I am reading professional asp.net design patterns by Scott Millet.
And I am on page 68 - reading Domain Model.
I really like the way Domain Model works. But I need simpler example to show me how it works.
Do you know any resources I can read? or even have a lab I can try and move on?
I don't need something with MVC because I am not there yet. And my domain model
will work with different platform.
You say that you don't need MVC because you are "not there yet". My opinion, based on my own experience, is that a great way to build your skills would be to dual track on intro MVC while doing more reading on DDD. Jimmy Nilsson's book, "Applying Domain-Driven Design and Patterns" is famous and comprehensive but also very approachable. I would read that and, at the same time, step through the 29 videos at: http://www.asp.net/mvc/videos/mvc-2/how-do-i/creating-a-tasklist-application-with-aspnet-mvc.
Also, you'll notice that Scott Millet thanks Rob Conery in the acknowledgements to the book. I think you might be helped by some of Rob's free videos at TekPub. In particular, I'm thinking of the free five part series called "Concepts" [http://tekpub.com/products/concepts] that covers DI, IoC, "Loose Design with Interfaces", "Behavior-driven Design with Specflow", and more.
Related
How do I go about learning web typography? I see many sites using nice font stacks in a way that they seems written on paper by Latex.
I've tried digging into their code, but I'm somewhat lost. Which book do you think I have to buy and study? Is there any on line resource or screencasts series do you think I need to see? I'm a true beginner in both typography and web typography.
I already own Robert Bringhust bible but I understood that although the principles are valid applying them on a web need more effort and so I interrupted reading it with the hope that a specific book on the web typography exists: any suggestion?
There are lot's of great online resources on the web, although perhaps not one main one to best them all.
I'd advise taking a look at the work of Tim Brown at http://nicewebtype.com, there is some useful information there.
Also check out the Type Study blog series on Typekit: http://blog.typekit.com/category/type-study/ for a ranging set of topics.
From those you should be able to find your way to other resources.
If you have the Robert Bringhurst bible you might be interested in this: http://webtypography.net/ which takes elments of the book and looks at them in the context of the web.
Out of Drupal and Umbraco, in your opinion which CMS would be easiest for a junior dev / designer to come to terms with?
Initial configuration will be by an experienced developer, with handover to an in-house junior. I'm not a programmer, so forgive my terminology - but is one built using a more common language than the other, for instance? Are there particular traps / benefits of each one? Also, which one has a more active developer community?
I realise it's really hard to do this if you haven't worked in both, but I'd really appreciate any thoughts to help with choosing between these two systems - both of which meet our stated business requirements.
Thanks so much for your help,
V
As I said in my comment, ideally you should leave this decision up to the developer in question. As choosing a CMS based on their choice of language will cut down development time considerably.
The strongest trait Drupal brings onto the table, is the fact that it has been around for quite some time and has a huge community supporting it. Its choices/options of modules are also very extensive as this would be a good point to factor into your decision. The documentation and guides that are available freely on the net may also aid your junior developer.
Just my 2 cents.
can you please describe what an n-tier architecture is. what is a data access layer? what type of code would typically go into this data access layer class? i have basically the same question for the business access layer. what type of code typically goes there? finally, can you also explain, in high level, how these layers interact with each other? thanks.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/N-tier
Microsoft Patterns & Practices site is a good resource for this type of stuff. They've published a book ($$$ for print, free-as-in-beer ebook), the Microsoft Application Architecture Guide v2, which has a solid overview and walkthrough of N-Tier:
Application Architecture Guide: Design Fundamentals
Google is your friend, as is wikipedia as STW pointed out. You might wanna check out this though - http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2009/03/10/free-asp-net-mvc-ebook-tutorial.aspx as it gives a practical example.
I've been mulling this around in my head for a few years, so I'll just throw it out and see what happens:
N-tier is crap.
When developers first learn about it, they twist their code into all sorts of hideous contortions to make it fit "n-tier". Then (if they are not incompetent) they grow up and just sort of give up on that approach. Then (if they are reasonably competent) they realize that all the other real sorts of architecture, which you have to learn over time and which can't be distilled into this ridiculous one-size-fits-all 3-bucket magic, do frequently (sort of) map to the 3 tiers. But they aren't built on the 3 tiers - you don't start with 3 magic buckets and everything falls neatly into them. 3 tiers simply tend to emerge from a proper design. Starting with 3 tiers is backwards.
So my advice - which may be wrong, I'm just testing this idea out - is don't try to understand 3-tier until you understand all the other, more basic patterns and practices, and you've built some solid software using them. Feedback welcome.
If you're like me, you learn by playing with code rather than reading articles. Here's a little example tutorial.
Oh, and also read up on the difference between a Tier and a Layer. It's a pet hate for some StackOverflowers :)
I want to learn ASP.net 3.5 effectively, but I have no fluent knowledge of any other languages.
Now the scenario is that span of time is very less and in short time I have to be upgraded with ASP.net skills.
So I am interested in fast and effective way to learn ASP.net 3.5.
I have to start from scratch.
Please..please........I want solution as soon as possible.........
