Rating: 
Summary: Leading by example -- bad example
Review: When I bought the second edition of ASP.NET Unleashed based on the reviews I had read, I felt assured that my purchase was a sound one. But upon receiving the book, I noticed that almost all the code samples have no code-behind files. The C# or VB.NET code is in the .aspx files along with the presentation layer code. What in the world?One of the key best practices for writing ASP.NET applications is this: separate the presentation layer from the rest of the code for the project. ASP 3.0 applications, for example, suffered from having all the code mixed together. Then when graphics guys would add their work, or when the presentation layer needed major changes, the rest of the ASP code (business logic, etc.) was affected. Since ASP.NET offers a solution to this problem, why would this author provide all his code examples in .aspx files with non-presentation code contained therein? I hope that beginning and intermediate developers who read this latest edition understand that the author was merely taking shortcuts. Whether Walther was using Notepad or not to edit his source, he still could have utilized code-behind files for the examples, thereby setting a much better example for more junior developers to follow. My second but much less important complaint is that the code samples in the book are all in VB.NET. One must refer to the CD to see the C# versions of the .aspx files. I recommend choosing a different ASP.NET book -- perhaps one published by APress or O'Reilly.
Rating: 
Summary: Great ASP.NET and VB.NET book.
Review: Great book to learn how to create ASP.NET pages using VB.NET. I have bought Stephen Walther's classic ASP books a few years ago and staying true to his style he introduces you to new concepts and then shows several implementations of it. It's great to see not only an idea talked about and the properties/methods listed, but then see at least one example of how to do it (unlike O'Reilly books). I've been programming in classic ASP for over four years and switched to ASP.NET about 6 months ago and must say anyone on fence thinking about switching - I say do it!! ASP.NET is a hundred times more powerful and, while it may take a few months to get totally comfortable, I guarantee you'll be glad you invested the time in learning it. This book covered all the key concepts, allowing me to create several grade A online application using the .NET framework. I'm hoping the author comes out with a "next step" book like he did with the classic ASP series. While this book does cover lots of the advanced topics in the later chapters (caching, dynamic graphics, transactions), I know with the depth of the .NET framework (32,000 objects) there is more out there. I'd say if your a newbie to intermediate level this is the book for you. And even though I've moved on to C# for my ASP.NET programming, I still use this book as a reference to implement the .NET framework. The book is also great in that it doesn't relay on Visual Studio to teach you - actually I don't remember one VS example. Anyone can point and click in VS - this book shows you how to actually do it.
Rating:
Summary: THE LITMUS TEST
Review: The acid test of any textbook has to be how far it takes you up the learning curve. After a certain point, any further learning may be asymptotic, but if you can at least get to that stage the book has done its job. All I can say is that the Second Edition of ASP.NET Unleashed did it for me. First of all, I prefer C#. The fact that the book's examples were in Vb.Net presented no problem as all the examples are also in C# on the accompanying CD. All of these can be opened in WebMatrix with ease. Every example in the book serves as a complete microproject, with very clear and precise concomitant explanations. One thing that became obvious since purchasing this book was that it became the number one reference for a number of tricky little problems encountered. The book abounds with examples that cover many I could point out, but space precludes. However, an article appeared this morning on the problem of filling in large forms and the associated difficulties of paging back and forth or long scrolling. The book illustrates a sophisticated solution using panel controls - very neat indeed. The main criticism seems to be on 'codebehind'. One review that I read previously on the First Edition put me off. I gritted my teeth when I bought this edition and I am so glad that I did. This book teaches you what you need to get to the part before the learning curve becomes asymptotic. Codebehind? You can take the examples and split the code into various .cs files ( in my case)and compile them. It's an excellent learning experience: once you have done a few it becomes standard practice. Codebehind isn't an issue.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best I read
Review: I have read various ASP.NET books as Programming ASP.NET from J.Liberty and Programming Data Driven Web Applications with ASP.NET from D.Seven and D.Mack. These ones were very good for beginning to familiarize with the languages and ASP form of programming. But ASP.NET unleashed goes beyond that and include lots of real solution code I already use in my actual Job (ASP.NET using C# and VB.NET). The author thinks like a real world programmer and presents a book with solutions for real world needs, not academic code. After read it I get a more clear idea of ASP.NET as a technology and improve my knowledge for better and reusable web solutions. Also it's the best reference for ASP.NET. Really worth the price and the effort to read it.
