This easy-to-use introduction to Microsoft Windows Communication Foundation (WCF) is ideal for developers who want to learn to build services on a company network or as part of an enterprise system. Built into Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, and available for Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, WCF provides a platform for service-oriented architecture (SOA) that enables secure and reliable communication among systems within an organization or across the Internet. With WCF, software developers can focus on their business applications and not the plumbing required to connect them. Furthermore, with WCF developers can learn a single programming API to achieve results previously provided by ASMX, Enterprise Services and .NET Remoting. Learning WCF removes the complexity of using this platform by providing detailed answers, explanations and code samples for the most common questions asked by software developers.
Windows Communication Foundation (or WCF, formerly code name "Indigo") provides a set of programming APIs that make it easy to build and consume secure, reliable, and transacted services. This platform removes the need for developers to learn different technologies such as ASMX, Enterprise Services and .NET Remoting, to distribute system functionality on a corporate network or over the Internet. The first truly service-oriented platform, WCF provides innovations that decouple service design and development from deployment and distribution - creating a more flexible and agile environment. WCF also encapsulates all of the latest web service standards for addressing, security, reliability and more.
About the Author
Michele Leroux Bustamante is Chief Architect at IDesign (architecture consulting and training, www.idesign.net) and Chief Security Architect at BiTKOO (providing authorization and identity management software, www.bitkoo.com). She is also Microsoft Regional Director for San Diego, and a Microsoft MVP for Connected Systems. Michele specializes in scalable and secure architecture design, federated identity, and cloud computing. Michele is a frequent conference presenter at technology conferences such as Tech Ed, PDC, Dev Connections, and NDC; and regularly publishes in several technology journals. Michele’s latest book is Learning WCF – O’Reilly 2007 (www.learningwcf.com). Visit her blog at www.michelelerouxbustamante.com. Follow her tweets at @michelebusta.