Some of the best reading I do comes from the patterns and practices group at Microsoft. Their prescriptive guidance documents are actually books, and I don?t know that everyone realizes that.
It isn?t just p&p that publishes guidance, either. The product teams publish good stuff, too.
I used to get real p&p books as swag at conferences and events, but I haven?t seen one in print for awhile. That?s why I decided to use FedEx (Kinkos) to do this with the latest Application Architecture Guide 2.0 CTP. $38.00, signed, sealed and delivered.
Given the cost of technical books, I don?t think this is out of line at all.
I know there are a lot of Kindlistas out there, but for my money there is just something about a touch and feel book. I couldn?t come up with a great way to read a PDF in bed, either.
Although I don?t think $38 is a bad deal, it isn?t exactly a bargain, either. The old p&p books could be had for less than $20.
So, while I can?t print the CodePlex library, here are the titles I would if I could:
- Smart Client Architecture and Design Guide ? Still pretty relevant
- BI Architecture and Design Guide
- Team Development with Visual Studio Team Foundation Server
- TFS 2008 Branching Guide 2.0
- Upcoming: Acceptance Testing Engineering Guidance – This guide will cover the discipline of acceptance testing from several perspectives and contexts. It will provide models, heuristics and a set of actionable job aides rooted in a sample application.
But if you are poor like me, you can live with most of it online and get it easier with the Guidance Browser.
lol… Kindlistas …. I like the sound of that…
David, I am glad you mentioned the Application Architecture Guide 2.0, this is a great book from P&P. I went through this guide from cover to cover a few weeks ago. It is a solid piece of work in my opinion. I have been doing enterprise development for a long time and honestly could not argue with any of this guilds recommendations, very good. Many people probably do not know that this guide was constructed by some of the best minds at Microsoft. There is a good pod cast from our friends at http://www.DotNetRocks.com show #426. http://www.dotnetrocks.com/default.aspx?showNum=426 where Rob Boucher the lead for the Application Architecture Guide gives a good breakdown of this work.