Book Review: ASP.NET 3.5 Application Architecture and Design

ASP.NET 3.5 Application Architecture and Design by Vivek Thakur examines several contemporary approaches in architecting and designing ASP.NET 3.5 applications in a book of about 240 pages. The book is available in either paperback format or electronic format (i.e. PDF format).

What is refreshing about the book is that it bridges the gap between the code-centric ASP.NET books and the often platform-agnostic application architecture and design patterns books that fill the market. With this book, the author showcases a better way to structure ASP.NET-based web solutions, explaining with concrete examples how to use different architectural styles and design patterns in real-life ASP.NET code.

The book is aimed at any ASP.NET developer who has already a basic understanding of the ASP.NET framework and programming language knowledge of either C# or VB.NET. Code examples in the book are available for download through the publisher’s website.

Now, let’s take a dig into each of the nine chapters of the book:

Chapter 1 introduces architecture and design in ASP.NET, including tiers, layers, and logical structuring. Much of the explanations in this chapter form the basis of discussion for the rest of the chapters in this book.

Chapter 2 discusses the pros and cons of using 1-tier, 1-layer default architecture in ASP.NET, and when and why stock data source controls should be used. A sample project i.e. an Order Management System is used to illustrate the points of discussion.

Chapter 3 examines what an ER diagram is, the domain model, UML basics, and what an n-layer design is, and how it increases flexibility and maintainability of the code when compared to a 1-layer architecture.

Chapter 4 discusses ASP.NET n-tier architecture and implementation. It also introduces Data Transfer Objects and how to use them with 4-tier and 5-tier web solutions.

Chapter 5 gives an insight on MVC design and how the new ASP.NET MVC framework helps in implementing the MVC design in web applications. The ASP.NET MVC framework discussed in the book is based on one of the preview releases, and therefore I would recommend readers to always check out the latest version of the framework for breaking changes.

Chapter 6 covers some of the most common design patterns in ASP.NET such as Factory, Dependency Injection, Singleton, and others.

Chapter 7 focuses on Service Oriented Architecture (SOA). The chapter explains how to enable SOA in a .NET application by using Windows Communication Foundation (WCF). The discussions are supported by C# code examples.

Chapter 8 deals with database modeling concepts such as logical and physical models, and normalization. This chapter is basically summarized textbook stuff but nevertheless it serves as a great reminder to some very important concepts. There is even a nice example on using Visio diagramming tool to model a database.

Chapter 9 discusses implementation and deployment best practices in globalization and localization for ASP.NET applications. Of interesting note, the chapter also offers a good starting point on how to use a database for localization.

I like the fact that the book has done good job in striking a good balance between theoretical concepts and practical implementation -- for a book of this genre. Explanations were concise and easy to understand. The book is sprinkled with diagrams, screenshots, and code snippets which contribute to a much more absorbing reading experience.

On the downside, I feel the book deserves better editing as there were sporadic typos but these issues are easy enough to get by.

Busy ASP.NET developers who are at a lost in the sea of architectural buzzwords and concepts should find this compact little book a good one-stop resource. Recommended!

Jason Ong
- December 2008

Related Resources

• Amazon.com reviews / Buy this book
• Other ASP.NET/Visual Basic .NET books