And please mention good books and online material.
Thanks.Waiting for reply.
First thing is to drop statements like: "I want solution as soon as possible". To learn something new takes time and you'll need to cool down before getting results.
I strongly recommend you to build something for yourself. This way you can deal with new requirements and schedule pressure. During this process, you'll need to see how other people do same thing, and then to download some sample codes.
EDIT: I think you should start doing that every application does: trying to access a database and changing data. This path will lead you to know more about Entity Data Model and LINQ. So you can go to code your front-end. You can take a look at NerdDinner website for MVC samples.
There are plenty of good tutorials at asp.net/learn.
If you're interested in ASP.NET MVC (Microsoft's latest web UI framework) then there's a good set of tutorials at asp.net/learn/mvc/#MVC_Overview
It might be worth mentioning that you have a choice of programming languages to use; VB.NET or C#. If you are new to programming then you might want to spend some time getting comfortable with one of these initially, as well as familiarising yourself with the underlying .NET Framework.
If you can provide more details about what you need to achieve, as well as your programming background then people will be able to provide advice that is more specific to your situation.
It takes about ten years, as does learning anything worthwhile.
The best way to learn a new set of development skills is total immersion in a project. Build your own website and follow along with a book or two, make some mistakes and fix them, and in general endure all the rough-and-tumble that development involves. Along the way, make sure you're investing good time in writing solid unit tests, so that you understand what they're for and why you should be writing them.
If you've never programmed before, this is going to be rather challenging as a first project. ASP.NET MVC requires understanding, if not fluency, of many different pieces of web development. But dedication, persistence, and curiosity will be enough to win out here.
I think reading a good book while implementing some basic website will be your best approach.
My personal favorite, with good inside examples and good practices is Pro ASP.NET MVC
Get a book like ASP.NET 2.0 Website Programming from Wrox Press and work your way through it from beginning to end. Immerse yourself this this project, follow all the steps and understand every step along the way.
Microsoft offers 2 distinct Web development systems - "Classic" ASP.NET WebForms, and MVC. In my opinion MVC is more "pure" to the web philosophy but is trickier to learn, the controls aren't as rich and varied, and there are fewer resources to help you. WebForms have been around much longer, there are thousands of books and helpful sites, and there are probably more job opportunities.
Good luck. If you're smart and work really hard, you should have no trouble.
Saying you want to learn ASP.NET from scratch is like saying you want to learn to build a house. You can get a book that shows you how to saw lumber or nail boards together -- but there's a lot more to building a house than any book can effectively communicate.
Learning a specific control or a narrow skill can be done in a few days, but really learning ASP.NET from beginning to end is a multi-year project -- particularly if you have to learn the language too. Learning C# well could take a year by itself.
Experience is the best teacher. If you can get a mentor of some kind involved, that's even better (just like how carpenters need to apprentice for some time before they're ready to build a house by themselves).
In all seriousness, start with at least 3 years at university doing a computer science/engineering course of some description.
There is no fast and "effective" way of learning to program and being any good at it. There's a lot, lot more to software development than just the code as anyone who has been doing it for any length of time (and cares about their craft) will attest to.
Can you define what exactly do you mean by "learn effectively"? Do you mean that you want to be able to write code like Jon Skeet at the end? Or do you mean that you should be able to handle the job of a junior developer? There is a lot of room between those, to say nothing of you not stating how you learn best: Do you absorb information best from reading, seeing, doing, or some other format of data? How good are your Google skills? How well do you know of MSDN and the massive amount of information contained within?
Scott Gutherie's blog may not be a bad idea for another resource to consider. Another point to consider is however fast you want to learn 3.5, there will soon be a 4.0 that may be out sometime this year as part of Visual Studio 2010.
I've been working in ASP.NET for several years now (since the 1.0 days!), but I've never been formally instructed. I'm fully capable of doing pretty much anything I want and I've built several production-level, data-driven sites, including one that does over a million in sales a year (according to the owner). But I'm starting to get the feeling that the holes in my knowlege are dragging my productivity down. I read a lot and try to learn wherever I can to try to stay up with all the new technologies, but sometimes I just don't get it, and I think it's because of my lack of formal training.
Does anyone have any ideas on the best way to fill in these gaps without having to rehash the fundamentals?
Thanks
1) Read the Code of popular Open Source Projects. There are a few that have some really good practices in place.
I recommend checking out BlogEngine.NET. Also if you're more ambitious, I'd suggest looking at the code for ASP.NET MVC 1.0.
2) Sometimes you need to "get back to the basics" when you've been working with a particular framework since a much earlier version. In this case, it can be really useful to pick up a book that covers some of the newer features.
Here's a good book that shows of some of the new features in C# 3.0:
C# 3.0 Design Patterns
3) It may seem odd, but reading up on other languages/platforms (such as Ruby on Rails) will help you in the way you design your classes and code by taking tips of the good and bad of different platforms and combining them.
4) Read some books on general best practices and development methodologies.
