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Stack OverflowBest ASP.NET MVC book?
[+84] [8] pearcewg
[2008-10-27 18:12:03]
[ asp.net-mvc asp.net-mvc-3 asp.net-mvc-2 books ]
[ http://stackoverflow.com/questions/240905/best-asp-net-mvc-book ] [DELETED]

I'm going to be starting a new project with VS2008/ASP.NET, and I would like to use MVC.

What is the best MVC book out there? (Are there any good ones?)

Edit: I threw in the asp.net-mvc-2 tag so we could possibly get some updated answers.

(2) Unless you see a book based on the beta, no book is going to have current enough information. I've used two previews and the beta and the differences between them have been major - Will
ASP.NET MVC, Entity Framework and LINQ video tutorials (including MIX09, PDC, TechED and many more): stackoverflow.com/questions/1133855/… - Ramiz Uddin
Most of the answers to this seem to be from before ASP.NET MVC was released and certainly before a lot of the books were published. - Martin Brown
This question shows how StackOverflow has some serious structural problems. I opened this question 3 years ago, and I enjoy that people continue to view the post, add comments and answers after all of this time. However, it was able to be closed last month, for a reason which I had no control over, and for nothing which I did wrong as the person who asked the question. Sigh. - pearcewg
(3) When the author of the post clearly is monitoring and keeping the question somewhat updated and clearly constructive, it is pure devolution of SO (and kind of surprising) to close it... - Morten Bergfall
@Morten: that is why you have to take SO with a grain of salt. I opened this question 3.5 years ago...SO is much different now than it was then. - pearcewg
@morten: Not really. "What is the best..." questions get closed here all the time. - Poldie
[+98] [2009-05-13 17:33:45] GuyIncognito [ACCEPTED]

I recently finished Steve Sanderson's Pro ASP.NET MVC Framework [1] and I can recommend it. It has a multiple chapter sample application that gets you started quickly with ASP.NET MVC and then 10 or so follow-up chapters that cover the relevant topics in depth (Controllers, Views, Security, etc). The book has a strong focus on unit testing and dependency injection and also covers basic object relational mapping with LINQ to SQL. There is also chapters that cover integrating jQuery with ASP.NET MVC and how you might utilize framework components (authorization, membership, roles, personalization, caching, etc) from traditional WebForms applications.

There are a number of positive reviews on Steve's Blog [2] which is also a good source of additional ASP.NET information. Amazon.com has a couple of positive reviews [3] on the book (I need to add mine when I get some free time). You can also preview some of the book [4] over at Google Books.


Some of the other books that are available now or available shortly are:

Wrox: Beginning ASP.NET MVC 1.0 [5] --- Both authors Keyvan Nayyeri [6] and Simone Chiaretta [7] are active ASP.NET MVC bloggers. There is a sample chapter on testing for download here [8]. I've read that it should be available at the end of June 2009?

Manning: ASP.NET MVC in Action [9] --- This book is by Ben Scheirman [10], Jeffrey Palermo [11] and Jimmy Bogard [12]. They all have interesting blogs that cover ASP.NET MVC related topics. If I heard correctly, this book should be out in August 2009. You can pre-order the book (MEAP = Manning Early Access Program) here [13] and get access to the first 11 chapters (unedited or loosely edited I think). The CodeCampServer [14] reference application that complements the book is pretty intense and covers using nHibernate (ORM), Castle Windsor (DI / IoC), DDD, unit, integration and regression testing.

Wrox: Professional ASP.NET MVC 1.0 [15] --- This is the book that accompanies the NerdDinner [16] sample application and reader that was made available a while back. It's authored by some pretty smart Microsoft guys: Rob Conery [17], Scott Guthrie [18], Scott Hanselmann [19] and Phil Haaaaaaaaaaaaack [20] who have the inside information on why certain decisions were made with the framework. Available now.

Packt: ASP.NET MVC 1.0 Quickly [21] --- The author Maarten Balliauw [22] has a pretty good blog that talks about various ASP.NET MVC issues including testing [23]. Available now.

