Cor Arana Hector Gabriel said
If you need a book to learn how to extend and use WCF as a plattform developer, not just use it, this is the book.
Anthony Z. Southerland said
Some other posters have commented about the lack of examples or guidance for "real-world" applications. I don't think that is the intent of this book. As a developer who has been using WCF on and off for about 1.5 years now, this book has given me greater insight into the role that WCF plays in the SOA world, both in .net to .net environment as well as cross-platform. Even after working with WCF for more than a year I still sometimes find it hard to explain to people exactly what WCF is, why it's an improvement over asmx or remoting, etc. This book has provided me with the understanding to be able explain that better to others.
Techie Evan said
The book does tell you how some parts of the WCF are implemented but the extra information is not uniformly useful, and without additional guidance on how to apply the newly found "insider" information, the book misses an opportunity to be a really good teaching tool.
Benjamin E. Reece said
While the author definitely has a command of the subject matter, this is perhaps the book's downfall. The book is written as less of a learning aide and as more of a reference to WCF. After reading it, I would say the target audience is an experienced SOA developer migrating over to WCF.
While I think it is a little better than MSDN, it is definitely not a casual read. SOA / Distributed-app beginners beware: if you are wanting a quick guide to getting things started in WCF, this is NOT the book for you. Experienced developers in distributed or SOA technologies might want to take a look at this book, however.
If it were a book about flying airplanes, the subject matter would discuss the minutia of avionics, flight control systems, and instrumentation; but provide very little about flight procedures.
I gave it 4 stars because it is definitely a solid book, but for the appropriate reader. If you have experience with SOA, then it is worth your time. If not, look elsewhere first and make this your 2nd or 3rd book on the subject.
John smith said
This book lacks practical examples. It is very much like reading MSDN - a run down of interfaces and classes and very short code snippets. There are no real-life examples.
The book basically covers Message, Channels and Channel messages but only makes cryptic comments on how these concepts apply to real life uses.
Because the contents are similar to those you find MSDN, I recomend this book as reference. If you want a practical book that shows how to use WCF in real-life applications, this book is not it.
In my opinion this book is boring and over priced.
Thank you.
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