Pro .NET Best Practices (Expert's Voice in .NET)

Overall, I'm glad I read this book. The author mostly has good advice and insights. My only objection to the book is that the first five chapters are either bloated or not geared to an advanced audience. For example, Practice 5-5: Make a Commitment to Do Careful and Thorough Work. That's good advice, but I didn't pay $40 to hear that. I'm interested in more advanced insights rather than superficial bromides. In any case, I think chapters 1 - 5 could have been condensed into 20 pages or less (rather than 84). I'm not saying that the content is wrong, I'm just saying that some of it is way too basic for a book advertised as "Intermediate-Advanced." If I were the author, I would have severely cut the first five chapters and spent more time beefing up chapters 6 - 13, which I found much more useful.

I found the lessons in this book to be beneficial way beyond just development techniques and best practices. The author clearly has life experience and analytical abilities which apply to business, psychology, philosophy, and sociology. Mr. Ritchie's analysis is sound and careful, but brought to life by real-world examples and illustrations which make for a rare find indeed: a technology book which you can't easily put down. The logic is tightly proven, but the author never fails to illustrate the theory with real-world applications. Where most .NET books focus on technology, this book is different in that the author proves that technology only works when its practitioners understand how to overcome human flaws, the temptation of groupthink, the lack of discipline, and the avoidance of simplicity. Don't get me wrong: there's an abundance of real-world code fragments and spelled-out hands-on techniques, but there are far too many developer texts which are simply a paper version of a coder's blog. In contrast, this is a well-thought-out guide, with a beginning, middle, and end, and the reader leaves the experience with a deeper understanding of not only technology, but keen insights into himself, his colleagues, and his value as a developer.

I'm disappointed in this book because I expected a lot of specific "Best Practice" tips. But it turned out to be more about concepts that are better presented in specific books on XP programming, Agile Methodologies, Build Automation, Continuous Integration...etc. I find it ironic that the author went to great length in chapter 1 to suggest "Ruthlessly Helpful" is a better phrase than Best Practices. I wish he had felt strongly enough about that to title this book "Pro .NET Ruthlessly Helpful Practices" instead. But then, if he did, I probably would have researched better and not ended up buying it. Still, I give it two stars because it can be somewhat useful for someone new to .NET.

Nice read. This book is full of good suggestions for the .NET framework. Would have liked to see more examples of code but still a good book. Recommended read for individuals who are not sure where to start.

I've found that the recipe for success in solving problems usually includes people, process, and technology. Unlike most technical books that only cover the technology aspects, this book hits all three. The author certainly explains the technical tools and techniques, what he terms "better practices", for improving your software engineering and systems development efforts. He also explains how to get these practices to stick by way of instituting processes that should exist and overcoming the change management and culture issues with the people involved. In particular, the content on biases and aversions was unique and something I've never seen in any technical book - and yet, this content addresses a fundamental challenge of getting people to buy in to changing the way they do things. Kudos to the author for bringing a fresh - and comprehensive - perspective on best practices.

Stephen Ritchie is a rare combination, a software development engineer/expert who can also a very strong communicator. Mr. Ritchie has put together a comprehensive treatment of best practices to apply throughout the software development lifecycle - these insights have been gained through his education, research and practical knowledge through decades of experience in the field. I have been involved with technology development myself for over 25 years, and Ritchie's observations, suggestions and examples are completely on-point. Through his background and insights, any development team can radically raise the quality of their software development projects through implementation of his best practices. A must-have book for any .Net technologist's library.

It was a pleasure to read "Pro .NET Best Practices" in this age of Internet articles and eBooks, where there is no shortage of technical information all around us. It's easy for any skillful programmer to pick up new technology by reading a new book. But it takes dedication and persistence to implement best practices in a professional software product. Mr. Ritchie's book provides the necessary guidance to approach these best practices with confidence. Like any other book, you can read it from cover to cover. But, because of the distinct topics in each chapter, you can also step right into the chapter that you really need. I would highly recommend it!

Includes a wealth of .NET knowledge about many different types of technology. Anybody will leave this book having learned something.