NHibernate 2 Beginner’s Guide – Book Review

Book on Amazon

Finally someone has written an in depth beginners book for nhibernate. Nhibernate 2.0 Beginners Guide written by Aaron Cure is just that and more. Wow do I sound like a car salesman. I was a little disappointed when I read Nhibernate In Action last year, because it was more of a reference than a tutorial. This book is definitely what the title states, which is a beginners guide. The book contains step by step examples of how to find, setup, and use nhibernate. I highly recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn nhibernate. By the way I think all .netters should do just that.

Pros

love the beginning paragraphs
- In simple terms, NHibernate does all the database work, and we reap all the benefits! Instead of writing reams of SQL statements or creating stored procedures that “live” in a different place than our code, we can have all of our data access logic contained within our application.
  With a few simple “tricks” that we’ll discuss in Chapter 4, Data Cartography, not only will our queries be effective, but they will also be validated by the compiler. Therefore, if our underlying table structure changes, the compiler will alert us that we need to change our queries!
starts slow, which is perfect for a “beginners” book. lots of hand holding and explanations of basics. this is truly meant for somehow with no experience with ORMs.
clearly shows you how to use log4net! great bonus in a nhibernate book.
briefly mentions all the major players in the nhibernate world, which is great for demonstrating options
- Examples: fluent nhibernate, nhibernate.burrow, castle, spring ioc, etc.

Cons

book uses basic aspx pages with custom controls in the examples. I firmly suggest ASP.Net MVC over webforms. But it may be too much to learn at one time if you aren’t familiar with either nhib or MVC. So learn one first and then learn the other. You won’t regret it.
most examples are in c# and vb.net. that’s good or bad depending on your opinion of vb.net.
No HQL examples. All query examples use the Criteria class. This isn’t totally bad especially for beginners, but HQL should have at least been mentioned.

Chapter Notes

chapter 1
- clearly denotes which version of nhib the book uses and where to get it
  - Even explains the nhib release verbiage of “generally available”
- shows basic examples of mapping file and how it relates to POCOs. Good stuff for a ORM newbie.
chapter 2
- good advice for designing your database in logical way that avoids data duplication.
- clear steps to download and setup a database using sql server express
  - Does mention that nhib works in almost any database, however all the book examples use sql server express
- nice explanation of how tables relate to your classes
- great introduction to OTM, MTO, MTM, and OTO relationships
- good summary of left joins and how joins matter in queries for the different relationship types
chapter 3
- starts creating a simple class library application. clear steps and good examples.
- even addresses the somewhat hated nullable types and how to handle database columns that need to be mapped to types that can be null.
chapter 4
- nice explanation of what mapping means in terms of ORM software and how it functions as the glue that binds your objects to the database.
- summary and examples of the most common used mapping types
- gives examples of two mapping styles
  - xml
    - lists the two main complaints which are.. 1) too much xml 2) xml files are not compiled, so you don’t find bugs until run time.
    - provides great tip of adding the hibernate XSD to your project so that visual studio will provide code completion for you and validate your mapping files.
    - important info about how to make sure the xml mapping files are compiled into your dll
  - fluent nhibernate
    - short example given that shows how using the “side” project http://fluentnhibernate.org/ can work without the xml mapping files.
    - pro is that mappings have to be compiled, so bugs/typos are found earlier
chapter 5
- creates console application to test the nhib code
- shows step by step how to add references to the nhib dlls that you need to download
- good definition of what a nhib session is and how it relates to an actual database session
chapter 6
- why you should and how to use log4net with your nhib project
- excellent and thorough tutorial for using log4net
chapter 7
- nhib config details
- mentions how easy it is to change databases by simply changing one config line
- shows how to config nhib in an app.config or web.config
chapter 8
- provides example of Singleton DOA pattern
- shows example of using a structure that holds all the column/property names for a class/entity. this is done so that the column names in the structure can be used in criteria queries. all this effort is done to avoid run time exceptions. seems like a waste of time to me because you if you don’t update your structure every time your db is updated then you will still get runtime errors.
- query examples using Criteria (at this point all examples have been using Criteria, none in HQL)
chapter 9
- in depth examples showing how to create custom controls to display data retrieved using nhibernate
chapter 10
- shows how to implement the login controls with nhibernate
chapter 11
- covers 11 code generation tools used to limit manual boiler plate coding. I actually hadn’t heard of many of the ones listed. Great bonus chapter.
- nhib-gen, mygeneration, NGen NHibernate Code Generator, and T4 hbm2net seem promising
- these tools create everything from POCOs to DAOs to services.

