
Ask HN: I'm stuck on the Microsoft stack – help? - aesthetics1
I recently moved to a new position where we&#x27;re using the Microsoft stack - specifically .NET 4.5, SQL Server (w&#x2F; SSIS, SSRS), C#, and Entity Framework. I come from the open source world and am having a hard time finding valuable learning resources.<p>My company has a training budget and I&#x27;ve gone to  a few classes, but I feel like there has to be more I can do in-between on my down time.<p>Where did you go (or what did you read) to learn the Microsoft stack?
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swalsh
I've moved stacks a few times. Here's what works for me.

Learning a new stack, is like baking bread. You can't just throw all your
ingredients in at once. You have to start with a base, and then slowly fold in
more as you're kneading the dough.

In software concentrate on the core language first. When I moved from .NET to
Ruby, learning the language was pretty straight forward. Almost everything I
knew in .NET is there in Ruby, just under a new name. I spent a few weeks
getting really comfortable there. Then I started learning rails, then i
started learning active record etc. Just fold in one framework at a time.
After a while you'll have a good skeleton, and then you can start using your
previous experience to ask more pointed questions.

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nlawalker
If you like video-based training and your company's paying, Pluralsight has a
_ton_ of Microsoft-stack content, much of it with downloadable code you use to
follow along with the author.

If you prefer books, anything published by Microsoft Press is usually very
good.

StackOverflow is very .NET friendly for questions.

One of the things that Visual Studio and many platform components (like IIS)
have going for them is discoverability via UI - spend some time opening menus,
right-clicking things and poking around to see what you can do.

Linqpad is great for discovering C# and trying little things out quickly; I
highly recommend it.

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hbcondo714
I would start off by getting more familiar with Visual Studio -
[https://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/get-started/overview-
of-g...](https://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/get-started/overview-of-get-
started-tasks-vs.aspx)

------
anon987
Google "free microsoft ebooks" (no quotes) and you will see a bunch of links
for official Microsoft sites - not pirated ones. Several years ago Microsoft
started giving them away free to, I assume, encourage platform adoption.

Dig around and I'm sure you'll find a few that are useful.

~~~
qohen
This is one of those, I believe -- Eric Ligman is Microsoft Senior Sales
Excellence Manager (whatever that is) and he apparently posts large lists of
free Microsoft-stack-related eBooks on his blog at MSDN, such as this list
from a few weeks ago (which I think was mentioned on HN back then):

[http://blogs.msdn.com/b/mssmallbiz/archive/2015/07/07/i-m-
gi...](http://blogs.msdn.com/b/mssmallbiz/archive/2015/07/07/i-m-giving-away-
millions-of-free-microsoft-ebooks-again-including-
windows-10-windows-8-1-windows-8-windows-7-office-2013-office-365-sharepoint-2013-dynamics-
crm-powershell-exchange-server-lync-2013-system-center-azure-clo.aspx)

As far as your needs are concerned, while there are no ebooks about
programming languages in this list (aside from PowerShell), there's a bunch
about SQL Server in the second half of the list and perhaps other things of
interest as well.

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ruraljuror
I assume you're using MVC, so I have found the tutorials here extremely
helpful:

[http://www.asp.net/mvc](http://www.asp.net/mvc)

The tutorials will include a general intro to the Entity Framework.

Of course MSDN is the ultimate reference. So get comfortable referring to it.
Just google the names of some of the classes you are using, for example
"ActionResult MSDN."

I would also suggest keeping an open attitude (I'm referring to your use of
the word "stuck"). I don't have a lot of experience developing outside of the
MS framework, but I find reflexive distaste for MS to often be a case of
"strong opinions, weakly held."

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brudgers
One of the features of the Microsoft stack is a robust market for traditional
books targeted at diverse technical backgrounds. Amazon or a physical store is
where I would start. Congratulations on the new job.

Good luck.

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greenyoda
There's a lot of useful information about Microsoft technologies - API docs,
sample code, etc. - at
[https://msdn.microsoft.com](https://msdn.microsoft.com).

------
vicpara
Coding is not a spectator sport. Just write code. C# is powered by an amazing
CLR. .NET Framework has very comprehensive and highly optimised libraries. For
most of the simple tasks you don't need any external libraries.

You don't have to bother fighting dependencies hell.

MSDN is an almost exhaustive documentation, proper documentation, for most of
all available methods and objects inside .NET Framework in all available
languages.

Visual Studio is years ahead most of the IDE in terms of productivity tools,
speed, integrations with other tools, plugins and debugging.

Just write some more code.

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Someone1234
Pluralsight. $30/month and has tons of videos on all of those topics.

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27182818284
That seems fine. C# is a _great_ language and the Microsoft stack is becoming
more and more open all the time. (E.g., products being open sourced, but also
other products being released to multiple platforms like their new editor
Code)

------
bliti
What specific tool are you having issues with?

~~~
aesthetics1
What are the advantages of the MS stack?

I'm familiar with Apache - Where can I learn more about IIS? What are some
good C# learning resources? I have been using Safari Books' videos so far.
Where can I learn more about Entity Framework?

~~~
HarshaThota
Channel 9 ([https://channel9.msdn.com/](https://channel9.msdn.com/)) and
Microsoft Virtual Academy
([http://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com/](http://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com/))
have a ton of content that might be useful. Here are a couple good intro
courses for C# and EF:

[https://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com/en-US/training-
cours...](https://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com/en-US/training-
courses/c-fundamentals-for-absolute-beginners-8295)

[http://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com/training-
courses/deve...](http://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com/training-
courses/developer-training-with-programming-in-c)

[https://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/Seth-Juarez/An-
Introduction-...](https://channel9.msdn.com/Blogs/Seth-Juarez/An-Introduction-
to-Entity-Framework-with-Rowan-Miller)

~~~
entitycontext
If the OP is also going to be using ASP.NET MVC, two additional recommended
courses on Microsoft Virtual Academy are:

Introduction to ASP.NET MVC [https://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com/en-
US/training-cours...](https://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com/en-US/training-
courses/introduction-to-asp-net-mvc-8322)

Implementing Entity Framework with MVC
[http://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com/training-
courses/impl...](http://www.microsoftvirtualacademy.com/training-
courses/implementing-entity-framework-with-mvc)