Sams: ASP.NET MVC Framework Unleashed [24] --- Author Stephen Walther is responsible for a number of popular ASP.NET Unleashed books from the early 1.0 days of ASP.NET and now he is writing a book on ASP.NET MVC. You can check out his blog [25] for sample content from the upcoming book and other ASP.NET MVC related posts. Amazon [26] says this book will be available in July 2009.

Wrox: ASP.NET MVC Website Programming Problem Design Solution [27] --- This appears to be a follow-up to the book Wrox: ASP.NET 2.0 Website Programming: Problem Design Solution [28] and welcomes back author Marco Bellinaso [29] and introduces two new authors to the project Nick Berardi [30] and Al Katawazi [31]. The sample application for the book is the Beerhouse CMS [32] and is available for download on CodePlex. The book's website says that it will be released in June 2009.

[1] http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1430210079
[2] http://blog.codeville.net/2009/04/29/now-published-pro-aspnet-mvc-framework-apress/
[3] http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1430210079
[4] http://books.google.com/books?id=Xb3a1xTSfZgC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_summary_r&cad=0
[5] http://www.wrox.com/WileyCDA/WroxTitle/productCd-047043399X.html
[6] http://nayyeri.net/
[7] http://codeclimber.net.nz/Default.aspx
[8] http://p2p.wrox.com/book-beginning-asp-net-mvc-1-0-isbn-978-0-470-43399-7/74180-free-chapter-9-testing-asp-net-mvc-applications-preview.html
[9] http://www.manning.com/palermo/
[10] http://flux88.com/
[11] http://jeffreypalermo.com/
[12] http://jimmybogard.lostechies.com
[13] http://www.manning.com/palermo/
[14] http://code.google.com/p/codecampserver/
[15] http://www.wrox.com/WileyCDA/WroxTitle/Professional-ASP-NET-MVC-1-0.productCd-0470384611.html
[16] http://haacked.com/archive/2009/03/10/chapter-one-pro-aspnetmvc.aspx
[17] http://blog.wekeroad.com/
[18] http://weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/
[19] http://www.hanselman.com/blog/
[20] http://haacked.com/
[21] http://www.packtpub.com/asp-net-model-view-controller-1-0-quickly/book
[22] http://blog.maartenballiauw.be/
[23] http://blog.maartenballiauw.be/post/2008/03/19/ASPNET-MVC-Testing-issues-Q-and-A.aspx
[24] http://www.informit.com/store/product.aspx?isbn=0672329980
[25] http://stephenwalther.com/blog/default.aspx
[26] http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0672329980
[27] http://www.wrox.com/WileyCDA/WroxTitle/productCd-0470410957.html
[28] http://www.wrox.com/WileyCDA/WroxTitle/ASP-NET-2-0-Website-Programming-Problem-Design-Solution.productCd-0764584642.html
[29] http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc300843.aspx
[30] http://www.coderjournal.com/
[31] http://codingsmarter.com/
[32] http://thebeerhouse.codeplex.com/Release/ProjectReleases.aspx?ReleaseId=27519

(13) Steve's book is excellent. - Matt Spradley
(3) I completely agree, Steve Sanderson's Pro ASP.NET MVC Framework is perfect for beginner and intermediate developers, and for advanced developers i would recommend ASP.NET MVC in Action, its excellent book. - Roboblob
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[+35] [2008-10-27 18:23:57] CMS

This will be a very good one:

MVC In Action

Scheduled for March 2009, you can see a sample chapter here [1].

[1] http://www.manning.com/palermo/

(3) I spent time in Redmond with Ben who is one of the authors of this book, we spent a week helping to create the asp.net 3.5 cert tests and I can tell you he is very sharp and one the knowledge of him alone I would recommend this book. - keithwarren7
Scheduled for March 2009? So how come, as of June 9 2009, it's still a 'pre-order' on Amazon? - David
If you purchase the 'Early Access' book at Manning.com you can have access to the first 12 chapters right now (the layout isn't the prettiest but the content is there). The book should be done in August according to the latest I have read, but it takes time for printing and such. I recommend buying the Early Access Preview. - GuyIncognito
(1) Sign up for the Manning email newsletter and get weekly emails that have 40% to 50% off coupon codes. - GuyIncognito
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[+30] [2009-03-16 12:08:59] Cherian

alt text

Checkout the sample project NerdDinner [1] by Microsoft dev's - Phil Haack, Hanselman and ScottGu.

