Developer Reference – serie

The definitive guide to modern Windows internals: new coverage of virtualization, file systems, boot, security, and more.

For advanced computing professionals, this is the definitive up-to-date guide to how Windows core components behave “under the hood.” Using it, experienced developers can build more powerful and scalable software, administrators can debug complex system and performance problems, and security researchers can harden their systems. This Seventh Edition is fully updated through the May 2021 (21H1/2104) updates to Windows 10 and Windows Server (2022, 2019, and 2016). It adds extensive content on Hyper-V, plus fully rewritten chapters on the boot process, new storage technologies, and Windows system and management mechanisms. As always, it delivers unparalleled insight based on insider access to Microsoft source code, with hands-on experiments using the latest debugging tools to show you Windows’ internal behaviors firsthand. With Windows 11 introducing new user interface design elements that build upon the same core technologies as Windows 10, readers will be well-prepared for this new chapter of computing.

Leading Windows insiders help you:

• Discover system mechanisms for serving device drivers and applications, including ALPC, Object Manager, synchronization, WNF, WoW64, and the processor execution model

• Explore underlying hardware architecture, including trap processing, segmentation, and side channel vulnerabilities

• Understand Windows virtualization, and how virtualization-based security (VBS) protects against OS vulnerabilities

• Delve into key management and configuration mechanisms, including the Registry, Windows services, WMI, and Task Scheduling

• Explore diagnostic services such as Event Tracing for Windows (ETW) and DTrace

• Learn how the cache manager and file system drivers interact to provide reliable support for files, directories, and disks, including on Persistent Memory (NVDIMM) DAX devices.

• Understand NTFS, ReFS, and other Windows file systems

• Review Windows startup/shutdown operations, and OS components involved in boot flow

• Analyze UEFI-based Secure Boot, Measured Boot, and Secure Launch

About This Book

• For experienced programmers, architects, software quality and performance specialists, administrators, security practitioners, and support professionals

• Assumes you are a Windows power user

The definitive guide–fully updated for Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016

Delve inside Windows architecture and internals, and see how core components work behind the scenes. Led by a team of internals experts, this classic guide has been fully updated for Windows 10 and Windows Server 2016.

Whether you are a developer or an IT professional, you’ll get critical, insider perspectives on how Windows operates. And through hands-on experiments, you’ll experience its internal behavior firsthand–knowledge you can apply to improve application design, debugging, system performance, and support.

This book will help you:

· Understand the Window system architecture and its most important entities, such as processes and threads

· Examine how processes manage resources and threads scheduled for execution inside processes

· Observe how Windows manages virtual and physical memory

· Dig into the Windows I/O system and see how device drivers work and integrate with the rest of the system

· Go inside the Windows security model to see how it manages access, auditing, and authorization, and learn about the new mechanisms in Windows 10 and Server 2016

Understand what to do at any point in developing a clean .NET architecture

Master advanced .NET techniques with a focus on actual value delivered by working within a modular, clean architecture. Microsoft Data Platform MVP Dino Esposito explains key clean architecture concepts with a mix of pragmatism and design discipline and helps you solidify your knowledge through a real-world project. Starting with an explanation of the quest for modular software architecture continuing through the methodology of domain-driven design (DDD), Esposito emphasizes the role that modularization plays in managing complexity in software development. Breaking down the layers of an architecture that is modular and maintainable, he presents a sample project that is not simply another to-do list, but an actual tool for the reader. Ultimately, an exploration of common dilemmas for both developers and operations brings together historical developments with real solutions for today.

