Jonathan R. Danylko is the author of ASP.NET 8 Best Practices; we got the chance to sit down and find out more about his experience of writing with Packt.
Q: What is the name of your book?
Jonathan: ASP.NET 8 Best Practices
Q: What are your specialist tech areas?
Jonathan: I specialize in using web technologies specifically from the Microsoft tech stack, like ASP.NET, ASP.NET Core, C#, TypeScript, JavaScript, and SQL Server.
Q: How did you become an author for Packt? Tell us about your journey. What was your motivation for writing this book?
Jonathan: I’ve been writing for my blog (DanylkoWeb.com) since 2006, sharing all of my knowledge of web technologies I’ve learned over the years and passing them on to my readers. Recently, in 2022, I wrote my annual C# Advent Calendar post, and Packt Publishing noticed the post, and reached out to me about writing a book on ASP.NET Best Practices. Since it was on my bucket list, I decided to write the book.
Q: What kind of research did you do, and how long did you spend researching before beginning the book?
Jonathan: I’ve been writing code since I received a Commodore VIC-20 when I was 11 years old. I’ve continually been fascinated with code. Then the Internet came along, where you could merge technology and writing into one. I would say the research took close to 30 years of commonly-written ASP.NET code to fill the book with over 100 best practices.
Q: Did you face any challenges during the writing process? How did you overcome them?
Jonathan: The difference between writing a blog and writing a book is extremely different. On a blog, you can be yourself since it’s a blog (blog = weblog, or journal), whereas a book is more formal and should be written as if a teacher was teaching students. One challenge was about changing the tone and getting into the right mindset helping the reader understand the material.
Q: What’s your take on the technologies discussed in the book? Where do you see these technologies heading in the future?
Jonathan: Microsoft and ASP.NET have been around for over 25 years (including Classic ASP). Two reasons I use ASP.NET and C# are because of their longevity and stability, along with their flexibility. You can solve any software problem with C# since it encompasses so many technologies. You can use it to write desktop, web, mobile, and embedded applications. If it’s survived 25 years, I believe it will be around for another 25 years.
Q: Why should readers choose this book over others already on the market? How would you differentiate your book from its competition?
Jonathan: With the Internet containing so many code examples and patterns, developers writing ASP.NET may have questions as to what is the proper way to write code. Every “best practice” in this book is considered a common or recommended way to do something. Of course, there are exceptions to a practice, but over the years of my career, these are what have been commonly used when writing code.
Q: What are the key takeaways you want readers to come away with from the book?
Jonathan: While I mentioned these best practices in the book as common ways or recommendations to write ASP.NET code, they are considered guidelines and do not apply to every software problem. However, the principles in the book are observations, experiences, and disasters over a period of 25 years, and believe the experiences condensed into this book should help improve developers in their careers.
Q. What advice would you give to readers jumping into this technology? Do you have any top tips?
Jonathan: 1. ASP.NET may seem intimidating, but be persistent; it’ll start to make sense as you continue.
2. Don’t be afraid to ask for help when stuck.
3. Always experiment with a project you write; create a Frankenstein and maintain it.
Q. Do you have a blog that readers can follow?
Jonathan: I built my own CMS/blog called DanylkoWeb.com using ASP.NET and write regularly on it.
Q: Can you share any blogs, websites, and forums to help readers gain a holistic view of the tech they are learning? What are the key takeaways you want readers to come away with from the book?
Jonathan: Microsoft Learn, Stack Overflow, Ardalis.com
Q. How would you describe your author’s journey with Packt? Would you recommend Packt to aspiring authors?
Jonathan: I would absolutely recommend Packt Publishing to any author wanting to write a book. That includes developers wanting to become authors.
Q. Do you belong to any tech community groups?
Jonathan: I belong to the CONDG user’s group
Q. What are your favorite tech journals? How do you keep yourself up to date on tech?
Jonathan: Hacker News, Reddit, and Microsoft Blogs
Q. How did you organize, plan, and prioritize your work and write the book?
Jonathan: I focused on the fundamentals of what an ASP.NET developer would experience in their career and focused on those technologies for each chapter and their best practices.
Q. What is that one writing tip that you found most crucial and would like to share with aspiring authors?
Jonathan: Take a similar approach as you would to coding: Write it (could be your first draft), test it out (review), then refactor (edit or proofread), then repeat 🙂
Q. Would you like to share your social handles? If so, please share.
Jonathan: Twitter | LinkedIn | Github
You can find Jonathan’s book on Amazon by following this link: Please click here
