Rating: 
Summary: Starts great but could have been shorter
Review: This is the most concise and comprehensive books on software development that I have ever read. It is loaded with good advice and examples. In addition, the author provides ample links and resources for more in-depth information. I recommend this for every developer out there.
While the first two-thirds of this book are excellent, it starts to go downhill towards the end. Except for the chapter on builds, everything after chapter 10 could have been omitted. This is not because the topics are irrelevant, but the material becomes much fluffier and includes less resource information than the rest of the book.
Overall a great book, but I only give it four stars. Reworking the last few chapters to match the quality of the earlier ones would push it over the top.
Rating: 
Summary: Good foundations, too technology-specific for me
Review: When I picked up this book, I was expecting something along the lines of _The Pragmatic Programmer_ -- basic, broadly-applicable advice on designing and building better software. This book does have some of that. The advice is sound, and I picked up a couple of tips as I read. But I didn't realize that this is really a Windows .NET book, not a general software development book. The title didn't tip me off, and neither did the description on the back cover. As someone who doesn't develop .NET software (nor even Windows software at the moment), I found myself skimming or completely skipping large portions of the book that described .NET- and Windows-specific tools. The further I got along in the book, the more I found myself reading only the general overview sections to get an idea of what Mr. Gunderloy was trying to say, and then skipping the specifics. A lot of the ideas and advice in this book are basic, so they may appeal more to beginning programmers than to experienced developers. However, the information is good, and it provides a helpful foundation for good development habits. If you're a beginning .NET programmer, I think this would be a great book to read. If you're a beginning Mac, Unix or other non-Windows/.NET programmer, you'll probably pick up some good tips, but there are likely better books out there for you. If you're an experienced .NET programmer, you'll probably have a good background in most of the material, but the overviews of available tools might be helpful. If you're an experienced non-Windows/.NET programmer, I would not recommend this book -- the general ideas are fairly basic, and the specific advice will probably not be terribly applicable to your work.
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