Microsoft Data Platform MVP Dino Esposito helps you:

·         Understand the relevance of modular software architecture in the history of software

·         Review domain-driven design concepts both, strategic and practical

·         Apply modular analysis techniques to your development

·         Make the most of layered architecture

·         Make the most of layered architecture that is modular and maintainable

·         Explore in detail the individual layers—presentation, application, domain and infrastructure

·         Make sense of domain services to separate raw persistence from persistence-related business tasks

·         Make your way through a series of C# best-practices for modeling classes from real-world entities

·         Understand the benefits of microservices versus modular monoliths

·         Understand the analysis of technical shortcuts and benefits of long-term technical investment

·         Understand client-side, server-side and other common deployment dilemmas

·         Set up your architecture, test your conclusions, and find even more help

Deploy applications with Microsoft Azure Kubernetes

Seasoned trainer Dawid Borycki presents Modern App Deployment with Microsoft Azure Kubernetes, a hands-on guide that demystifies the complexities of Docker, Kubernetes, and Azure for application deployment. With his extensive experience in delivering real-world training sessions, Dawid empowers readers to confidently apply containerization, orchestration, and automation techniques to their own projects. This book provides a structured learning path, enabling developers, DevOps professionals, and IT experts to master the full lifecycle of modern application deployment. Packed with practical exercises, readers will learn to package applications into containers, manage them with Kubernetes, and automate deployments using Azure’s powerful cloud services, gaining practical skills to deploy, monitor, and scale applications efficiently.

Microsoft Certified Professional Dawid Borycki helps you:

Understand the motivations behind containerization and its relevance to modern application development Containerize an ASP.NET Core web application using Docker Deploy containerized applications using Kubernetes, both locally and in the cloud with Azure Kubernetes Service Connect applications to Azure services such as SQL Database and Key Vault Monitor containerized applications and diagnose issues within Kubernetes clusters Perform application rollouts and rollbacks efficiently Automate Docker image builds and deployments using CI/CD pipelines with GitHub Actions Scale applications automatically with Horizontal Pod Autoscaling and Cluster Autoscaling Manage Kubernetes applications using Helm charts for streamlined deployment Implement Infrastructure as Code (IaC) to automate cloud resource management and deployment

For IT Professionals and Consultants

For developers, DevOps professionals, and IT experts interested in mastering modern application deployment strategies on Azure Requires understanding of general programming concepts and experience with the command-line interface

Get all code samples at: MicrosoftPressStore.com/modernapp/downloads

Master machine learning concepts and develop real-world solutions

Machine learning offers immense opportunities, and Introducing Machine Learning delivers practical knowledge to make the most of them. Dino and Francesco Esposito start with a quick overview of the foundations of artificial intelligence and the basic steps of any machine learning project. Next, they introduce Microsoft’s powerful ML.NET library, including capabilities for data processing, training, and evaluation. They present families of algorithms that can be trained to solve real-life problems, as well as deep learning techniques utilizing neural networks. The authors conclude by introducing valuable runtime services available through the Azure cloud platform and consider the long-term business vision for machine learning.

· 14-time Microsoft MVP Dino Esposito and Francesco Esposito help you

· Explore what’s known about how humans learn and how intelligent software is built

· Discover which problems machine learning can address

· Understand the machine learning pipeline: the steps leading to a deliverable model

· Use AutoML to automatically select the best pipeline for any problem and dataset

· Master ML.NET, implement its pipeline, and apply its tasks and algorithms

· Explore the mathematical foundations of machine learning

· Make predictions, improve decision-making, and apply probabilistic methods

· Group data via classification and clustering

· Learn the fundamentals of deep learning, including neural network design

· Leverage AI cloud services to build better real-world solutions faster

About This Book

· For professionals who want to build machine learning applications: both developers who need data science skills and data scientists who need relevant programming skills

· Includes examples of machine learning coding scenarios built using the ML.NET library

Use window functions to write simpler, better, more efficient T-SQL queries

 Most T-SQL developers recognize the value of window functions for data analysis calculations. But they can do far more, and recent optimizations make them even more powerful. In T-SQL Window Functions, renowned T-SQL expert Itzik Ben-Gan introduces breakthrough techniques for using them to handle many common T-SQL querying tasks with unprecedented elegance and power. Using extensive code examples, he guides you through window aggregate, ranking, distribution, offset, and ordered set functions. You’ll find a detailed section on optimization, plus an extensive collection of business solutions — including novel techniques available in no other book.

