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Microsoft has released a final version of its book “Microsoft Application Architecture Guide, 2nd Edition”.
The book is described as:

This guide is available online here in the MSDN Library and will be available in the Fall of 2009 as a Microsoft Press book, ISBN# 9780735627109, that you can purchase through local and online booksellers.

The guide is intended to help developers and solution architects design and build effective, high quality applications using the Microsoft platform and the .NET Framework more quickly and with less risk; it provides guidance for using architecture principles, design principles, and patterns that are tried and trusted. The guidance is presented in sections that correspond to major architecture and design focus points. It is designed to be used as a reference resource or to be read from beginning to end.

The guide helps you to:

• Understand the underlying architecture and design principles and patterns for developing successful solutions on the Microsoft platform and the .NET Framework.
• Identify appropriate strategies and design patterns that will help you design your solution’s layers, components, and services.
• Identify and address the key engineering decision points for your solution.

While I was planning to write about the same topic and have the draft ready in my Windows Live Writer waiting to complete, I found an interesting question in StackOVerflow and couldn’t just resist to answer:

ORM/Persistence layer Advice

The question starts with:

I’m starting a new project and I’m looking around for either a very good ORM or for a non-SQL-based persistence layer.

Then follows up with a REALLY GOOD summary of what he believes about each known ORM he knew out of his own findings and search. I advice you to go read it.

However, all this investigation didn’t get him to a single choice answer. And I can’t blame him. This is one fo the questions that will remain for so long without a single answer, or maybe having the popular “It depends” answer.

I have had a LONG research in this topic as well. I have read for so long (and watched videos/casts) to make sure of the best usage of many ORMs and then used them sometimes in test projects sometimes in production, and I wanted to share my thoughts based on this. I posted a long answer there on the question in StackOverflow, and I want to share this answer with you here. I may also have a second part of this post based on my existing Windows Live Writer draft, but, based on my previous times, I think I won’t!

Most of you already know I have moved recently from Cairo to Abu Dhabi. What only a selected set of you are aware of, is that I am still having my heart all set for the developer community in Egypt and still communicating with many of them via Twitter; not only that developers in Abu Dhabi are not into spending time in gatherings or anything than doing work and surviving, but also because I have made the only long lasting and fulfilling friends relationships with the key persons that I see in the different communities, especially my old friends from Microsoft MDC and ArabTeam2000, Demo Day attendees (who still talk to me since 2007), and – of course – dotNETwork, admins, speakers, and participants (who are much more than just attendees).

As ever, there’s

The usual intro …

The .NETwork day for December that took place this Saturday as the 10th group gathering/event was pretty much worth being the day that makes a whole year for .NETwork group, which started December 2007. The day was pretty much different than usual, maybe similar to the very first gathering in organization, and some other days in topic, but the style and taste was a bit different. Pretty much concentrated, although on a variety of topics.

The day was just a couple of sessions. Love it or hate it, no parallelism there. The sessions were given by a single speaker, Omar Besiso, a half Egyptian senior Architect living in Australia, a consultant, Tech Ed presenter, book editor and reviewer – a very great guy as I’ll explain later :).

Actually I really enjoyed the first session. Really want to attend / give many similar sessions in the future.

Warning:

I have not been very honest while writing this! Since I have a similar interest in the topics discussed during the session, I have written some parts of the post that were not said during the presentation the same way,a and provided some examples and such that represent my own understanding which may or may not be the same as Omar’s.

The Useless Introduction You Used To :)

This post has taken so long to be started in writing. I’ve been busy with many events in my life lately. Suffering from frequent limited internet access lately, and, all this moving between companies thing has been eating me. And yes, I admit, I’ have been as tired and more honestly lazy as you expected me to be!

Hey, there’s a little warning. This post is not exactly for my usual audience. I’m sorry, but introducing Domain Driven Design is not one of the goals for this post. There’re many interesting resources and books (even FREE: InfoQ, Domain Driven Design Quickly) on the topic. However, if you leave me a comment telling me to make a write-up on the topic, of course I will :) :).

One more thing. Another reason I’m working on this is that I’m preparing for an internal session here in Raya about Practical Lightweight Domain Driven Design. This session is truly internal yet. It should be recorded though but I’m not sure whether it’ll be possible to publish the videos (Yeah, I will see how we can have our public sessions of possible sure!). If you have a user group and would like me to give this session in a group meeting, I’ll be glad to do.