16 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Recommended, August 11, 2011
This review is from: Professional ASP.NET MVC 3 (Wrox Programmer to Programmer) (Paperback)
Got the Kindle version.
As someone who's already worked on a project with the first version of MVC a couple of years back, this was a good refresher and a quick way to get to know all the new MVC3 features. This includes: Razor for Views; Validation mechanisms are much easier now, there used to be way too many options to pick from; jQuery Templates; NuGet etc.
Favorite Chapters:
- Ch.7 on Security, it's very well written with quick and easy to use solutions. Great stuff! MVC 1 & 2 developers need to fix a security hole in the default authentication template if you've used it.
- Ch.12 on Testing, good examples and valuable tips towards the end.
Least favorite Chapters are:
- Ch. 11 on Dependency Injection, it's extremely abstract and that's perfectly fine for the first section given the design pattern discussion, but it becomes harder to follow subsequently with not even a single attempt to show an IoC container in action with some real code. It just doesn't seem to accomplish its intended goal, unfortunately this chapter is poorly done, needs better examples and better ways to describe the problem it's trying to solve. It's a shame since this is a key concept for building complex MVC solutions.
- Ch. 9 on Routing, it's definitely more of a "under the hood" reference type chapter, doesn't mean it isn't important, just boring to read through.
Some chapters are missing the full source code but you could just google/download the MVC Music Store application which has most of it. Also, some examples include NuGet packages which is pretty convenient to load and run within Visual Studio 2010. Another really minor issue is that chapters probably need a bit more accompanying graphics/images which help set the context than just code/text for long stretches such as the AJAX chapter.
Worth mentioning that the book feels more like a reference book rather than a walk-through with step-by-step instructions so some sections however essential can make you want to skip some pages.
Overall, the book does what it's supposed to as far as new MVC 3 features; it will not however prepare you enough for any Production ready solutions i.e. solution architecture is MIA.
I would've liked a chapter on how to structure enterprise applications which as you'll find out are quite different from a base application like MVC Music Store. A couple of sample approaches would go a long way. Yes, there are some on codeplex but it would be better to hear from the "MVC elite" how they would design real-world complex solutions.
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17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Not so much a 'Professional' book as a 'here is some cool stuff' reference, August 20, 2011
This review is from: Professional ASP.NET MVC 3 (Wrox Programmer to Programmer) (Paperback)
Having used ASP.NET MVC since around the time 1.0 was released I was a little interested in what Professional ASP.NET MVC 3 would bring to someone like myself. Would this book provide enough new content to someone like me who's tried to keep up on the framework? So when I was contacted by someone at Wiley to receive a copy for review I was of course interested.
The following review will take into consideration my particular experience with the framework. For new users I highly recommend you stick with the music store tutorial available from the official ASP.NET MVC Web site. Unlike Professional ASP.NET MVC 1.0 this book does not contain a full tutorial to get you started. Also, this is one of my longer reviews, so if you just want to skip ahead the last three chapters provide a summary of my thoughts.
Professional ASP.NET MVC 3 consists of 14 chapters and an index, over the course of 400 pages. There are significantly fewer images than one might expect, but don't worry, that's a good thing, as there's a good deal of text and code.
Speaking of code you'll find they've used NuGet to distribute some code examples, but this seems to be based on whether the author choose to use it than being something consistent throughout the book. (I think you too will know which author wrote particular chapters/sections based upon whether NuGet code is available.) Speaking of authors there are four who worked together on this book, and I was pleasantly surprised to see that each chapter's author was noted.
As is the case with Wrox books, the physical book itself is top notch.
Given that this version of the book isn't for beginners I was a little alarmed after reading chapters 1 and 2, as they contained a large amount of introductory content within. Chapter 3 finally started including some newer information within, but again there was still a lot of introductory content contained within. I've noted that chapter 4 seems to go back to the review of introductory topics, like chapter 1 and 2.
In fact, I would argue that it isn't until chapter 7 that we start getting into the more 'professional' topics, with information about securing your application (including a note about vulnerabilities with MVC 2 code, which I hadn't seen mentioned previously). I also found chapter 8, regarding AJAX, to be a rather great chapter.
Chapter 9 takes us back to more introductory topics when it discusses routing, but it does contain a deeper look into more advanced routing, and is written by Phil Haack, so you couldn't ask for much more.
Chapter 10 covers NuGet, but outside of creating and distributing packages (which most people won't do), the information can easily be found in introductory tutorials.
And now we get to the part where the more advanced topics are covered. Chapters 11 through 13 cover dependency injection, unit testing, and extending MVC. For the first two these are items which 'professional' developers should be using, according to some schools of thought. However, if you've already researched these items and made the decision not to go down this path (at this time or ever), these chapters won't sway you.
Chapter 11 could really benefit with a unified example, and chapter 12's shining point are the ASP.NET MVC-specific tips and tricks. Chapter 13 covers the extendability of MVC, but it is my opinion that the majority of people won't have to go down this route very often, if it all.
Finally we get to the last chapter, chapter 14. The title, "Advanced Topics," would work much better as a section. Instead we have a number of topics consolidated into one chapter instead of mini-chapters for each. What's really telling is the first chapter where we read that "[t]here are a lot of really cool advanced topics we glossed over to avoid getting lost in the weeds as we covered the fundamentals of ASP.NET MVC." Is this an ASP.NET MVC fundamentals, or professional book?
Maybe I'm reading too much into it, but this really seems to suggest that this isn't so much a 'professional ASP.NET MVC' book, but rather a collection of really cool or advanced features of ASP.NET MVC. So this is not like their 'Beginning/Professional _' series of books, but rather another type altogether. So, unlike that series, just because you've read the music store tutorial does not necessarily mean that your next step is this book. Instead you're much more likely to find what you need next online, perhaps even on the blogs of the writers. Later, as you try to move closer to the metal you might find use for the techniques covered in this book, but once again you're more likely to find what you need already online (and rare is the need for more than one of the book's topics to be required at that particular moment in time).
As such, as much as I'd like to give this book 4 stars I find myself needing to give it only 3. I consider this much more of a reference book when you need to start digging in closer to the metal. Perhaps if the book took the music store application (something it starts with and then seems to forget as the book progresses) and built upon it with the more advanced information contained within the book would have a wider appeal. But as it is the content of the book ranges oddly between beginner topics and much more specific information.
For these reasons I give Professional ASP.NET MVC 3 3 of 5 stars.
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5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Great Start into asp.net MVC, September 13, 2011
This review is from: Professional ASP.NET MVC 3 (Wrox Programmer to Programmer) (Paperback)
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When I received this book I was curious to understand how different the MVC pattern was adapted to work for asp.net considering how much tedium goes into making a normal asp.net web application. The book made things a lot easier to understand by providing me with that information such as how asp.net normally handles performing a certain task versus how the mvc and razor web engine handle it.
Coming from CakePHP and Ruby on Rails I'm used to the MVC pattern so I was glad the quick few opening chapters didn't drag on trying to encourage folks to join the MVC wagon but I also felt like in some respects I didn't get the feel the book was geared toward professionals. I think that most folks who would be interested in getting a 'professional' book would be willing for a shorter introduction to the model view controller pattern if it meant an increase in other areas of the book. I felt the first 100 pages were mostly fluff with some good mixed in between for someone new to the MVC itself not the concept of a MVC.
If you're new to the model view controller pattern then you'll likely find those first few chapters useful and well placed and if not you can likely just skim over them looking for gems in between.
Either way I'd recommend the book as it was a fairly easy read and helped me grasp how it was implemented for asp.net.
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