 

Microsoft MVP Itzik Ben-Gan shows how to:

• Use window functions to improve queries you previously built with predicates

• Master essential SQL windowing concepts, and efficiently design window functions

• Effectively utilize partitioning, ordering, and framing

• Gain practical in-depth insight into window aggregate, ranking, offset, and statistical functions

• Understand how the SQL standard supports ordered set functions, and find working solutions for functions not yet available in the language

• Preview advanced Row Pattern Recognition (RPR) data analysis techniques

• Optimize window functions in SQL Server and Azure SQL Database, making the most of indexing, parallelism, and more

• Discover a full library of window function solutions for common business problems

 

About This Book

• For developers, DBAs, data analysts, data scientists, BI professionals, and power users familiar with T-SQL queries

• Addresses any edition of the SQL Server 2019 database engine or later, as well as Azure SQL Database

 

Get all code samples at:

MicrosoftPressStore.com/TSQLWindowFunctions/downloads 

Master proven processes for improving development with Scrum and Azure DevOps

This guide can help any development team plan, track, and manage work far more effectively, by combining today's leading agile framework (Scrum) and Microsoft's ALM/DevOps toolset (Azure DevOps). Renowned Scrum expert Richard Hundhausen thoroughly covers team formation, backlogs, Sprints, test plans, collaboration, flow, continuous improvement, Azure Boards, Azure Test Plans, and the real-world tradeoffs associated with DevOps. Throughout, you'll find practical, in-the-trenches tips from experienced Professional Scrum Developers. To make this guide even more valuable, Hundhausen has organized it to complement Scrum.org's popular Professional Scrum Developer (PSD) program, which he created with Scrum.org's Ken Schwaber, author of this book's Foreword.

Professional Scrum Trainer Richard Hundhausen shows how to:  Deepen your understanding of the Scrum framework and Professional Scrum as based on the 2020 Scrum Guide. Provide proven work item planning and tracking, and quickly drive value from Azure Boards Improve your Scrum “pre-game”: the tasks you'll perform before your first Sprint Use Azure DevOps to create and manage backlogs, plan Sprints, and collaborate throughout them Improve at scale with Scaled Professional Scrum and the Nexus scaled Scrum framework Recognize which practices are still most efficiently performed without tools Define and optimize team flow, overcome common dysfunctions, and evolve into a high-performance Professional Scrum Team About This Book

For everyone who works with or relies on Scrum, including developers, designers, architects, testers, business analysts, Product Owners, Scrum Masters, managers, and other stakeholders Focuses primarily on using Scrum for software products, but can support development of adaptive solutions for any complex problem performance Professional Scrum Team

The expert guide to creating production machine learning solutions with ML.NET!

ML.NET brings the power of machine learning to all .NET developers— and Programming ML.NET helps you apply it in real production solutions. Modeled on Dino Esposito’s best-selling Programming ASP.NET, this book takes the same scenario-based approach Microsoft’s team used to build ML.NET itself. After a foundational overview of ML.NET’s libraries, the authors illuminate mini-frameworks (“ML Tasks”) for regression, classification, ranking, anomaly detection, and more. For each ML Task, they offer insights for overcoming common real-world challenges. Finally, going far beyond shallow learning, the authors thoroughly introduce ML.NET neural networking. They present a complete example application demonstrating advanced Microsoft Azure cognitive services and a handmade custom Keras network— showing how to leverage popular Python tools within .NET.

14-time Microsoft MVP Dino Esposito and son Francesco Esposito show how to:

Build smarter machine learning solutions that are closer to your user’s needs See how ML.NET instantiates the classic ML pipeline, and simplifies common scenarios such as sentiment analysis, fraud detection, and price prediction Implement data processing and training, and “productionize” machine learning–based software solutions Move from basic prediction to more complex tasks, including categorization, anomaly detection, recommendations, and image classification Perform both binary and multiclass classification Use clustering and unsupervised learning to organize data into homogeneous groups Spot outliers to detect suspicious behavior, fraud, failing equipment, or other issues Make the most of ML.NET’s powerful, flexible forecasting capabilities Implement the related functions of ranking, recommendation, and collaborative filtering Quickly build image classification solutions with ML.NET transfer learning Move to deep learning when standard algorithms and shallow learning aren’t enough “Buy” neural networking via the Azure Cognitive Services API, or explore building your own with Keras and TensorFlow

Your hands-on guide to Visual C# fundamentals with Visual Studio 2022

Expand your expertise—and teach yourself the fundamentals of programming the latest version of Visual C# with Visual Studio 2022. This book provides software developers all the guidance, exercises, and code needed to start building responsive, scalable, cloud-connected applications that can run almost anywhere.

