The Definitive Guide to the Microsoft Enterprise Library introduces one of the most exciting and popular .NET-oriented initiatives, the Enterprise Library. The EL offers eight application blocks and other reusable code that are used to solve a variety of common problem spaces. These problems cover a number of topics, including data access, exception handling, caching, logging, security, cryptography, validation, policy injection and configuration.
Author Keenan Newton, a senior consultant for Microsoft Consulting Services, begins the book with an introduction to common challenges, explaining the conditions that brought about the creation of the EL. After an EL overview, subsequent chapters offer detailed information about each of the eight blocks. The book concludes by outlining the framework available for creating custom application blocks as well as other development spaces using application blocks.
You'll be able to build .NET applications faster and more efficiently by taking advantage of readily available code developed and released by Microsoft's patterns and practices group. You will be introduced to these technologies in conjunction with real-world scenarios.
User review
Nice intro
It's a nice intro to the basic use of the framework. The first chapters were the most interestings for me because they talk about how the framework was conceived and around what patterns the framework has been built on (Dependency injection,Inversion of control, Factories and others).
User review
Could be better, could be worse
This book does a fairly good job of introducing the Enterprise Library. I found it to be a preferable alternative to the documentation that ships with the product, and it is the only book I could find that covered the newer libraries (3.0 and 3.1). The author chose to focus his attention on two things. Firstly, he does a pretty good job enumerating the API. I can't count the times I have looked into the product documentation only to find a blank skeleton with no help or description. He also does a very thorough job of putting together a comprehensive set of exercises for the reader to practice his / her new chops.
My first criticism is more for the publisher than the author. I think the price is a little high for what you get. I am guessing that the hard cover contributes to the price. I would be very happy to trade in the hard cover for a cheaper price. I am happy to shell out for a premium binding of a Martin Fowler or Eric Evans book or other similar `timeless` books of the trade, but I might think twice next time about spending so much on a guide to a versioned release of a minor product.
It took me a few chapters to figure out the author's method for organizing his thoughts. Each chapter describes a single application block. The first few pages jump right in to the API, describing most of the classes and highlighting important members. Then ,,. after that ,,. he describes a few ways (certainly not an exhaustive list) to put these ideas together. The last third of the chapter is a step-by-step guide through the practices. The end result for me was to do a lot of flipping back and forth in each chapter. I would:
- skim over the first section
- read the middle section, referring back to the first section
- look at the product documentation for more information
- find nothing of use
- go back to the book
- do my own sample code, completely bypassing the practices
Thus, the greatest strength of this book is the sheer fact that it really doesn't have any viable competition. The author does an admirable job attempting to document a product that has no other good documentation and is in a pretty rapid state of flux. With Enterprise Library 4.0 on the horizon, I am sure that the second edition of this book will be a worthy resource if the author can convince the publisher to get rid of the hard cover and bring the price down.
User review
Truly the definitive guide!
If you are wanting to utilize the Microsoft Enterprise Library in your organization, this is the book you need. I have found it to be extremely useful - walking me through each application block clearly.
The sample code is very useful and I have been able to get up to speed very quickly. Much more quickly than if I tried to navigate the offical Enterprise Library documentation.
If you are a developer with some basic experience in .NET - this book will be very useful. If you are new to development or are at a junior level - this book may be a bit much for you - similar to the other reviewer that gave this book a single star.
Good reading!
User review
Please do not buy this book !!
When I saw a book on Microsoft Enterprise Library I was excited to buy it but I am very disappointed with this book, it looks like a copy of the help provided by Microsoft Enterprise Library. Author is assuming that you already know the Microsoft Enterprise library. In order to setup the examples first you need to google on the web to search where to download the required components and set them up. I feel like I wasted my money. Please do not buy this book if you are trying to learn Microsoft Enterprise Library. I hope I can find a decent book that can explain Microsoft Enterprise Library in an organized way. I do not like books when they copy the help.