June 9, 2010 | Filed Under .Net, Books | 1 Comment

Outliers – A non technical book every freelancer/developer should read

Book on Amazon

Outliers “The Story of Success” by Malcolm Gladwell is a popular book. I heard about the book in a freelance discussion group at a developer conference. I quickly ordered a used copy from Amazon. It’s popularity became very apparent when multiple people, that saw me reading it in an airport terminal, asked if it was any good because they had heard it was. My answer is yes. The book has been reviewed many times (795 on amazon alone) so to avoid duplicate statements I will give my brief summation along with my comments about how the theories in the book apply to software development. If you have read the book please comment with your thoughts. If not I suggest you do because it’s a quick, thought provoking read.

Summary: The book is NOT a 12 steps to success type book, I really hate those books. Gladwell presents the theory that success is not a trait or a gene that only some people have. Gladwell proposes that there are no simple rags to riches stories where a person builds an empire solely on their own. With scientific studies and research to back up the theories Gladwell explores how opportunities and advantages provide the gateway to success.

10,000 hours (very popular topic from the book)

No one succeeds without many, many hours of preparation. No one.
Examples from Bill Joy(co founded Sun) to The Beatles are given.
My thoughts: Turn off the xbox360 and the TV and learn a new language, framework, or pattern. Then repeat.

Luck

Some people that prepare will be rewarded with incredibly rare opportunities.
My favorite example in the book is a list of the richest people ever. A large number were from a 10 year period in the mid 1800’s. That time period gave a few lucky individuals the opportunity to become tycoons because of culminating economic and technical advances.
My thoughts: So if you are not lucky enough to be learning the types of technical skills that will benefit you, then take it upon yourself to make your own luck and find a position that will.

IQ is not all you need

The book covers in depth the story of Chris Langan who has an IQ of 195, but has never attained a college degree or high profile professional career.
My thoughts: To succeed in software development you need communication skills, imagination, and technical skills(IQ). You need to know how to inform/educate non technical people and how to debate effectively with colleagues.

It takes a village

No body makes it alone. We all need support from family, friends, and colleagues.
Every freelance book or article I read says to have a partner.

Love what you do

Great quote from the book: “Hard work is a prison sentence only if it has no meaning”
My thoughts: You know if you love your job or not. Stop thinking about finding a satisfying job. Update your resume and go find a job you will love. It won’t find you, unless you are one of those really lucky people the book mentions.

Another excellent review of Outliers: http://www.markhneedham.com/blog/2009/01/06/outliers-book-review/

December 3, 2009 | Filed Under Books | 4 Comments

NHibernate in Action – Book Review

Book on Amazon
All summer I meant to read the book “NHibernate In Action”. I finally got around to it, better late than never I guess. In my opinion this book is aimed at higher level programmers such as lead developers or architects. The book does not contain clear step by step examples of how to get NHibernate running. However it does provide in depth conceptual reasoning why anyone would want to use NHibernate along with reference style examples. If you are trying to learn NHibernate you are better off reading a few online tutorials first and after that read this book so you can understand exactly what NHibernate is doing and how it does it. Below are some book pros & cons, NHibernate links, and chapter summaries.