Discover how to:

Quickly start creating Visual C# code and projects with Visual Studio Work with variables, operators, expressions, methods, and program flow Build more robust apps with error, exception, and resource management Spot problems fast with the integrated Visual Studio 2022 debugger Master new default interface methods, static local functions, async disposable types, and other enhancements Make the most of the C# object model, and create functional data structures Leverage advanced properties, indexers, generics, and collection classes Create Windows 11 apps that share data, collaborate, and use cloud services Use lightweight records to build immutable reference types more easily Perform complex queries over object collections with LINQ Improve application throughput and response time with asynchronous methods Use delegates and decoupling to construct highly extensible systems Customize C# operator behavior over your own classes and structures Implement the powerful Model-View-ViewModel (MVVM) pattern Build UWP applications that retrieve complex data and present it intuitively

Query and modify data effectively with the latest T-SQL features

Master Transact-SQL's fundamentals, and write correct, robust code for querying and modifying data with modern Microsoft data technologies, including SQL Server 2022, Azure SQL Database, and Azure SQL Managed Instance. Long-time Microsoft Data Platform MVP Itzik Ben-Gan explains key T-SQL concepts, helping you apply your knowledge with hands-on exercises. Ben-Gan first introduces T-SQL's theory and underlying logic, illuminating it as both a language and a way of thinking. Next, he walks through core topics, including logical query processing, single table queries, joins, subqueries, table expressions, set operators, data analysis, data modifications, temporal tables, and transactions and concurrency. Building on this foundation, you'll enhance your coding capabilities, from programmatic constructs to the powerful new SQL Graph. Throughout, Ben-Gan presents reusable T-SQL sample code that works in cloud, on-premises, and hybrid environments.

Microsoft Data Platform MVP Itzik Ben-Gan helps you:

Understand why T-SQL works as it does, so you can write better code Review relational theory elements and modern SQL Server architecture Create tables and defi ne data integrity Build single-table SELECT queries, multiple-table joins, and subqueries Utilize derived tables, Common Table Expressions, views, inline table-valued functions, and APPLY Make the most of UNION, INTERSECT, and EXCEPT set operators Perform data analysis with window functions, pivoting, grouping sets, and time series Insert, update, delete, and merge data Get started with system-versioned temporal tables Understand and apply transactions and concurrency, including concurrent user connections, locks, blocking, isolation levels, and more Use SQL Graph to model, create, modify, and query graph-based data Explore SQL Server programmable objects and programming capabilities Set up your environment, install sample databases, and fi nd even more help

For IT Professionals and Consultants

For T-SQL developers, DBAs, BI practitioners, data scientists, report writers, analysts, architects, and SQL Server power users For anyone else who needs to write queries or develop T-SQL code for SQL Server, Azure SQL Database, or Azure SQL Managed Instance

Use LLMs to build better business software applications

Autonomously communicate with users and optimize business tasks with applications built to make the interaction between humans and computers smooth and natural. Artificial Intelligence expert Francesco Esposito illustrates several scenarios for which a LLM is effective: crafting sophisticated business solutions, shortening the gap between humans and software-equipped machines, and building powerful reasoning engines. Insight into prompting and conversational programming—with specific techniques for patterns and frameworks—unlock how natural language can also lead to a new, advanced approach to coding. Concrete end-to-end demonstrations (featuring Python and ASP.NET Core) showcase versatile patterns of interaction between existing processes, APIs, data, and human input. 

