Books

[Book] LINQ in Action

David Vidmar — Mon, 24 Mar 2008 11:53:43 GMT

It's been a while since I reviewed a book on this blog. It's also been a while since I last read through a technical/software development book and wanted everyone know what I think about it. Last week I picked up a copy of LINQ in Action for my work and for three snowy morning I flipped pages.

When I first started reading about LINQ and playing with it I got a feeling LINQ is HUGE. That regular developer that doesn't have a lot of time to learn will need years to conquer the art of all that is LINQ.

But after reading LINQ in Action I realized this is not the case. The book systematically explains LINQ and since you probably already know something about LINQ fills the gaps. It's fast to red, has a nice flow. First it covers the basics, then explains about LINQ Objects, followed by LINQ to SQL and LINQ to XML and closes with a nice wrap-up. On books homepage you will find extra chapter dealing with LINQ to DataSet.

What I missed in the book is more about using LINQ in three-tiered designs. There are just a few statements about this in the book and few lines in sample code. What I would like to see is a chapter on how to use LINQ when there is WCF service in application design. I know it's a painful subject, but some guidelines would still be nice.

More info:

Book's homepage
Sample code
Bonus chapter 14 - Working with LINQ and DataSets (update: direct links to PDF don't work. Visit home page and access them from there)
Sample chapter 1 and chapter 3 (update: direct links to PDF don't work. Visit home page and access them from there)
Buy on Amazon.com
Buy on Amazon.de

Technorati tags: books, linq, linq in action

Find great jobs and hire the best talent

David Vidmar — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 22:44:39 GMT

Users that actually visit vidmar.net site have probably noticed there has been job board embedded in this site. At first I tested the field with my own version of it, but that was later replace with a professional service Hidden network by Alex Papadimoulis, legendary MVP for MS Paint and author of The Daily WTF.

I believe this service on my blog will be of use for both job seekers and employers!

If you are looking for a new challenge, just browse jobs and subscribe to the feed. Just don't forget to report back when you get that dream job, ok?

If you are employer, you can post your jobs for free (international) or with a huge discount using these codes:

100OFF0712 - $100 discount ($199 for first listing)
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When you apply, please enter my referral number 1159. Thank you!

Take a look at some others blogs that are part of Hidden Network:

Technorati tags: job, job ads, employment

Free PDF books

David Vidmar — Sun, 07 Jan 2007 22:20:48 GMT

A interesting variety of free PDF development related books from APress.com:

A Programmer's Introduction to PHP 4.0
Writing Perl Modules for CPAN
Programming VB .NET: A Guide For Experienced Programmers
COM and .NET Interoperability
XML Programming: Web Applications and Web Services With JSP and ASP
Google, Amazon, and Beyond: Creating and Consuming Web Services
Practical Common Lisp
Dissecting a C# Application: Inside SharpDevelop

(via Jason)

On same topic, I recently updated my Amazon Wish List and added some development books I would like to lay my hands on. I guess I’ll do some after-holidays shopping after things at work settle a bit and I find time to read. Oh! I just realized I haven’t read a development book since we moved! Geez…

GoF: Design Patterns

David Vidmar — Tue, 13 Dec 2005 21:56:00 GMT

All right!! I finally did it! I started reading this book in this summer but since I rarely managed to read more than one chapter at the time. And often other material pilled on top of it on my night stand. Tonight I managed to finish it after 5 months. I got a little boost for last couple of chapters when I was at very nice presentation by Dušan Zupančič a week ago when he was speaking about the arhitecture of .NET applications and showed the book on one of his slides.

Many of you probably know Design Patterns by the Gang of Four - that's Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson and John Vlissides. For those who don't this is one of the most legendary development books ever written. The original dates back to 1994 and my copy is from the 31st print done in 2004.

I can't describe it better than the preface does so I'll just quote that:

This book isn't introduction to object-oriented technology or design.
....
It's a book of design patterns that describes simple and elegant solutions to specific problems in object-oriented software design.

It is essential read for any developer that doesn't want to invent the wheel and wants to understand colleagues and experts using terms like Method factory, Visitor, Mediator and so one. Once you read this book you'll be able to better understand many others.

Once again, it's not an easy read and it is not very entertaining. But it is a must read. So grab a copy from Amazon and start reading ASAP. You probably won't finish it much faster than I did. ;)

I also recommend that you check out nice C# source code of all the original design patterns.

Peter DeBetta: Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2005 for Developers

David Vidmar — Sun, 30 Oct 2005 12:52:00 GMT

While waiting for RTMs to download I finished this book that has been laying on my bookshelf quite some time. It's like a sister book for Introducing Microsoft Visual Basic 2005 for Developers. Both are written in the time of beta products and given out at TechEd 2005.

My version is kind of outdated so I really can't recommend getting it. But a recent version would come in handy as the book reads like a really big "read me" file or better yet "what's new". It starts out with management Studio and new ranking functions and other T-SQL enhancements. The first part ends with the description of new XML capabilities. The whole second part is dedicated to .NET integration (which can be summed in one sentence: "please don't use .NET for everything that you used SQL so far") and the third part wraps up things with descriptions of DTS, SMO, Native HTTP SOAP, Notifications Services, Service Broker and of course Reporting Services.