Here's the free [2] CC licensed Ebook

[1] http://nerddinner.codeplex.com/
[2] http://aspnetmvcbook.s3.amazonaws.com/aspnetmvc-nerdinner%5Fv1.pdf

What's a "CC licensed" ebook? - Ronnie Overby
(4) CC => creativecommons.org - Cherian
The link leads to the first chapter of the book. Only this first chapter is in free access. - Alexander Prokofyev
The sample project is good enough after the first chapter... - Cherian
(3) By the way, the NerdDinner application is an ongoing project hosted on CodePlex (nerddinner.codeplex.com. Feel free to submit patches and help make it better. - Haacked
This book is great, I would highly recommend it to some new to ASP.NET MVC. - mkchandler
(4) @Cherian: +1 for the lambda - ahawker
Just gotten around to start tinkering with ASP.NET MVC myself, thankfully I had one lucid thought pound me...do not change framework whilst in the middle of project....why am I telling you this obvious nonsense? Because the book mrCherian recommends (didn't even know about the CC-part, props!) with the daily recommended SO and Google and whatnot...great book, almost too inspiring ;-) - Morten Bergfall
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[+18] [2008-10-27 18:21:28] IAdapter
Not yet published. I think the question intended on something that could be read today. - changelog
(1) +1 since it is already published - DVK
(1) Now up to v4!!! - Poldie
its a great book to read AFK - IAdapter
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[+8] [2008-10-27 18:19:57] Chris Farmer

Are there any out yet that aren't specifically labeled as a "preview"? In terms of "quality" of the authors and their blogging quality, I'd probably vote for the WROX Pro ASP.NET MVC [1] one. Rob Conery, Scott Hanselman, and Phil Haack collectively have some of the best ASP.NET MVC content out there today. Now that Scott Guthrie is added into the mix of authors, it seems almost silly to buy any other ASP.NET MVC book if you're set on buying a book.

[1] http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0470384611

The first Chapter is available for free: weblogs.asp.net/scottgu/archive/2009/03/10/… - but yes, this is a book i'd buy just becuase of the reputation of their authors. - Michael Stum
Yeah, throwing in Scott Guthrie is also a big plus, and a nice chunk of free content in that pdf is a great bonus. - Chris Farmer
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[+4] [2009-03-26 15:26:58] Rich Miller

I don't know if it's the best (not much out yet to compare against), but I just picked up " ASP.NET MVC 1.0 Quickly [1]", which was released just as the framework was. I just started reading, but it seems like a good introductory text. I have a preview copy of the ASP.NET MVC in Action book, and it seems like it has a ways to go. I'm probably most looking forward to the Wrox book, but the PacktPub book might give you something to whet your appetite if you can't wait!

[1] http://www.packtpub.com/asp-net-model-view-controller-1-0-quickly/book

how did/do you get a preview copy? - Brian Boatright
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[+1] [2009-03-02 19:46:03] Al Katawazi

Wrox MVC 1.0 [1] book would be my pick. I would suggest the ASP.NET MVC 1.0: Problem, Design, Solution [2] book as it gives you a practical walkthrough. TheBeerHouse MVC project [3] is already online for you to review source code.

[1] http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0470384611
[2] http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0470410957
[3] http://thebeerhouse.codeplex.com/

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[+1] [2009-05-11 09:44:17] User

First books have recently started to appear so I entertain the idea of getting one.

The first choice would be the book from the framework authors:

Professional ASP.NET MVC 1.0 [1]

I long awaited it but it got quite bad feedbacks on amazon. I managed to get my hands on the PDF of this book and I'm quite disappointed with what I have seen there (very basic, like ASP.NET MVC for dummies), so buying it out of the question.

I know see the another book:

Pro ASP.NET MVC Framework [2]

has gotten excellent points. I only could look at its table of contents and that seems very promising. I'm considering getting it, but... I would realy like to hear from those who have read it.

Any other recommendations for some "advanced" ASP.NET MVC books? I suppose it is too early, other works have not been published yet.

[1] http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/0470384611
[2] http://rads.stackoverflow.com/amzn/click/1430210079

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