Artificial Intelligence expert Francesco Esposito helps you:

Understand the history of large language models and conversational programming Apply prompting as a new way of coding Learn core prompting techniques and fundamental use-cases Engineer advanced prompts, including connecting LLMs to data and function calling to build reasoning engines Use natural language in code to define workflows and orchestrate existing APIs Master external LLM frameworks Evaluate responsible AI security, privacy, and accuracy concerns Explore the AI regulatory landscape Build and implement a personal assistant Apply a retrieval augmented generation (RAG) pattern to formulate responses based on a knowledge base Construct a conversational user interface

For IT Professionals and Consultants

For software professionals, architects, lead developers, programmers, and Machine Learning enthusiasts For anyone else interested in natural language processing or real-world applications of human-like language in software

T-SQL insiders help you tackle your toughest queries and query-tuning problems Squeeze maximum performance and efficiency from every T-SQL query you write or tune. Four leading experts take an in-depth look at T-SQL’s internal architecture and offer advanced practical techniques for optimizing response time and resource usage. Emphasizing a correct understanding of the language and its foundations, the authors present unique solutions they have spent years developing and refining. All code and techniques are fully updated to reflect new T-SQL enhancements in Microsoft SQL Server 2014 and SQL Server 2012. Write faster, more efficient T-SQL code: Move from procedural programming to the language of sets and logic Master an efficient top-down tuning methodology Assess algorithmic complexity to predict performance Compare data aggregation techniques, including new grouping sets Efficiently perform data-analysis calculations Make the most of T-SQL’s optimized bulk import tools Avoid date/time pitfalls that lead to buggy, poorly performing code Create optimized BI statistical queries without additional software Use programmable objects to accelerate queries Unlock major performance improvements with In-Memory OLTP Master useful and elegant approaches to manipulating graphs About This Book For experienced T-SQL practitioners Includes coverage updated from Inside Microsoft SQL Server 2008 T-SQL Querying and Inside Microsoft SQL Server 2008 T-SQL Programming Valuable to developers, DBAs, BI professionals, and data scientists Covers many MCSE 70-464 and MCSA/MCSE 70-461 exam topics

Build advanced authentication solutions for any cloud or web environmentActive Directory has been transformed to reflect the cloud revolution, modern protocols, and today’s newest SaaS paradigms. This is an authoritative, deep-dive guide to building Active Directory authentication solutions for these new environments. Author Vittorio Bertocci drove these technologies from initial concept to general availability, playing key roles in everything from technical design to documentation. In this book, he delivers comprehensive guidance for building complete solutions. For each app type, Bertocci presents high-level scenarios and quick implementation steps, illuminates key concepts in greater depth, and helps you refine your solution to improve performance and reliability. He helps you make sense of highly abstract architectural diagrams and nitty-gritty protocol and implementation details. This is the book for people motivated to become experts. Active Directory Program Manager Vittorio Bertocci shows you how to: Address authentication challenges in the cloud or on-premises Systematically protect apps with Azure AD and AD Federation Services Power sign-in flows with OpenID Connect, Azure AD, and AD libraries Make the most of OpenID Connect’s middleware and supporting classes Work with the Azure AD representation of apps and their relationships Provide fine-grained app access control via roles, groups, and permissions Consume and expose Web APIs protected by Azure AD Understand new authentication protocols without reading complex spec documents

Effectively query and modify data using Transact-SQLMaster T-SQL fundamentals and write robust code for Microsoft SQL Server and Azure SQL Database. Itzik Ben-Gan explains key T-SQL concepts and helps you apply your knowledge with hands-on exercises. The book first introduces T-SQL’s roots and underlying logic. Next, it walks you through core topics such as single-table queries, joins, subqueries, table expressions, and set operators. Then the book covers more-advanced data-query topics such as window functions, pivoting, and grouping sets. The book also explains how to modify data, work with temporal tables, and handle transactions, and provides an overview of programmable objects.

