Recommended Reading

posted Tuesday, February 28, 2006 10:20 PM

I’ve been asked a number of times by a variety people for books that I recommend.  Every-time I say, “oh yeah I have a bunch” but then fail to remember what they all are.  In an effort to put together a solid list of books that I recommend I’ve written this post.  This was a preliminary list that I came up with which I intend to update as my memory improves and/or I come across new books that I think belong.  Do you think I’m missing any classics?

Software/Patterns

Agile/XP

Business

.NET Framework

ASP.NET

WinForms

12 Comments

# re: Recommended Reading

Wednesday, March 01, 2006 12:33 AM by Bil Simser    
Excellent list Steve. I recommend all of these (some should be required reading for any developer).

Not sure how you feel about Rocky's approach to an application framework in his Expert C#/VB.NET Business Objects book is a good one to have.

Also I found Ken Schwabers Agile Project Management with Scrum (http://www.microsoft.com/MSPress/books/6916.asp) was a good overview of the process and a little more rooted than the Agile Software Development book (but maybe that's just me).

Of course the .NET booklist can get huge as there are good ones out there.

# re: Recommended Reading

Wednesday, March 01, 2006 8:56 AM by Steve    
Thanks Bill. I actually haven't read Rocky's book. I have heard a couple people mention it though so I may have to think about picking it up. There are certainly a number of other .NET books that might deserve to make the list they just didn't pop out in my mind when I was putting it together. Any that you feel real strong about as must reads?

# re: Recommended Reading

Wednesday, March 01, 2006 11:55 PM by Bil Simser    
Steve,

As for .NET books, I think the Pro ASP.NET 2.0 and Pro ADO.NET 2.0 books are good to have as they cover a lot of ground and don't do it with pages and pages of boring code printouts.

A couple of books that look good to watch out for (that might make it to this list) is Jimmy Nilsson's Applying Domain-Driven Design and Patterns and Uncle Bob's Agile Principles, Patterns, and Practices in C#.

I found it interesting you didn't include the GoF book? Just wondering?

Give Rocky's book a whirl, but if you're living in a 2.0 world right now I would wait for that version to come out (I think it'll be released in a few weeks). I like what he's done although I do have an issue with the DataPortal Fetch event embedded in a business object, but that's a discussion for another day.

# re: Recommended Reading

Thursday, March 02, 2006 9:10 AM by Steve    
I have Pro ASP.NET 2.0 sitting on my shelf but I haven't read through it yet. I got a chance to review some of Jimmy's book so I'm definitely looking forward to reading that as well.

As far as the GoF book, although it's one most people recommend, it's too friggin boring for me :)

# re: Recommended Reading

Tuesday, March 14, 2006 12:47 PM by Jason Langston    
Love the list. I'd add Object Design by Wirfs-Brock. Great book, a prerequisite for DDD.

Surprised that Code Complete isn't on the list. I think it is an excellent complement of Pragmatic Programmer, and for me a must read.

As far as Rocky's book, I think it is great for perspective. However, if someone "gets" DDD, PoEAA they have all of the tools they need. For them Rocky's book becomes a sample implementation to borrow and learn from.

Agreed on the GoF book. Head First is all you need, though GoF on your bookshelf makes you "look" smarter ;-)

# re: Recommended Reading

Thursday, July 13, 2006 8:37 PM by erde    
Very helpful list...

# re: Recommended Reading

Sunday, January 14, 2007 10:48 AM by Mag    
That's lot of information. How can anyone finds enough time to read those.

# re: Recommended Reading

Monday, March 26, 2007 4:39 PM by autogielda    
Thanks , very helpful

# re: Recommended Reading

Friday, August 24, 2007 9:17 AM by Afrika Bild    
Thanks for the list. I bought the book "Good to Great..." because of your recommendation - I liked it pretty much!

Best regards

# re: Recommended Reading

Saturday, April 11, 2009 6:08 AM by bedroom furniture    
Schwabers Agile Project Management with Scrum (http://www.microsoft.com/MSPress/books/6916.asp) was a good overview of the process and a little more rooted than the Agile Software Development book (but maybe that's just me).
Of course the .NET booklist can get huge as there are good ones out there.

# re: Recommended Reading

Saturday, April 11, 2009 6:08 AM by bedroom furniture    
The new numbering scheme does not seem to fix that problem and thus is completely useless to me and most other people. I know they want to shift away from gigahertz and other descriptive words and create a numbering scheme that helps people compare two Intel processors, but really, this is just stupid.

# re: Recommended Reading

Sunday, June 07, 2009 6:36 AM by club penguin    
As for .NET books, I think the Pro ASP.NET 2.0 and Pro ADO.NET 2.0 books are good to have as they cover a lot of ground and don't do it with pages and pages of boring code printouts. A couple of books that look good to watch out for is Jimmy Nilsson's Applying Domain-Driven Design and Patterns and Uncle Bob's Agile Principles, Patterns, and Practices in C#.

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