ASP.NET, successor to Microsoft's Active Server Pages (ASP), is so complete and flexible that a web developer's main difficulty may lie simply in weaving the pieces together for maximum efficiency. The new edition of Programming ASP.NET shows developers how to do just that. Updated for Version 1.1 of the NET framework and Visual Studio .NET 2003, the second edition of this bestselling .NET title will show you how to create dynamic, data-driven web sites and services using both C# and Visual Basic .NET. In Programming ASP.NET, Second Edition authors Jesse Liberty and Dan Hurwitz cover everything you need to know to be effective with ASP.NET. The book includes a comprehensive tutorial on Web Forms, which, in conjunction with Visual Studio .NET 2003, allow you to apply Rapid Application Development techniques (including drag-and-drop control placement) to web development. Programming ASP.NET includes extensive coverage of each type of server control, including Web server controls, HTML server controls, and custom controls. New material covers creating ASP.NET pages for mobile devices. Since most web applications and web services involve retrieving data and returning it to a client browser, Programming ASP.NET Second Edition also offers extensive coverage of data access issues. These include topics such as using ASP.NET's list-bound controls; accessing data using the ADO.NET object model, and updating data with or without transaction support. Programming ASP.NET also discusses such advanced topics as: - Caching and performance
- Security
- Configuration and deployment
If you're already familiar with Active Server Pages technology, you'll appreciate the in-depth focus and straightforward, easy-to-read approach for developing web pages and web services. Succinct, direct, and loaded with examples, Programming ASP.NET, Second Edition will help users at every level master ASP.NET without getting bogged down in the complexity of its features.
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66 of 70 found the following review helpful:
 Strongly RecommendMar 14, 2002
By Satya
Ever since I read Jesse Liberty's "Programming C#", I've been eagerly awaiting the release of his "Programming ASP.NET". I received the book recently and just finished going through the 900 pages. Writing style is very lucid as expected (one of very few technical authors who succeed in this aspect. Another such author is Doug Walther of "XML for ASP.Net"). Though Programming ASP.NET begins with a simple "Hello World" example, by page 20, it has you creating a data table based on a datagrid connected to the Northwind database. This early demonstration of ASP.NET's power leads to an "aha" moment and keeps you going. It is refreshing to have the code work as promised. Unlike other ASP.NET books which address both VB and C# communities but show a marked preference for one or the other language, virtually every example in this book is given in both languages. I read only the C# examples, and reckon about 1/4th of the 900 pages catered to code in the "other" language. There are several screenshots of how to carry out various tasks in ASP.NET that are very useful for beginners. Similarly, screenshots of results from example programs are also very helpful. This book is "self-contained" for any concepts it discusses. You don't need to run to another book to seek clarifications. For me, this is the one book that brought together every aspect of ASP.NET, from hands-on "how to handle the development tool and set up files and directories" tasks, to conceptual issues. And the beauty is the whole discussion doesn't seem disjointed given its scope. I guess this is the advantage of having only one/two authors. The one minor criticism (may be just my personal preference) is, in the chapters on Accessing Data with ADO.NET, I wish there was (i) a short discussion of further abstraction between UI and a database made possible by using XML, and (ii) creating strongly typed datasets from XML schemas (using the xsd.exe tool for example) but likely it is outside the scope of the book to discuss this (in fact creating XML schemas and reading XML data files are addressed in later chapters through examples, so (i) is taken care of. And (ii) is too specific to warrant being a critical point). I strongly recommend this book as an essential reference to ASP.NET.
53 of 56 found the following review helpful:
Good book, but needs to polish the rough edgesApr 03, 2002
By D. Cramer
Of all the books on ASP.NET that I've read, this book is undoubtedly the best. But, it has some very rough edges that, when smoothed out in later editions will make it great. For those looking for a reference, look elsewhere. If you're looking for a strong tutorial that does an excellent job balancing depth for the experienced and simplicity for the beginner, this is the book.Specific comments: 1. All examples in C# and VB. his is a plus or minus depending on your point of view. On one hand it's good because you have the option of choosing the language you want to use (or get exposure to both). On the other hand, it takes up a lot of space that could have been devoted further exploration of other topics. 2. Does not try to be a tutorial on how to program with VB or C#. I definitely like this approach. Other books on the market split their efforts between explaining ASP.NET and OOP/C#/VB. They end up being avarage at best for either topic. 3. The examples almost always do a good job demonstrating the topic under discussion. Other books on the market have serious problems in this area. 4. The examples are not consistent. I think that the examples were developed by different people. In one example, it is a step by step tutorial The next example, the examples are rough descriptions followed by source code (hard to follow). Yet another example will have a table layout of object property values. This is my biggest complaint. It would be nice if there was a consistent approach to the examples. 5. The ADO chapters are a bit confusing. A couple reasons for this:
5.a The examples here suffer from varying styles worst of all.
5.b ADO.NET is a big topic that probably deserves a book to itself (how about it O'Reilly? Programming ADO.NET) so the coverage is not enough, and it leaves you with lots of questions. Overall, this book is the best I've found for a tutorial on ASP.NET. And, it has the potential to be another O'Reilly classic.
14 of 14 found the following review helpful:
Best book on ASP.NETJan 18, 2003
By Robert Taylor
I have been asked to create a web application for my company, and I reviewed a number of books on ASP.NET (as well as ADO.NET). This is by far the best I've seen. The coverage of the various controls is excellent, the examples are small and useful and really explain the material, and you can download the examples from the author's web site. In addition, this book provides an excellent introduction to ADO.NET for ASP.NET, better than some dedicated books I looked at. The book goes beyond the superficial, and really covers the issues you run into when writing an application. This is not a rehash of the existing documentation, but a guided tour through what it takes to create a working web application with ASP.NET. I personally like C#, but it was interesting to see the code both in C# and in VB.NET. I feel like I learned VB.NET along the way, as a bonus, and I realize now how similar these languages really are. You can skip over the language you don't care about (all the examples are in both C# and in VB.NET) but it is fun to see how similar they are. In any case, I highly recommend this book both for programmers with little ASP experience, and for more advanced programmers as well.
12 of 12 found the following review helpful:
Clearing up misconceptionsMar 09, 2007
By Lloyd W. Mcfarlin
This book is a C# book. The reviews here, along with Amazon's own review, are referring to one of the previous editions where VB.NET code samples were included.
When deciding to buy this book, or not, be wary of the reviews that were posted before the publication date. I can see that this situation has already caused others some grief.
11 of 11 found the following review helpful:
Get this for ASP.NET with C#Jun 28, 2004
By C. Jones
I was looking for a book that thoroughly taught ASP.NET and took the C# language seriously and not as an afterthought. This book is absolutely perfect. It explains the intrinsics of ASP.NET and its theoretical underpinnings. It also has very good practical information with regard to many of the decisions you will have to make in terms of the tools and different approaches you face when programming in ASP.NET. What I liked most of all was that it has every example in C# which most ASP.NET authors seem to shy away from for some bizarre reason. If you want to learn ASP.NET thoroughly with C# syntax I can recommend no other and I have read quite a few.
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