Books
On this page is the list of books I’ve read, the ones I’m currently reading and the ones I plan to read. I intend to update this page regularly as I’m reading on. I try to refrain myself from buying books impulsively because I have been buying books faster than I can read them.
If you have any suggestions, please let me know!
Next to my bed (books I’m reading)
Real World Functional Programming
A bit too far from what I’m doing now, but a very interesting read still. Very technical and functional, a lot on F#, so definitely an enjoyable to read if you are technical enough.
Code Complete
Programmer’s Bible as they say. It’s been a really good read from now on, and I getting slowly to the end. The kind of book you have to keep at hand when coding.
In the Pipeline (books I plan to read)
C# in Depth, Second Edition
Second edition of the infamous C# in Depth. I plan to read it completely again, I remember learning so much from the first edition that reviewing the whole content will certainly be a good thing.
Some other books I plan to order
Expert .NET 2.0 IL Assembler, Windows Internals, The Joy of Clojure, Secrets of JavaScript Ninja…
On my Shelve (books I read)
Brownfield Application Development in .NET
Very insightful book. The content is filled with practical advises that were clearly tested on the field. The approach is to slowly get an development project out of the mud and on track to make it a successful and enjoyable project.
LINQ in Action
I wanted to read that one for a long time. Very good read, but I might already be a bit too familiar with Linq to find it terrific. Still, some light was made on some of Linq’s dark spots.
Essential C# 4.0 (3rd Edition)
Recommended by Eric Lippert, so I had to read it. Not very in depth, apart from some “Expert Topic” throughout the book, but the author is very good at keeping you interested, still. It’s never a bad thing to review the basics, anyway.
Azure in Action
Nice read, but there a bit long to my taste, especially that there is not much to say on Azure I believe…
CLR via C# (Third Edition)
I waited for the third edition to be available to read it, and it was worth it. This book gives you a lot of details on CLR’s internals. There is also a new part on concurrency based on the TPL.
Effective C# (Covers C# 4.0): 50 Specific Ways to Improve Your C# (2nd Edition)
Second edition, not much to add since first edition. Does not overlap with More Effective C#, which is a good thing!
More Effective C#: 50 Specific Ways to Improve Your C#
Follow up of Effective C#, but mostly on improvements added with generics and LINQ. Again, the slicing of the book in small chapters makes it an easy read.
Effective Java (2nd Edition)
Must read for any serious Java developer. This book has been written by one of nowadays legendary programmer. Some parts are totally Java related, but some are more of the OOP general principles.
Becoming Agile
I like the fact that this books aims at moving to agile slowly and incrementally. Not completely finished though.
Effective C#: 50 Specific Ways to Improve Your C#
Very nice book. The content applies to C# 1.1, but most of the content is still relevant as of today. If you are any serious about C#, this is one of the books you should have next to your screen.
The Art of Unit Testing
I’m was not familiar with unit testing, I’m still not since I don’t do that on a daily basis, but his book focuses a lot on what the author defines as the three pillars of good unit tests: trustworthiness, maintainability and readability. The book also gives a small introduction to the most used unit test frameworks. An interesting read.
Professional ASP.NET 3.5: In C# and VB
I was not able to finish it, but was pretty good. A bit redundant to have both C# and VB listing everywhere, but I guess VB developers are happy about that.
Programming WCF Services
Very good, didn’t finish it though as I was not working with WCF on daily basis anymore. Very detailed stuff in there, very good quality. Definitely to be on your desk if you are doing serious stuff with WCF.
MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-503) : Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 Windows Communication Foundation
Aimed at certification exam, pretty good read. Covers lots of ground very fast.
C# in Depth
Brilliant, exactly what you need to cross the chasm between knowing C# and understanding C#. If you have some experience with C# and that you want to get and in-depth knowledge of the language, this book is for you. Wrote a review on Amazon for it here (in French). I ordered the second edition of the book and I’m following the MEAP version very closely!
Don’t Make Me Think
A very good read about usability. Didn’t have a chance to practice everything yet. Most of the content is common sense explained.
MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-536) : Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Application Development Foundation
Aimed at certification exam, a good read. Covers a lot of ground in lots of different areas of the .NET Framework.
References
Here I list the books I have but that are not really meant to be read from cover to cover.
Microsoft Visual Studio Tips
Pretty nice, read one or two tips a day will make you a Visual Studio ninja. Not that I’m one, as I haven’t finished it yet.
The C# Programming Language (Covering C# 4.0)
Framework Design Guidelines: Conventions, Idioms, and Patterns for Reusable .NET Libraries (2nd Edition)
Last edited on: May 6, 2011