Some of these books I recommend are:
The Pragmatic Programmer: From Journeyman to Master
Practices of an Agile Developer: Working in the Real World
Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction
I'm in the same boat; been a .Net developer for 6 years. While I do have a CS degree, I don't have any formal training in ASP.Net; I learn it on the job as projects come up.
I found the best way to figure out what to learn is to keep your eye on .Net developer blogs. Some I follow:
David Hayden http://www.davidhayden.com/blog.aspx
CodingHorror.com (you might be familiar with it ;-)
Scott Hanselman http://www.hanselman.com/blog/
Usually from reading their blogs, I pick up on what the latest .Net solutions that are out there and point me in the direction of new tech I should look into further.
Overall though, I can only give you the advice I give junior devs at my company; realize you can't possibly be expected to know everything but always be eager to learn. Good luck!
I can absolutely identify. I've been programming since 1997 and really don't have any formal training to speak of. With regards to ASP.NET, everything I've learned has been through open code (Community Server, BlogEngine.NET, the other ASP.NET Starter Kits), books, LearnVisualStudio.net, and constantly being thrown in the fire.
I have a MASSIVE inferiority complex as I'm always wondering "did I do this the smart way or the inexperienced way". All I know is that my customers are happy, the errors that occur are few and are fixed quickly, and I keep getting work.
Luckily I have a passion for my work and that's what drives me to keep improving (slow though it may be).
If you're a "people person" then I think user group meetings are a great resource. I'm a bit of an introvert and unless someone who's smart reaches across and shakes my hand, I pretty much rely on the speaker's presentation to teach me something new. Probably not the best way to go and also probably why I don't go that much.
But again, I would stress the open projects, especially Community Server.
Seek out people better than you and learn from them.
Take some classes or join a user group.
If you are looking at conferences, consider finding a local Code Camp. These conferences are often very low key, but have excellent information content. They involve local presenters and attendees so you can build up your contacts and a set of people you can run things past when you need help. In addition, you might want to find (or start) a local .NET group where you can learn together. These can be hard to get off the ground, but when done well can be an excellent source of community learning.
Look for interesting ways to break your established patters - even at a loss of productivity.
Otherwise, it sounds like you are already in a pretty good spot. You can deliver on current requirements and sound like you can pick up new tricks when needed.
Really, the best way to learn new techniques is to work on a different project - even if that means changing jobs. If you have relevant and continuous experience since 2001, you should be able to pick your projects.
I've been coding PHP on a current project and it's been an interesting break from webforms. If anything, I'm getting good perspective on both models and really looking forward to doing some work in MVC.
I'll probably get some -1's for this, but as a fellow ASP.NET developer I don't think you really need to learn ALL that the framework has to offer. The reason I say that is that over the years my LACK of knowledge of all the cute little conveniences of ASP.NET has caused me to write better performing and more robust web apps for Windows. Balanced design patterns (separation of concerns) WITHOUT OVERDOING IT will make more of a "better" ASP.NET web app than using all of the controls and tools that come with the framework.
Case in point is the ajax stuff you get with ASP.NET, and also data binding. Since ASP.NET was late in the game with Ajax, I started off with my own ajax wrapper (based on an early ajax book) and then moving to jQuery. My co-workers all swear by the UpdatePanels and 3rd party controls, and quite often the user experience ends up worse and more confusing than a regular post back (and then we have to inject javascript to make it perform better and more seemlessly). As far as data binding, I've yet to find a canned control (from Microsoft or any 3rd party) that handles 2-way binding better than the framework Rick Strahl came up with back in the 1.1 days. We built a framework on top of a paper and some base classes he released, and I've yet to see something that I think handles data binding any better in ASP.NET (well...besides WPF/Silverlight...those frameworks really nailed it IMO).
So, to me, the path to upgrading your ASP.NET skills is to come up with some good ways to separate your business logic into logical components in the cleanest possible way, and learn the hell out of C# and JavaScript (and/or a JS wrapper library like jQuery). For me, coming from a LAMP background before learning ASP.NET, I absolutely love C# and Visual Studio, but I'm not such a huge fan of the high level ASP.NET controls.
This is a pretty broad question, and hard to address. I perceive myself in a similar space to you, so I guess I can elaborate on what I've been focusing on to improve as a developer which might be of some help.
I mostly write business and commerce related web apps, and my focus has been on a developing a solid understanding of separation of concerns, domain driven design, and enterprise design patterns.
Some books on general software design which I found revelatory were Code Complete by Steve McConnell and Head First Design Patterns by Freeman & Freeman.
I read SO, Code Better, DDD Step by Step, and a number of other blogs regularly.
Dissect well written code from others, and learn from them. Learn from your peers. If you're in a stifling work environment that doesn't give you the opportunity to grow as a developer, consider looking for a new job.
Learn a new language in a completely different framework - I've been teaching myself Ruby on Rails at home and it has given me an interesting perspective on the ASP.NET work that I do commercially.
Given that you're an ASP.NET web developer, learning MVC.NET will certainly help you to think about front-end development in a new, refreshing way.
If you can afford the money and time (or can get your company to pay for it), take a course at DevelopMentor. They have courses across the country and all year round. They are generally a week long and are in depth.