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.
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!
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.