Microsoft Data Platform MVP Itzik Ben-Gan shows you how to:

Review core SQL concepts and its mathematical roots Create tables and enforce data integrity Perform effective single-table queries by using the SELECT statement Query multiple tables by using joins, subqueries, table expressions, and set operators Use advanced query techniques such as window functions, pivoting, and grouping sets Insert, update, delete, and merge data Use transactions in a concurrent environment Get started with programmable objects–from variables and batches to user-defined functions, stored procedures, triggers, and dynamic SQL

With SQL Server Analysis Services 2016, Microsoft has dramatically upgraded its Tabular approach to business intelligence data modeling, making Tabular the easiest and best solution for most new projects. In this book, two world-renowned experts in Microsoft data modeling and analysis cover all you need to know to create complete BI solutions with these powerful new tools.

 

Marco Russo and Alberto Ferrari walk you step-by-step through creating powerful data models, and then illuminate advanced features such as optimization, deployment, and scalability.

 

Tabular Modeling in Microsoft SQL Server Analysis Services will be indispensable for everyone moving to Analysis Services Tabular, regardless of their previous experience with tabular-style models or with Microsoft's older Analysis Services offerings. It will also be an essential follow-up for every reader of the authors' highly-praised Microsoft SQL Server 2012 Analysis Services: The BISM Tabular Model.

The complete, pragmatic guide to building high-value solutions with ASP.NET Core

Programming ASP.NET Core is the definitive guide to practical web-based application development with Microsoft’s new ASP.NET Core framework. Microsoft MVP Dino Esposito introduces proven techniques and well-crafted example code for solving real problems with ASP.NET Core. Step by step, he guides you through using all key ASP.NET Core technologies, including MVC for HTML generation, .NET Core, EF Core, ASP.NET Identity, dependency injection, and much more. Esposito thoroughly covers ASP.NET Core’s cross-platform capabilities and what’s changed from older ASP.NET versions, but he doesn’t stop there: he offers a complete learning path for every developer who wants to build production solutions, including mobile-specific solutions.

Microsoft MVP Dino Esposito shows how to:

• Create new projects and understand their structure

• Set up and use the familiar MVC application model in ASP.NET Core

• Write controller class code to govern all stages of request processing

• Serve HTML from controllers, or directly via Razor Pages

• Master the Razor language for quickly defining the layout of HTML views

• Manage cross-cutting concerns such as global configuration data, error and exception handling, controller class design, and dependency injection

• Secure applications with user authentication and ASP.NET Core’s policy-based user authorization API

• Design for efficient data access, and choose the right option for reading and writing data

• Build ASP.NET Core Web APIs that return JSON, XML, or other data

• Use data binding to programmatically update visual components with fresh information

• Build device-friendly web views for iOS and Android

• Explore the radically new ASP.NET Core runtime environment and Dependency Injection (DI) infrastructure

Develop AI-powered apps and games for HoloLens and mixed reality headsets 

This is a complete guide to programming AI-powered mixed reality apps with the Windows Mixed Reality platform. Step by step, Dawid Borycki guides you through every type of mixed reality development, from simple 2D to cutting-edge apps for Microsoft HoloLens and immersive headsets. First, you’ll learn to write UWP 2D apps that adapt for any Windows 10 device, transfer camera images to machine learning services, and use mobile sensor readings to control headset content. Then, building on these skills, you’ll master every facet of building cross-platform 3D apps that link augmented reality content to real objects. 

Advanced Microsoft technology expert Dawid Borycki shows how to: 

Set up a mixed reality development environment with all the tools you’ll need, including HoloLens and Mixed Reality simulators  Write Universal Windows 2D apps for all Windows 10 devices, and adjust their views and capabilities to specific hardware  Render media streams, acquire video from world-facing cameras, and detect human faces in those images  Generate descriptions of what the user sees, and present them via text or speech  Build AI-powered voice-controlled apps with Microsoft Cognitive Services (MCS)  Master core concepts and techniques for building 3D mixed reality apps with Unity  Format 3D objects with materials to create holograms  Add interactions to holograms based on user input  Integrate HoloLens capabilities, including air gestures, spatial sound, and mapping