Product Description

"Programming WCF Services" is the authoritative, bestselling introduction to Microsoft's unified platform for developing service-oriented applications (SOA) on Windows. Hailed as the most definitive treatment of WCF available, this relentlessly practical book provides insight, not documentation, to help you learn the topics and skills you need for building WCF-based applications that are maintainable, extensible, and reusable. Author Juval Lowy, Microsoft software legend and participant in WCF's original strategic design review, revised this new edition for the latest productivity-enhancing features of C# 3.0 and the .NET 3.5 SP1 Framework.The book also contains Lowy's ServiceModelEx, a framework of useful utilities, tools, and helper classes that let you simplify and automate many tasks, and extend WCF as well. With this book, you will: learn about WCF architecture and essential building blocks, including key concepts such as reliability and transport session; use built-in features such as service hosting, instance management, concurrency management, transactions, disconnected queued calls, and security; take advantage of relevant design options, tips, and best practices in Lowy's ServiceModelEx framework to increase your productivity and the quality of your WCF services; and, learn the rationale behind particular design decisions, and discover poorly documented and little-understood aspects of SOA development. By teaching you the 'why' along with the 'how' of WCF programming, "Programming WCF Services" not only will help you master WCF, it will enable you to become a better software engineer.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #28235 in Books
• Published on: 2008-11-10
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 783 pages

About the Author
Juval Lowy is a software architect and the principal of IDesign, a company specializing in .NET architecture consulting and advanced .NET training. Juval is Microsoft's Regional Director for the Silicon Valley, working with Microsoft on helping the industry adopt .NET. Juval participates in the Microsoft internal design reviews for future versions of .NET and related technologies. Juval published numerous articles, regarding almost every aspect of .NET development, and is a frequent presenter at development conferences. Microsoft recognized Juval as a Software Legend as one of the world's top .NET experts and industry leaders. Contact him at www.idesign.net

Customer Reviews

Almost goes without saying
I have little doubt that, if not already, this will become the definitive guide to WCF. This is essentially Programming .NET components, but with the emphasis on WCF - something evident in the way that the early chapters apply the component oriented principles in his earlier book to service oriented architecture. That is not to say the book is simply a rehash - it's an essential text for any .NET developer, whether or not you are using WCF. One of the things that is emphasized is that if you develop software that works on more than 1 PC then you should be developing service oriented systems, and if you develop service oriented systems in .NET then you should be using WCF.

My only criticism of the book is that it does not provide a contextual background for existing users of previous distributed technologies (asmx web services, remoting, etc). However this is entirely understandable given that the whole point of WCF is to abstract these technologies into a common framework.

The code is all in C# and it does get a little hard going at times but there isn't a single wasted line in this book. It will serve well as both a (steep) learning curve and a reference guide. An essential purchase for all .NET developers.

Thorough but won't get you up and running
This book is very thorough and probably a great reference but if you want to get up and running asap then this isn't the book to choose. The bulk of the "code" consists merely of function prototypes which I can't see the point of at all. There is virtually no sample code that shows how something practical might be achieved so maybe buy this book if you're starting to get heavily into WCF - but not when you're starting off.

A must read for WCF developers
This is 'the' reference guide for WCF. If you have read and enjoyed Programming .NET Components then you must own this book. Although there are some tricky concepts to grasp I've always found Juval Löwy makes subjects very easy to understand. You can also check out the idesign.net web site for code examples that relate to sections in the book. The book also contains coding standards for WCF that you can trust. An excellent book.