Customer comments on this selection.
 Horrible approach at WCF
If you are a beginner at WCF, go somewhere else. They do not really show you how to implement a lot of the technology discussed. It is very academic and school-like, in a sense that it tells you whats available, but doesn't explain how to use it in a real world business. It is also all over the place and not very focused. The chapters and topics don't seem to flow synchronously. Whole sections are just code samples, that do not work by the way, with no explanation of how to even use the code in a real world app. There are some serious holes in this book. I highly do not recommend. Stick with the Apress books.
 Overall a winner!
The Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) is the latest offering from Microsoft to address the need of passing messages from one software component to another. Using the .NET platform, Microsoft has built a single framework that can encapsulate any type of message passing (at least all the major one's of which I am aware). By abstracting the important pieces of the communication challenge (transport mechanism, security, reliability, etc.), Microsoft has made building components that communicate via SOAP, WS-*, REST, binary, and other methods of communication a much simpler problem than it once was. One cautionary note: WCF is a deep technology, so do not expect to understand all the concepts at once. Having a solid object oriented programming background will help you understand some of the underpinnings of WCF.
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br /If you are a developer looking to get specific examples of how to use WCF in different situations, this book provides the most common situations in which you are likely to run into WCF (think Web Services) as well as an introduction into some more rare circumstances (like building custom Behaviors, Transports, and Channels). The sheer breadth that book attempts to cover means that it does not fully cover each item presented in the table of contents. I personally would have like to have seen more coverage on WS-*. That being said, for the consulting and product work that I do, this book got me 95% of the way to solving all the challenges that I have faced to date. For the other 5% uWCF Unleashed /u is a great book for giving you the nomenclature and background you need to seek help elsewhere. There was also a chapter on WCF guidance that gives you some ideas for best practices that was quite refreshing as many books leave out these crucial tidbits. Interestingly, this book gives brief coverage of Windows Workflow and also CardSpace. Those chapters were not only an interesting aside, but quite useful when thinking about integrating WCF with these two new technologies from Microsoft.
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br /There were a few small things that I want to mention. The authors provide all the code in the samples - even the code that is not necessarily relevant to the topic at hand. While I found this annoying at first, I did appreciate it later when the examples got a bit more complex. Also, the sample code was easy to miss. As of this review, the code download was from InformIT's site and not Sam's publishing site.
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br /Overall, I would highly recommend uWindows Communication Foundation Unleashed/u for anyone starting out with WCF who learns well from "How To" guides and sample code.
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 All over the place and seldom where you want it to be.
This book had been sitting on my bookshelf for sometime collecting dust. When I finally had a need to familiarize myself with WCF, I dug it out and ended up finding myself more confused than anything. The code samples do not work. There is no online update (The 45 day "Free" version on Safari is also incorrect). Four authors, with four different goals. The intro sections were written way too technical, and the higher chapters didn't give enough detail. The only chapter I liked was Chapter 21 - Guidance. A lot of good thought behind that chapter. Otherwise, I've learned more from Microsoft's MSDN site than this book.
Sample does not work
Code sample provided does not work. The author doesn't seem to know the difference between a client and host! No source code is provided in a cd or by download.
In-depth, comprehensive and complete
I haven't finished the entire thing (about 200 pages to go), but so far it has covered up to the most obscure detail you might need to know. I must admit, however, WPF has an incredibly steep learning curve and some of its features are terribly counter-intuitve, but it is an amazing technology. The book shows you the power of the technology with great examples and explanations of the details you thought you knew.
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