What Are Application Blueprints?

Learning a programming language is relatively simple. You start with creating a simple "Hello World" program in that language, compile it, and voila ”you have just developed a complete application using that language. Now what remains is the effort required to understand the various syntax and semantics of using the various programming constructs. Learning a platform such as .NET, on the other hand, is quite an involved process; there isn't a 5 “10 line "Hello World" program that can get you started. However, technology providers and experts always provide sample applications. Some of these samples become so well known and fundamental that they tend to be classified as blueprints and are considered the basis to demonstrate and highlight key capabilities of a platform. Authors of such applications have carefully thought through a number of design considerations and best practices, and being aware of these blueprints applications is definitely useful for real-world applications. All these blueprint applications come with source code, which you can understand "behind the scenes," and even change or incorporate into your own environment.

In this chapter, you are going to take a look at a couple of such blueprint applications for the .NET platform so that you will understand some of the challenges, solutions, and best practices. In particular, you will drill down .NET Pet Shop in detail, but also preview a couple of other sample .NET applications, including Duwamish Books, Nile, Cold Storage, and FM Stocks.