Professional .NET Framework 2.0

Joe Duffy

Published by Wiley Publishing, Inc.

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www.wiley.com

Copyright 2006 by Wiley Publishing, Inc., Indianapolis, Indiana

Published simultaneously in Canada

ISBN-13: 978-0-7645-7135-0

ISBN-10:

0-7645-7135-4

Manufactured in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

1MA/RW/QT/QW/IN

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About the Author

Joe Duffy is a program manager on the Common Language Runtime (CLR) Team at Microsoft, where he works on concurrency and parallel programming models. Prior to joining the team, he was an independent consultant, a CTO for a startup ISV, and an architect and software developer at Massachusetts-based EMC Corporation. Joe has worked professionally with native Windows (COM and Win32), Java, and the .NET Framework, and holds research interests in parallel computing, transactions, language design, and virtual machine design and implementation. He lives in Washington with his soon-to-be wife, cat, and two crazy ferrets. Joe writes frequent essays on his blog at www.bluebytesoftware.com.

For Jess
Nothing makes me happier than us;
I look forward to a life full of love and shared experiences…
Together.

Credits

Senior Acquisitions Editor
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Development Editor
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Acknowledgments

Working on the product team responsible for many of the technologies in this book was a blessing. I was part of the "shipping Whidbey" pulse, wrapped up in the insane day-to-day discussions on planning, timelines, bug fixing (and graphing), and new surprise unplanned features. So many awesome people on the CLR Team helped me out by answering questions, reviewing text, and generally allowing some of their smarts to rub off on me.

The following people at Microsoft either directly or indirectly (by answering questions, chatting with me, etc.) have impacted this book: Christopher Brumme, Brad Abrams, Brian Grunkemeyer, Krzysztof Cwalina, Joel Pobar (crikes!), Kit George, Rich Lander, Dave Fetterman, Vance Morrison, Anthony Moore, David Gutierrez, Ravi Krishnaswamy, Sean Trowbridge, Jim Miller, Jim Johnson, Maoni Stephens, and Rico Mariani. And, of course, all of the other CLR Team members whose blogs supplied better product documentation than I could have ever imagined.

Thanks to all my peeps back at EMC, with whom I worked while my infatuation with the CLR was in its infancy. Special thanks to Mark (and Paula!) Clement, Dale Hoopingarner, Jim "Beaver Tail" Braun, Jerry Smith, Bill Reid, Mark Allen, Bob Kindler, Ron Fratoni, and Eric Moore. And everybody down in Powerlink world, that is, Tim McCain and group.

And to David LeStrat: it was fun for the short while it lasted.

The Wrox team was awesome. I can't thank Jim Minatel enough for the opportunity to write this book, and even more: his tremendous patience and kindness throughout the project. My editors, especially Kenyon Brown and my technical editor Carl Daniel, didn't let much slip by. Thanks for helping to make it airtight.

Jess, without your love and support, I could not have done this project. Your patience is amazing. I can't ever thank you enough. And without the little furry dudes scurrying about—Raj, Ashok, and Mike (i.e., our pets)—I'd probably not have cracked a smile the entire year. Thanks also to my supercool family—Mom, Dad, Jim, Sean, and Jamie—who kept telling me I wasn't going insane during this project while I swore that I was.

Lastly, I am eternally thankful to Tom Eck and Frank Sanchez for giving a crazy teenage kid a chance to hack on software for money.