Microsoft® .NET Distributed Applications: Integrating XML Web Services and .NET Remoting (Pro-Developer) [Paperback]

Matthew MacDonald (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0735619336 | ISBN-13: 978-0735619333 | Publication Date: March 26, 2003 | Edition: 1

Make the jump to distributed application programming using the .NET Framework—and introduce a new level of performance, scalability, and security to your network and enterprise applications. Expert .NET developer Matthew MacDonald shares proven techniques for fully exploiting .NET Remoting, XML Web services, and other .NET technologies and integrating them into your real-world solutions. MacDonald digs into key .NET building blocks and architectural issues, explaining which features and designs will best serve your customized distributed application projects—and when to use them. Case studies with full code examples illustrate these practical techniques in action, as well as demonstrating their benefits and tradeoffs.

Learn how to:

• Cross application boundaries with .NET Remoting, XML Web services, and Message Queuing
• Create responsive clients and scalable servers with multithreading
• Model your distributed application with interfaces, facades, and factories
• Use COM+ services such as object pooling, JIT activation, and transactions
• Craft a data transfer plan with Microsoft ADO.NET—without concurrency errors
• Help secure your code end to end—from the transport level to the presentation tier
• Learn ways to avert—or unclog—performance bottlenecks in your applications
• Automate deployment using self-updating applications and XML Web services
• Master stateless programming and other best practices for distributed applications

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Matthew MacDonald is a developer, author, and educator in all things Visual Basic and .NET. He's worked with Visual Basic and ASP since their initial versions, and written over a dozen books on the subject, including The Book of VB .NET (No Starch Press) and Visual Basic 2005: A Developer's Notebook (O'Reilly). He has also written Excel 2007:The Missing Manual, Excel 2007 for Starters: The Missing Manual, Access 2007:The Missing Manual, and Access 2007 for Starters: The Missing Manual, all from O'Reilly. His website is http://www.prosetech.com.

Product Details

• Paperback: 752 pages
• Publisher: Microsoft Press; 1 edition (March 26, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0735619336
• ISBN-13: 978-0735619333
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.2 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #827,284 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Matthew MacDonald is an author, educator, and MCSD developer who has a passion for emerging technologies. He is a regular writer for developer journals such as Inside Visual Basic, ASPToday, and Hardcore Visual Studio .NET, and he's the author of several books about programming with .NET. In a dimly remembered past life, he studied English literature and theoretical physics. Send e-mail to him with praise, condemnation, and everything in between, to [e-mail].

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars THE Book on Architecture with .NET, April 2, 2003

By 

Mark - See all my reviews

This review is from: Microsoft® .NET Distributed Applications: Integrating XML Web Services and .NET Remoting (Pro-Developer) (Paperback)

I'm only halfway through this one, and I decided I just HAD to write a review. In a world that has 200-page books written by five authors (see my IIS6 Handbook review), a comprehensive 700 page book that speaks with a single voice is a rare find. I've found a few other good single-author books (like Balena's book on VB), but this is far and away the best book for learning enterprise architecture, best design practices & patterns, and advanced techniques like multithreading.

Here's just one example: I've lost track of how many times I've read about how to use COM+ services in .NET without an explanation of why I should (or shouldn't)!! This book not only explains brilliantly how to use COM+, it explains when you should and shouldn't use it, and the limitations you'll encounter. We also get similar treatment of threading issues (for 2 whole chapters), caching/optimization, security (in only one chapter, but it's a solid overview). There's also a chapter just on design that talks in practical terms about facades, factories and other patterns. I've read some of this stuff in other books, but all I got was theory and contrived examples. In this book I see how to apply these patterns in the real world. That alone would have won me over.

Basically, this book is FULL of great material for anyone who knows the code but want to move up. It also includes three full case studies, which I haven't seen anywhere else. I'm not a big fan of case studies, but these do show the author's multi-layered approach in detail. Overall, great!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Informative as well as suprisingly useful for 70-310, November 30, 2004

By 

ACD - See all my reviews

This review is from: Microsoft® .NET Distributed Applications: Integrating XML Web Services and .NET Remoting (Pro-Developer) (Paperback)

Having recently passed 70-310, I found this book to be exceedingly helpful in cementing certain .NET distributed concepts for the exam-- meanwhile, related MCAD/MCSD study guides like those from Sybex and Microsoft (?!) came up short...

Chapters 1-9 of this book provided clear explanations and working examples for 70% of the content I encountered on my recent exam, while topics covered equally well in Chapters 11-15 accounted for the remaining 30%. Even Windows Services can be found about mid-way through Chapter 7.

If you are keen on moving into distributed .NET programming and/or preparing for 70-310 (like me), I would highly recommend this book. I would not have earned my MCAD credential without it...

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Good Microsoft N-tier Architecture Text, November 26, 2004

By 

W. Hazard (E. Windsor, NJ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Microsoft® .NET Distributed Applications: Integrating XML Web Services and .NET Remoting (Pro-Developer) (Paperback)

Solid information for those interested in building N-tier architectures in a Microsoft world. Great stuff on how to build business objects -- I haven't found much on Microsoft object caching except in this book. Sadly, MS hasn't gone as deep as JBoss, BroadVision or similar products but this book helps fill the gap.