Book Review: Azure in Action

Most of the people who know me know I’ve invested a lot of my time in Windows Azure.  “I’m all in.”  :)   Last year, we began doing presentations on Azure after it was announced at PDC 2008.  Over the months, from SDS to SQL Azure, PDC 2008 to PDC 2009, the platform evolved and of course, is now under general availability.  I went through a lot of trials and tribulations as I migrated Worldmaps and the created @Home with Windows Azure applications. 

Learning any new platform takes a leap of faith.  It requires an investment of time,  and belief in the future of the technology.  Over the coming years, the cloud will become increasingly relevant for both companies and developers, and, in the case of Windows Azure, understanding how to get up to speed quickly and efficiently is critically important.

A few weeks ago, I found out that a colleague of mine, Brian Prince, has coauthored a book (with Chris Hay) entitled Azure In Action.  I was able to get an advanced copy, and spent some time over the past couple of weeks reading through the book.  I have to say, I am pretty impressed … I just wished I was able to read this before I touched the Azure platform.

The book includes a number of code samples, however will not teach you ASP.NET (as you might expect).  Rather, it details the platform, and how to take advantage of everything from diagnostics to remote management, and of course Azure storage options.   It’s really a great resource on getting up to speed on the cloud quickly and understanding the various offerings.  It also goes into the Windows Azure AppFabric with a few code samples as well, which is nice to see.   AppFabric (both Server and Azure versions) could take its own book, but it’s nice to get a taste of what’s available.

If you’re at the point where your considering Azure, would just like to learn the platform, or have an good reference for what features are in the platform, it’s definitely a good read.