I only have 3 minutes left before the download finishes so I should be going. Just try to get your hands on this book for couple of hours. I'll be passing it around at work for sure...

Matevž Gačnik's Arhitektura sodobnih rešitev Microsoft.NET - Načrtovalski vzorci

David Vidmar — Sun, 28 Aug 2005 20:35:00 GMT

I read Matevž Gačnik's book title Arhitektura sodobnih rešitev Microsoft.NET - Načrtovalski vzorci some time ago. I helped with the proof reading but then postponed this review until I got the paperback version. Then I postponed this review some more... Few months passed.

I can summon my feelings about the book in once sentence: I would recommend this book to everyone that doesn't feel like reading technical literature in English.

Matevž collected, translated in arranged a number of best practices and white papers and he made a book out of them. While he might be leaping from one topic to another and the chapters don't neceserrily follow one another in a logical way it's the raw information in that book that counts. Some of may have read the white papers and articles that Matevž used as a source and everyone probably heard about technologies he writes about, but Matevž puts them in perspective for us and ties them together.

It can certainly give you some new ideas for your next project or even applied to current corporate projects. The book is full of examples so all the concepts can easily be understood.

I don't have the book with me since it's making the rounds around our company. Voluntarily! What more can we want from the book? Keep up the good work, Matevž and give us more books like that. I'm sure your third will be even better!

Note: The book is free. If you wan't it, just send a mail to Matevž.

Just one letter from a Nut

David Vidmar — Tue, 23 Aug 2005 14:09:00 GMT

I wrote this letter to Telekom a little over 2 years ago. It's in Slovene, so sorry to all others.

Pozdravljeni!

V torek, 16.9.2003 smo s prijatelji (kot skoraj vsak dan, ko nismo na dopustu) odšli na kosilo (govedina, pražen krompir, zelenjavna priloga) na Telekom. Zadovoljni in srečni smo bili že hrano in prijaznostjo kuharic, ko pa smo se na poti domov ustavili še v teletočki, smo doživeli vrhunec dneva (smo računalničarji in imamo precej dolgočasno življenje)!

Obiskali smo namreč teletočko in z navdušenjem ugotovili, da lahko tudi med kosilom ohranimo stik z "mrežo". Poslali smo elektronsko pošto s fotografijo in sms. Plačali smo enkrat z bankovcem za 20 SIT (SMS), bankovca za 100 SIT pa nikakor ni hotelo "pojest" (hec, ravno smo se vračali s kosila!) zato smo uporabili Moneto. Ok, jaz ne, ker nimam mobitela, ampak moj prijatelj Marko. On je zadnjič prvič uporabljal moneto in je telefon prislonil popolnoma narobe, slušalko je prslonil tja, kamor sodi mikrofon! (to bi vam moral narisat, bi bilo bolj smešno!). Skratka, teletočke so super! Postavite jih čimveč in čimprej! Pa še v kak lokal, da bom lahko surfal tudi ko bom na zmenku!

S spoštovanjem,
zadovoljni uporabnik teletočke David

PS: še eno vprašanje! Zakaj ima gospodična na promocijskih fotografijah (http://www.telekom.si/teletocke/sl/kajje.htm, kliknite -> slike) v rokah slušalko? Kdaj slušalka na teletočki pride prav?
PS2: pri meniju imate tipkarsko napako. Piše "e-razglednica z fotografijo", pisati bi moralo "S fotografijo".
PS3: zdaj sem se spomnil še to, da nismo znali poslati "e-razglednico s fotografijo". Kdaj se lahko slikaš? Uspešno smo se slikali in posli "e-pošto s fotografijo!

If you find the style familiar, it was inspired by Letters from a Nut, More Letters from a Nut, Extra Nutty! Even More Letters from a Nut! and by Ted L. Nancy. Hillariously funny books, indeed.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

David Vidmar — Wed, 20 Jul 2005 21:54:00 GMT

It's been a while since I posted about books.

I had this one on my Amazon Wish List for a while now and I really don't have an idea where the hell I saw it.

But I was surprised to see it on the airport the other day so I decided to pick it up. I'm not really into novels and I have a really short list of novels I read and didn't have to, so I'm not going to do a review here. Please click your way to the Amazon reviews and read ones from more competent folks.

I'll just say I liked it a lot and I'll just call it my favorite non-technical book for a while, al'right?

Introducing Microsoft Visual Basic 2005 for Developers

David Vidmar — Thu, 16 Jun 2005 21:57:00 GMT

BLT's Taste So Darn Good

David Vidmar — Tue, 03 May 2005 20:23:00 GMT

Time for another book review. But this time it's not a developers book but a comic strip.

Pearls Before Swine : BLTs Taste So Darn Good is a first book in series of Stephan Pastis's Pearl Before Swine. You got to feel sorry for the stupid pig and have to love the Rat despite his arrogance. The smart Zebra and other friends just round the company together and laughs can begin.

I can't wait to get my hands on second and third book in the series! This Little Piggy Stayed Home is already on my night stand and Nighthogs is just out.

Be sure to check out the official site or subscribe to the RSS feed on TapestryComics.com for a daily laugh.

Don't have a clue what BLT from the book title means? Ask Google and check the last definition. And they are big, man! They have their own book!