I completed my taxes this weekend as well as a spring cleaning of my office and development PC's. I noticed in 2004 that I purchased far fewer books than I did in 2003. In fact, I purchased more books on researching tea for my online tea store (not done yet) than I did on .NET and development.
In total, I purchased 14 development books and each one of them is excellent in my opinion.
Here is my 2004 reading list in alphabetical order:
- A First Look at Microsoft Sql. Server 2005
- Agile and Iterative Development - A Manager's Guide
- Applying UML and Patterns 3rd Edition
- ASP.NET v2.0 Beta Version
- Cascading Style Sheets - The Definitive Guide 2nd Edition
- Code Complete, 2nd Edition
- Design Patterns in C#
- Domain-Driven Design
- Effective C#
- Expert C# Business Objects
- Expert Service-Oriented Architecture in C#
- Programming .NET Components
- Refactoring to Patterns
- Windows Forms Programming in C#
If I had to recommend one book from this list as a must read for developers, it would be Appying UML and Patterns - An Introduction to Object-Oriented Analysis and Design and Iterative Development by Craig Larman (3rd Edition). It is the best book I have ever read. It is organized as a classroom text book (and used in classes) and teaches skills about OOP and iterative development in a comfortable manner. It's a nice 700 page, hard-cover book with no fluff.
The next two books I would recommend on this list are Effective C# and Expert C# Business Objects (chapter-by-chapter review on Expert C# Business Objects). These books are packed with good, practical knowledge on C#, development, and building business objects. Effective C# (my review of Effective C#) is filled with 50 great tips to improve your day-to-day programming. Expert C# Business Objects has an excellent overview and in-depth coverage of not only key .NET technologies but also on how to build business objects.
It is tough to put them in order as they are all really good, but let's just say those are my top 3 as I see them now with the others not lagging much further behind, if any. I have yet to purchase a single book in 2005. Now that I have just completed Effective C# and Refactoring to Patterns, I am on the hunt.