Pros

Examples are all in c#
Shows config examples for NHibernate 1.2.1 and 2
Promotes proper design patters often references popular pattern books
Makes note of minor current bugs or missing features that may cause issues or confusion
Provides suggestions for when to use something other than the default NHibernate settings
Mentions how NHibernate can use the features of multiple RDMS, not just SQL Server

Cons

Download and install instructions were vague
- I downloaded NHibernate 2.1.0 QA from SourceForge after finally finding the link on nhforge.org. From there I followed the install notes in the downloaded zip file.
Examples do not use Generics
Doesn’t provide a link or even a suggestion to where you can download the NHibernate.Mapping.Attributes library which lets you use features similar to the annotations in Hibernate 3
- I found them here: http://sourceforge.net/projects/nhcontrib/files/NHibernate.Mapping.Attributes/
Shows attribute and xml mapping examples randomly. In my opinion it would be better if one or the other was used consistently.
Jumps from definitions to examples. No clear step by step examples
- I would say this book is more of a reference than tutorial

Helpful NHibernate Links

NHibernate community site
- Great short tutorial
- NHibernate docs
NHibernate Google Group
Stackoverflow NHibernate questions and answers
How to use MySQL with .NET
Databases supported by NHibernate
Common exceptions

Chapter 1

Basic definitions of persistence, sql(sql not sql server) databases, and layered development
Doesn’t mention the testability benefits of layered development
Compares persistence layer choices available with .Net
Makes the case that LINQ and Entity framework will not replace NHibernate
Definition of ORM
Addresses the performance concerns of using ORMs
Author tries to convince people to use ORMs, this part needs a little salesman ship but I guess if someone is open minded enough to read this book then they don’t need much of a sales pitch.

Chapter 2

Some basoc instructions for how to download and install the NHibernate dll
- con: Could use a little details in this section about how to use the versions that don’t have msi installers yet like the 2.1.0.GA release I downloaded.
Shows very simple examples of saving and loading an entity
Then shows you a basic xml mapping document
- o Shows a mapping document for versions 1.2 and 2.
Quick glance at the NHibernate api and in depth notes on important interfaces
Very short section on logging with log4net

Chapter 3

Good section on the benefits of having a transparent persistence layer
Discusses the anti xml config file movement.
- However doesn’t mention the fact that poorly designed and overly complicated schemas are one reason for the back lash. Also never mentions CoC.
Discusses using attributes as meta data
- IMHO way more time should have been spent telling the users how to setup/install the mapping dlls needed to use this feature
- Does show many examples of how to use the attributes and what the xml version of the meta data would look like
This chapter provides information about the hibernate mapping elements and options
- It is a mix between a reference and tutorial.
Good section on object identity vs equality
con: Gives an explanation of what primary keys are. Surely anyone reading this book knows already knows what primary keys are.
Good short explanation of the different types of primary key creation that NHibernate supports
Long discussion on database and object model design
- table per concrete class
- table per sub class
- table per class hierarchy

Chapter 4

Explains object identity scope. probably a little high level for low level developers
Explains different options for Equals and HashCode implementations
Automatic dirty checking
- Changing an object in an ISession and committing will result in those changes being automatically reflected in the database
Clearly denotes the different cascading persistence options
Details the different object retrieval options
- Retrieving by identifier
- HQL
- NHibernate Criteria API
- Native SQL queries
In depth discussion of fetching strategies and how to implement each one
Short section on batching and how it can speed up queries for selecting collections
Provides common sense ideas for analyzing NHibernate’s performance

Chapter 5

Background on database transactions, unit of work and conversations
Excellent section on transaction isolation
Background on ORM caching

Chapter 6

Starts with more definitions and comparisons of entities and value types
Nice chart showing how NHibernate mapping types relate to .Net types
Give in depth example of creating a custom mapping type
Nice tips on controlling collection sorting with mapping settings

October 21, 2009 | Filed Under .Net, Books | 5 Comments