Book Club Recap – Spring 2008
Wow, am I delinquent on these things. I’m not even sure how many books have elapsed since my last post but I’ll try to highlight the major milestones:
What I Have Read:
Techie:
Windows Presentation Foundation Unleashed
Adam Nathan
This for me is THE definitive starter book for Windows Presentation Foundation. I can’t sing praises for it enough but in summary, IMHO, no one who did not write WPF itself should be writing WPF applications without having read this book.
For anyone coming from a primarily Windows Forms (and before that Visual Basic Forms) background (like me) WPF represents a massive paradigm shift from traditional GUI programming. The API is in many places convoluted or foreign to "the way we’ve always done it" and that alone can dissuade all but the edgiest of us from the daunting task of adopting this flamboyant technology. This book systematically walks the reader through 95% of the questions and obstacles between fluency in WPF and sulking away in shame back to lesser platforms.
Further enumeration could only dilute the poignancy of my recommendation to get this book. Also, I read this book many months ago and can’t remember the details I had in mind for this post at the time so you’ll just have to take my word for it GET THIS BOOK!
Non-Techie:
The Keys to the Kingdom Series by Garth Nix – Mister Monday, Grim Tuesday, Drowned Wednesday, Sir Thursday, Lady Friday
Son of A Witch by Gregory Maguire
StarCraft: The Dark Templar Saga – Shadow Hunters by Christie Golden.
What I Tried to Read:
Software Estimation: Demystifying the Black Art by Steve McConnell
As a Solution Architect here at Catalyst I’m involved in the entire project life cycle from sales to deployment and estimation is a key activity I participate in. Reading this book was me sharpening that particular saw in my toolbox. I’m pretty far into the book but not unlike some previous books I’ve mentioned, reading this book was like eating shredded wheat – good for you but not very tasty. I had to put that down and sojourn in fiction for a while just to get the taste out of my mouth. I imagine I’ll finish it some day.
What I Am Reading:
Code Complete: A Practical Handbook of Software Construction – 2nd Edition by Steve McConnell
That’s right – I couldn’t make it through Software Estimation so I ran away to another Steve McConnell classic. This one is on a subject nearer and dearer to my heart though – software construction. This book isn’t shredded wheat. It’s not the most exciting read ever but I can make a good pace through it. This book and its author are both names that seem to be referenced a lot by other good books so I thought it only proper to give it a once over. So far it hasn’t offered many brand new ideas (nor should it for someone in my position) but it has re-enforced some of my own practices and given me some subtle nuggets of wisdom I’d overlooked in the past.
What I Will Read:
Techie:
The Software Architect’s Profession: An Introduction by Marc Sewell and Laura Sewell
I’ve read a number of books on software architecture but never one about the software architect specifically. I’m curious to read what this book has to say about the role beyond design patterns and the like.
Non-Techie:
Superior Saturday by Garth Nix
TTFN
July 29, 2008
В· 
Anthony D. Green В· 
No Comments
Tags: books, wpf В· Posted in: Uncategorized
Leave a Reply