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SAMS Teach Yourself ASP.NET in 21 Days

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SAMS Teach Yourself ASP.NET in 21 Days

One of the most difficult tasks facing authors of instructional computer books these days is compacting the years of knowledge and experience required to master a skill into an approachable final product. Such was the case with SAMS Teach Yourself ASP.NET in 21 Days: Author Chris Payne had to write to two audiences: those being exposed to Microsoft-centric server-side scripting programming for the first time, and accomplished ASP developers looking to upgrade their skills to Microsoft s next-generation technology. In doing so, Payne had to introduce newcomers to VBScript, JavaScript, C#, VB .NET, HTML, XML, XSLT, and SQL syntax. Payne generally succeeds at this monumental task. To teach the main aspects of ASP.NET, Payne had to reduce the syntax details to the most rudimentary just enough to show how a particular example script worked. Thus, individuals learning ASP.NET without any prior Internet programming experience may be overwhelmed by about the fourth chapter. Experienced ASP developers, however, should have no trouble keeping up with the author s pace. In fact, the end of each chapter features a section targeting existing ASP developers. Entitled That s Not ASP, these sections clearly illustrate the differences between ASP and ASP.NET.

 

Given the wide and varied scope ASP.NET developers need to comprehend, Payne does a commendable job with not only capturing basic ASP.NET scripting, but also touching on advanced ASP.NET abilities such as securing Web Services and processing XML. Payne dedicates a chapter to the importance of separating business object from presentation layer code.

 

The book contains three helpful appendices: Common ASP.NET Mistakes, ASP.NET Controls, and ADO.NET Controls. The first is especially useful because the author divulges his hard-learned lessons on the pitfalls of ASP.NET development. And although the book advertises 21 days, it actually contains 23 days/chapters. The first extra chapter provides a walk-through ASP.NET development project; the second provides an introduction to Mobile Web Forms.

 

The printed code samples, all written in VB .NET, can be entered using a standard text editor. None of the examples provided in the book require Visual Studio .NET s IDE. Oddly, the book s CD doesn t contain the code samples listed in the book (the source and sample databases, however, can be downloaded from the book s Web site).

 

The book is best suited for the casual ASP script developer looking to graduate to ASP.NET. For this audience, reading SAMS Teach Yourself ASP.NET in 21 Days will prove to be a rewarding three weeks.

 

Mike Riley

 

SAMS Teach Yourself ASP.NET in 21 Days by Chris Payne, SAMS, http://www.samspublishing.com.

 


Rating:

ISBN: 0-672-32168-8

Cover Price: US$39.99

(1,024 pages, CD-ROM)

 

 

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