I have finished reading Pro BizTalk 2009 book from APress. This is a great book  if you’ve never dealt with BizTalk in the past and want to have a quick “on-ramp”. Although the book is very concerned about right way of building traditional BizTalk applications, it also dedicates a chapter to ESB Toolkit and does a good job in analyzing it. The fact that authors were concerned with subject such as coupling, hard-coding, automation, etc. makes it very interesting.

One warning, if you are expecting to have a book that will guide you how to apply step by step examples, forget it. Nor this book does it, neither it’s possible due to multiple erratas found in it. I really was disappointed by the number of typos, inaccuracies, and technical mistakes. These kind of things turn readers away, especially when they had no experience with BT in the past. But this is the only bad thing about it. As for the rest – great content.

Next week I am taking a deep dive course on BizTalk 2009. I really feel that this book has helped me a lot to get my feet wet. Next target will be ESB Tookit. To get to that, I will use what the book authors wrote “you have to understand how BizTalk as an engine works”.