Enterprise Application Architecture with VB, ASP and MTS
Product Description
This book is about delivering professional Enterprise systems in Visual Basic 6. This book begins where Professional VB5/6 Business Objects left off. It offers a sophisticated response to the Business Objects book, and takes the dialog further. It also offers an aware response to the techno-political situation at the Enterprise level for Visual Basic. By definition, the task of delivering an enterprise is a huge undertaking. Microsoft’s enterprise offerings have evolved to the point where they pose a serious threat to existing enterprise level platforms. Microsoft’s promised lower total cost of ownership is driving many companies to replace at least a portion of their enterprise systems with Windows NT Enterprise Server and Back Office suite of servers. While there are many books that consider some portion or another of the enterprise, there few if any that address the enterprise as a whole while still providing the technical details developers and integration teams require for real-world execution and delivery. The information required to stitch together the components essential for an enterprise system can only be found scattered across several tens of manuals that span many disciplines. Managers and developers alike need a clear vision of what constitutes an enterprise system. This book is designed to consider the problem of delivering an enterprise as a whole. It covers hardware from a developer’s perspective. It provides step-by-step installation and configuration instructions for Windows NT Cluster server and the Back Office suite of servers. Then it expands upon and improves the Professional Visual Basic 5.0 Object methodology.Amazon.com Review
Amidst the flurry of new development languages, operating systems, and standards, it’s often easy to lose sight of the big picture. There’s no shortage of tools–but it is often real knowledge of how to use them that is lacking. In Enterprise Application Architecture with VB, ASP, and MTS, Joseph Moniz shares his expertise by presenting a far-reaching framework for large-scale development that may well change the way you program for the enterprise.
This is an advanced title for serious programmers and system architects. Unlike other works that focus on a particular tool or architecture, this book lays out Moniz’s own–a framework called an Enterprise Caliber System–which is designed to deliver available, scalable, and secure solutions. He uses an n-tier model of distributed processing but also focuses on horizontal scalability within each tier.
Much of this lengthy hardcover is devoted to explaining his approach, but the author also takes you through creating a full-fledged enterprise management system that employs its techniques using Visual Basic, Active Server Pages (ASP), and other commercial tools. Moniz presents a fascinating four-dimensional data object model that is bound to open new development doors for many developers.
This title’s layout is textbook style, with dense text and sample code in tiny type size. However, all of the code is also available on the publisher’s Web site for download. Some technical books transform readers as well as instruct. This masterwork clearly has that characteristic. –Stephen W. Plain
Enterprise Application Architecture with VB, ASP and MTS
The book has a good overall description and comparison of a pc based system to a mainframe based system
Rating: 3 / 5
Two people have influenced my ability to analyze a project and get it delivered.
1. Dr. Terry Halpin and his ORM (Object Role Modeling) 2. Joseph Moniz .. this book.
ORM was used by Assymetrix Infomodeler .. and sold to Visio (where it was immediately butchered). I still have (and still use) my copy of Infomodeler 2.0 .. but have gotten to the point where I can model by hand without the tool … and Dr. Terry Halpin gladly discusses how to do this.
Unfortunately … ORM is all out of print.
But not this book. Using ORM techniques to model the classes … I’m on the verge of a big success with ECDO …
The techniques in this book allow a RAD development of an Object Oriented design …. as RAD as was Magic Software .. another tool that made me a lot of money. But without the drawbacks to Magic.
Rating: 5 / 5
I’m half-way done with this book (page 446) and so far I am very impressed. Moniz does an excellent job in breaking down very complex situations into easy to understand concepts.
The first few chapters describe server farms and how they relate to enterprise architecture. The rest of the book concerns itself with Moniz’s own strategies for making a scalable, dependable and DOABLE enterprise app using Visual Basic and MTS.
Although I’ve been very impressed so far, I’m still looking for him to wrap it all up (and he has another 300 pages or so to do so) and I also have a few minor quibbles. First, could someone please tell software book writers to quit using the word OBJECT when they really mean COMPONENT! Components are made up of objects. The two words are not interchangeable! Argh! It can be very confusing. Second, someone was asleep at the copy editing wheel. The content is all well and good, but there’s dozens and dozens of grammar errors (at least one every couple of pages). It doesn’t distract enough to lower my 5 star rating, but it is annoying as hell. Message to WROX: please bring the quality of your copy editing up to par with the quality of material in your books – they deserve it!
Rating: 5 / 5
I used to think that R. Lhotka’s “Business Objects” was THE programming bible; however, I found this book and there are now two. Lhotka is still a fantastic programmer, but Moniz completes the picture.
The concepts are very well illustrated and complex operations are shown with the greatest of ease. I have never read a better book on programming in my career or schooling (CP SC Degree).
Whether you reuse the code in the book or not, the book teaches programming the way it should be. OOP and component concepts are shown with direct application to the business world. Many of my problems with legacy programming and data models have been solved via this book.
I wish more authors would write books at the level Lhotka and Moniz do. The programming world would be a better place.
Rating: 5 / 5
If you are finally graduating from structured procedural code al la mainframe to the brave new world of servers, objects, clients, and the web etc. you will need some mentors along the way.
I suggest you start with Murach’s VB6, then move up the ladder with Balena’s VB 6 Programming, and when you are ready to hit the big time, get this book.
You’ll read it and feel you are navigating the treacherous new waters in the safety, and security of a luxury yacht.
Happy Cruising !
Rating: 5 / 5