Recommend me some books or resources

Question

So I've been working professionally as an ASP.NET developer for about 2 years now, right out of college. I'd never worked with ASP.NET before, so I was thrown right in when I started my job. The only problem is that I only learned .NET at a very high level, and that's where I stand right now.

I can develop a web application just fine, but if I had to explain to someone what was really happening with the low-level stuff, I wouldn't be able to tell them. I also haven't been able to keep up with .NET 4.0, so I'd like to learn the new stuff as well.

Someone recommended CLR via C# for me, which I've just started and is a good read.

So I have a list of things I'd like to learn, and I need some recommendations for books or resources:

• Visual Studio: I don't really use any of the tools with VS, so something that showed me what VS2010 was capable of would be helpful
• SQL Server: All I know is T-SQL and using some basic visual tools to create/edit databases. Something that showed me what SQL Server is capable of in terms of optimizing databases and other things would be helpful
• .NET Framework in general: Like I said before, I don't really understand the low-level workings of the framework.
• .NET 4.0: something that will teach me about the new features of .NET 4.0 and C# 4.0
• MVC
• Best practices: oftentimes I will code something, only to find someone else online has done it better. A resource that teaches best practices for common coding problems would be helpful.

I know that I could easily search for these topics and pick the highest-rated book on Amazon for each subject, but sometimes the best books or resources aren't the most popular or well-known.

Answer 1

Definitely take a look at C# in depth by Jon Skeet, who is very active on this site. I've learnt a heck of alot from reading that book cover to cover.

It covers the evolution of C# as a language from framework version to framework version and includes a lot of great examples. Exploring in depth many language features including those you would be interested in that were introduced in .NET 4.0.

For learning about design patterns, I would suggest Design Patterns by the gang of four. The book is getting old but many of the patterns and principles are still widely used today.

A good resource for staying on top of .NET news and emerging technologies is The Morning Brew blog. The author (Chris Alcock) posts his findings on technology and software news every day (bar the weekends and public holidays).

As you have highlighted ASP.NET in the tags, other good resources would be Scott Gu and Scott Hanselman's blogs:

• Scott Gu http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/
• Scott Hanselman http://www.hanselman.com/blog/

And here is an article relating to the ASP.NET architecture that I found particularly interesting:

A low-level Look at the ASP.NET Architecture by Rick Strahl

Answer 2

Highly recommend Bill Wagner's Effective C# and More Effective C#. Tons of best practices and excellent ideas.

Answer 3

See this thread about:

What is the single most influential book every programmer should read?

If you read the books about concepts(not just language) you will be not just coder, but really good Developer who thinks about future and needs of the software he is writing at the moment

Answer 4

• Visual Studio [albeit Visual Studio 2008]: Microsoft Visual Studio Tips
• SQL Server: Beginning Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Programming and Professional Microsoft SQL Server 2008 Programming
• .NET Framework in general and .NET 4.0: Pro C# 2010 and the .NET 4 Platform, Fifth Edition
• .NET Framework [low-level workings of the framework]: Don't worry about this for now; but if you insist - CLR via C#.
• ASP.NET MVC: Pro ASP.NET MVC 2 Framework, Second Edition
• Best Practices: Code Complete 2
• Design Patterns: Head First Design Patterns