware: if you are wanting a quick guide to getting things started in WCF, this is NOT the book for you. Experienced developers in distributed or SOA technologies might want to take a look at this book, however.

If it were a book about flying airplanes, the subject matter would discuss the minutia of avionics, flight control systems, and instrumentation; but provide very little about flight procedures.

I gave it 4 stars because it is definitely a solid book, but for the appropriate reader. If you have experience with SOA, then it is worth your time. If not, look elsewhere first and make this your 2nd or 3rd book on the subject.

The book does tell you how some parts of the WCF are implemented but the extra information is not uniformly useful, and without additional guidance on how to apply the newly found "insider" information, the book misses an opportunity to be a really good teaching tool.

One of the greatest 'Inside' book I've ever read. Author did a fantastic job.
Excellent writing, sapmles are easy to understand also for not so experienced WCF programmers like me (this was my second book I've read about WCF after Programming WCF Services (Programming) by Juval Lowy).
Book has just 'only' 300 pages but it's because there is absolutely no fluffy filler like in many IT books.
I think this book is fully comparable to Jeffrey Richter's legendary programming books.

I also suggest to read Windows Communication Foundation Unleashed.

Whether you are first learning WCF, or you have been working with WCF for a while, you will find the information in this book essential. Smith explains exactly what WCF AND SOA are all about with clarity. He gives you the information you will need to work confidently with this important platform. The two other books that I have read, namely Bustamante's (several times) and Lowy's, are missing the most vital information bits that you would expect in books detailing technology: A) What is it? B) Why should I care? Instead both books jump into myriad detail without ever giving the clear high-level picture to explain the WCF raison d'etre. This is why I believe that Smith's book is so important. On the other hand, Smith's book does not go into minute level of detail. So, you may want one of these as a secondary book.
On a personal note, I had been working with WCF and also took the MS certification test for WCF, armed only with a background based mostly on Bustamante's book. My experience was that I narrowly failed the WCF test (my first certification failure ever and I took many tests). Also, I had this queasy feeling that I really did not have a good handle on WCF. Justin Smith's book definitely changed that.

This book lacks practical examples. It is very much like reading MSDN - a run down of interfaces and classes and very short code snippets. There are no real-life examples.

The book basically covers Message, Channels and Channel messages but only makes cryptic comments on how these concepts apply to real life uses.

Because the contents are similar to those you find MSDN, I recomend this book as reference. If you want a practical book that shows how to use WCF in real-life applications, this book is not it.

In my opinion this book is boring and over priced.

Thank you.

I have worked with WCF for two years, and have also read the book "Essential Windows Communication Foundation" by Steve Resnick. I like how Justin approaches the material, and provides context for a big picture view. Note that there are code samples available that provide detailed drill-down when required.

The big picture view (context) is important, because as the author pointed out, WCF is a technology that occurs once in a blue moon. WCF is intended to be the new "foundation", a holistic solution, performing the functionality that several products did in a piece-meal fashion: .NET remoting, ASMX/web services, MSMQ, COM+, DCOM, and RPC.

That said, WCF is vast, with it's own vocabulary, and perhaps alien to even seasoned .NET developers. Decomposed and analyzed, there is nothing particularly intimidating about the individual topics, but as a whole, WCF can be intellectually difficult to grasp at first.

A significant component of WCF is about rules and contracts, and unless you are some kind of super-robot, absorbing this kind of material is daunting to say the least. Don't be surprised if you need some time to "get it", or become productive.

Justin is a good candidate to deliver this information, with the required experience and perspective of someone who has worked hands-on with both WCF and the preceding alternatives. The writing style is good, and each section has some meaningful context.

If you need a book to learn how to extend and use WCF as a plattform developer, not just use it, this is the book.

Some other posters have commented about the lack of examples or guidance for "real-world" applications. I don't think that is the intent of this book. As a developer who has been using WCF on and off for about 1.5 years now, this book has given me greater insight into the role that WCF plays in the SOA world, both in .net to .net environment as well as cross-platform. Even after working with WCF for more than a year I still sometimes find it hard to explain to people exactly what WCF is, why it's an improvement over asmx or remoting, etc. This book has provided me with the understanding to be able explain that better to others.

The author's approach to teaching you WCF is to first tell you why you'd even want to know about WCF in the first place and then tell you how it works. I think this is a great approach and I wish more authors would write like this. If you want to understand the *why* and the *how* this book is for you.

Having had the need to learn WCF recently, I picked up Justin's Book and it rocks.
First it's not just a dump of the SDK (don't you hate that?).
2nd the guy clearly has a personality and is a fluent writer, the book is very informative and keeps your interest throughout.
You can follow along with the book in easy to consume bite sized chunks, and be a WCF master before Tea.