Monday, April 13, 2009

C# Threading Handbook

C# Threading Handbook
Paperback: 300 pages
Publisher: Wrox Press (February 2003)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1861008295
ISBN-13: 978-1861008299
Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6 x 0.6 inches







This book addresses the fundamental units of Windows and .NET programming - threads. A strong understanding of the role threads play in program execution, how multiple threads can interact in order to make efficient programs, and the pitfalls to beware of when developing multithreaded applications, are all core to a developer's ability to develop effective C# programs. This book will cover how .NET applications are executed, the life cycle of a thread in .NET, how the .NET Framework uses threads, how threads work in an event-driven environment, how we can avoid race conditions and deadlocks, how the activity of multiple threads can be synchronized, and how to debug multithreaded applications. We finish it off by describing the creation of a multithreaded network application.

What is great about this book?

Threads are fundamental to the way GUI and server applications operate; if your code is running in a GUI, then you're already writing code in a threaded environment. An ASP.NET page also runs in a threaded environment. This book aims to cover the tricky issues of threading in .NET, and particularly to do so from the perspective of C# developers. Threading is by nature not easy to grasp, but a necessary step towards mastery of programming for the .NET platform.



User Review:


Some of the most complex problems in commercial programming arise when you use multiple threads in your application. This book deals with the various ways in which you could spawn new threads and create a more responsive application. However, like every experienced programmer knows, that is the easy part. The real difficulty is in making your code thread-safe. This is also known as thread synchronization. This book has excellent coverage of those aspects too.

It, however, assumes that you are familiar with C# and does indeed jump directly to the topic of the book. If you need help with C#, definitely look somewhere else (C# and the .NET platform, 2nd Edition by Andrew Troelsen is a fantastic book for that purpose). I also felt that the book skimps on some of the more detailed areas of .NET multithreading such as Thread Pools and some specialized classes such as AutoResetEvent, ManualResetEvent, etc. However, this in no way reduces the usefulness of this book.

I found it to be a great primer to learning more about these topics, which paved a path for further investigations using MSDN or other web resources.

Whether it is for your day-to-day job, or for an interview, if you are looking for a book that covers .NET threading in detail, you are likely to be satisfied with this book.


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