Rating: 
Summary: Ok beginner book, but few real world examples
Review: This is a good beginner book in terms of learning the server controls, html controls, and user control side of the house. It is weak when it comes to explaining the seperation of the presentation layer, application layer, business layer, and the data layer. This is how you really want to develop an ASP.Net web application in the real world. In the real world, most of all of the brains of your application would be inside of class libaries that you build as components. You don't won't too much brains inside of an ASPX file. Pages 281 - 293 brushes over the surface on the issue. Also in my humble opinion, it would be overkill and time consuming to do ASP.Net without the Visual Studios.Net IDE. Unless you work with a large development team, I don't think you will have the patience to hand code the syntax for ALL functions and ALL subs in EVERY component and in EVERY page. Anyone who has work in a real life software development environment knows how important deadlines are to "management". I can imagine the looks we would get if we suggested to develop an ASP.Net application in notepad.
Rating:
Summary: Best book out there for ASP.NET
Review: I have taught an ASP.NET university course for a year and half. Having received review copies of 10-15 other ASP.NET books, I have never found any other book as good as this for learning ASP.NET. I completely disagree with the review that states that Mr. Walther combined the code behind with the presentation layer because he is lazy (it is at least 10x more tedius to create the examples in Notepad). It was done to make the book easier to read. Who wants to have to tie two different figures to see what a program is doing especially when the programs get to be a couple of pages long? I have not had a single program that took more than a couple of minutes to split into an aspx file and a vb file.
Rating: 
Summary: For Beginners its good
Review: This book covers the ASP.NET forms and form components in quite a detail but misses some of the most important and advanced topics. You can get anything related to controls and web related programming but misses to give detailed idea regarding what asp.net is all abouta nd dusent clear the basics.
The biggest drawback i found was that every code in book was given from point of view of VB.net and the book stays far away from .net IDE. So after reading this book if u try to work in .net IDE, it wud b very difficult and might leave u disappointed.
These are my views about htis book, someone else might have different views about it.
Those of u who were impressed by ASP Unleashed, this book is a lack luster.
Rating:
Summary: One in a million...
Review: I have a LOT of code books, from the Camel to some very obscure books on LISP, and I have to say this book is the most thorough guide I have ever seen in a single volume. I wish other technical writers would follow this example. You can really go from knowing plain HTML to working up interactive web forms in the first few chapters and after that you get increasingly technical examples that introduce advanced concepts. Even loathing the beast of M$ as i do, I finished the book in awe that they actually did something innovative for a change. A TIP TO THE READER: Learn to code behind early on, the examples don't do it for obvious space-saving issues, but it is considered best practice. If you don't like the book, the 1500 some-odd pages make it a great boat anchor.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book
Review: One of the best books for ASP.NET programming. I have read many other books about asp.net for specific tasks. But this book is my main reference point for many topics. It takes you from the basics to the top. This book is great for people that are previous asp programmers. I have had the book for over a year and I am still referencing it as we build our new intranet/internet site. Other refrences books I have included vb.net 2003, ADO, and one specific to XML.
Rating:
Summary: Very good book and highly recommended
Review: Very good book. All code is in VB, but there is also a C# version in the enclosed CD (let's face it: VB is more popular, so that's the right way to do it). Doesn't use the .NET developlment environment (uses only plain text editor with command-line compilers) which I like - teaches the language from the foundation without the automatically-generated code from the .NET UI. A point that some people might not like - author gives complete examples (all code + HTML) which are 1-2 pages long just to introduce 3-4 new lines of code. This makes it difficult to find and concentrate on the new code, but on the other hand is excellent for quick reference later - all examples are complete and working. The book is quite thorough, detailed, easy to understand, includes nice tips and good explanations that go into sufficient depth. Iit might be a bit intimidating for a beginner, but is nice for a person looking to read a single book and then be able to get some work done (using just the .NET help if needing more info).
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