Wow. I sincerely hope that Chris Hay (twitter) and Brian Prince (twitter) do not read this review. The reason why is because I do not want them to take their foot off of the gas. Azure in Action is off to a fantastic start. I am really excited to see how this book progresses. In the meantime, I would like to provide a review of what I have read thus far.
This review covers Azure in Action’s first three chapters which are available through the MEAP. In the spirit of full disclosure, Manning Publishing gave me a copy of this book . This copy has been given for the purpose of technical review. This affiliation has not altered my impressions in any way. With that said, let me share with you what I have seen thus far.
Chapter 1
Chapter 1 serves as an introduction to Windows Azure, Microsoft’s operating system in the cloud. This introduction begins by explaining the main types of challenges that Azure aims to help developers leap over. One such hurdle is demonstrated through a small, reproducible code sample that really helps drive the concept home. From there, the chapter gracefully soars over the various components that make up Azure itself. These components are outlined with the help of a variety of diagrams and descriptions. After a brief detour describing other problems Azure solves, the chapter concludes with a description of the various services available in the Azure platform.
Chapter 1 provides a great overview of a topic that I previously felt was somewhat confusing. While making the topic of Azure a lot less cloudy (*rimshot*), I believe this chapter helps answer the following questions:
Coming in at 29 pages, chapter 1 answers far more questions than those listed above. You can experience this for yourself by reading this chapter for free here.
Chapter 2
After a required overview of Windows Azure, chapter 2 begins to go deeper. This chapter will connect with developers as it details the Windows Azure SDK. From there, developers will learn to create an ASP.NET application the Azure way. While the differences from traditional ASP.NET web app development are extremely minuscule, I was glad to see that the authors started from the beginning.
While building the ASP.NET application, developers will get a feel for simulating the Azure environment on their local machine. From there developers will experience the Windows Azure Developer Portal. This portal is the gateway to hosting applications in the cloud. While the details regarding the Windows Azure Developer Portal appeared correct, some of the screenshots in this chapter were out-dated at the time of this review. In all fairness to the authors, the book is still early in development, and Windows Azure itself is still maturing. I anticipate that these screenshots will be updated at a later date once the target stops moving. I would not let this be a detractor from this title.
Beyond the Azure environment, chapter 2 shows how to address everyday development problems. These problems include: moving from a testing/staging environment to a production environment and logging information at run time.
Chapter 3
Chapter 3 covers the architecture of Windows Azure. In a sense, this chapter goes from bottom-to-top, from hardware-to-service. To accomplish this, chapter 3 begins by explaining some motivations for Windows Azure. From there, readers will gain an incredible insight into the incredible efforts Microsoft has gone into delivering Windows Azure. These efforts are exposed through a variety of impressive statistics. Next, readers will see the heart of Windows Azure: the Fabric and the Fabric Controller.
After discussing Azure’s core, readers will move further up the chain to the service model. This model details things like the components of your service, how those components communicate, and estimates regarding service availability. While at first glance the service model concept may seem ambiguous with other concepts in the .NET world, the authors do a good job of explaining Azure’s service model by relating it to an ASP.NET web.config file. In a similar light, developers will learn how to programmatically retrieve service settings through Azure’s APIs.
Admittedly, I feel this chapter was a bit of a detour on the path to learning Azure. The reason why is because I believe some of the content belonged in chapter 1 or in an appendix. I still found the content interesting and valuable though. I am confident that as this book progresses, and goes through editing, changes will be made to integrate this content better. I just hope that the details of the Azure data centers stays (really interesting)!
Conclusion
Azure in Action looks on pace to be a must for any developer. Thus far, this book expertly meshes technical information with humorous tidbits sprinkled throughout. While only about 20% of Azure in Action was available at the time of this review, I still found the content valuable. In fact, the content is making me consider moving my own startup to Windows Azure. Regardless, as this book progresses, this post will be maintained. Because of this, you may consider bookmarking or linking to this page to point others to this review. You may preview or purchase Azure in Action from here.
For those that are curious, I judge technical books on 4 categories: technical accuracy, depth, scope of content, and style and organization. Based on this criteria, here is my current evaluation of Azure in Action.
| Technical Accuracy |
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| Depth |
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| Scope of Content |
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| Style and Organization |
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Just out of curiosity, how do you judge technical books? I am considering writing another book and I would like to know what is important to you. Please post a comment explaining how you judge technical books.
