Rating: 
Summary: For the experienced programmer, not newbie
Review: I had planned for this book to assist more in learning about ASP and use as a quick reference with examples; however I feel that this is for a more experienced programmer that just need a desktop quick reference (as it is sub-titled). I'm never disappointed with O-Reilly books, however I guess I had a different expectation for this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Good reference for object model and components
Review: This book is not for the complete ASP beginner, but for someone wanting an introduction and reference to the objects (e.g., request, response, session) and components (e.g., ad rotator, page counter, file access). Although the examples in this book are in VBScript this book should not be thought of as a reference for VBScript. Though short, the examples were enough to start me using the features, for example setting a session timeout, using a collections reference or sending email from a script. I did find the examples on the ActiveX Data Objects a little sparse and the author admits, "there are several more advanced topics". I had previously found the global.asa file and #include files somewhat mysterious so this chapter was helpful. With the availability of online documentation, I found the author advise about using the feature or limitations more valuable than details of the parameters. There is enough of an introduction to give you the concepts in most areas. Additionally the specification of what driver is needed for a component can be helpful if there are problems. I will continue to use this book in conjunction with online documentation.
Rating: 
Summary: Great for getting help when I need it
Review: This book is titled "In a nutshell" and appropriately so. I have over 4 years experience with server side scripting with Perl and PHP and had some familiarity with ASP before I bought this book. I bought it mainly as a reference to help me look up how to do thing I already knew how to do in those other languages with ASP. For that purpose, it has been a great resource. It has helped identify the objects that are available from ASP while providing some nice code snippets with which to see what I was looking up in action. I was able to successfully code a practice project in less that a week, and will definably use this book for any future ASP project that I work on. I've been a fan of O'Reiley "In a nutshell" books since picking up Director and Lingo in a nutshell and would highly recommend this book as a reference resource. As for using it to learn server side scripting, you might be better to get a more in depth training book instead.
Rating: 
Summary: Not for Beginners
Review: Someone handed me this book when I was just starting out with ASP. It took me days to even figure out where to start! By that time, I was so frustrated I went out and bought a tutorial and started from scratch- since that was still about all I knew after going from cover to cover of this book.
While this book can be a helpful reference now, I find myself never touching it. There are plenty of better reference books out there. Definately not worth the frustration.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointment, hard to use
Review: Like many programmers, I find the O'Reilly books to be invaluable and far above the average quality of books in this field. However, ASP In a Nutshell is a major disappointment. It is hard to use, missing information, and poorly formatted. I'd think twice about getting *any* title in the "Nutshell" series now. I bought the book because I find long books on ASP so tedious. ASP is, after all, fairly simple stuff, so I was looking for a book to concisely present some "best-practice" techniques and reference material. Though this book is mainly a breakdown of the ASP objects (and other common objects used with ASP), it really gives no practical information about how to use these objects. (This was a serious hindrance to me when a project I was on was limited to MDAC 2.1.) And, they've arbitrarily skipped important properties and methods (like the BeginTrans method of ADO). You might expect an ASP reference to cover VBScript, at least a brief description of its syntax and reserved words, but none of that is presented here. Furthermore, a lot of space is wasted by giving a complete ASP page as an example of every property and method they do cover, when just a few lines would do, giving them more space to discuss the way objects work together. Finally, the formatting is so plain it makes information hard to find and read. In short: as a reference, it has major holes, and as a concise guide to ASP, it falls far short. The title is deceptive to say the least.
Rating:
Summary: Great reference book.
Review: Don't buy this book if you want to read about ASP, but if you need a good reference guide, this is it. I use this book every day. This is a great book to look up methods and properties, check their return values, arguments, etc. Good sections on ADO and the Filesystem object as well. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: I've worn out the cover.
Review: I purchased this book to be both an introduction to ASP as well as a reference guide. I was not disappointed in either. For an introduction, the book is definitely geared more as a reference guide, so it assumes you have some scripting (or programming) background; VBS and/or VB being an advantage. Having both of these, I was very pleased to find that the sections of the book used as an introduction/mini-tutorial kept to the important information and did not stray off into personal stories or lengthy (yet ultimately pointless) explanations. As a reference guide, I use it constantly. It is one of the few books that actually reside on my desk. The reference sections are divided into logical sections, and clearly give syntax, rules, explanations and (when appropriate) examples. The reference section even goes so far as to cover ADO; I found some did not, or if they did, they skimmed it. This reference guide provides excellent ADO references. This guide has allowed me to jump very confidently into ASP scripting, and has yet to let me down. I have recommended this book to my peers, and I recommend it to you.
Rating:
Summary: VB to ASP as easy as ABC :)
Review: Another gem from O'Reilly! After having over 4 months of VB in school and reading A LOT on the subject I wanted to check into what ASP was all about. This book concentrates on all of the important aspects of ASP and leaves nothing behind. I currently have three ASP books in my library and this is the one that gets used the most. It's mostly a reference book but the examples it contains are really worth going over. If you are new to ASP as I am or are an experienced ASP programmer this book is for you. Worth a buy!
Rating:
Summary: Good reference with a few minor errors
Review: Overall this is a good reference book. Note that its not a tutorial book, so if you're looking for a tutorial on ASP scripting, then you should probably get another book. While reading through this book I did notice a few minor errors, having to do with the core HTTP protocol, but I didn't notice any errors in the parts having to do with ASP. Some material is repeated throughout, especially the explanation of object properties that are collections, but this is to be expected in a reference work. In a reference you want each section to be able to stand on its own, so some repetition is necessary.
Rating:
Summary: A very handy little book indeed!
Review: As an ASP developer and back-end programmer, this is one book I keep within arms reach at all times! As can be expected, the book covers the ASP object model very well for a "pocket" reference and is logically presented in a way that makes it easy for me to look things up quickly. The book also covers some of the add-in components such as the ad-rotator and MAPI services, and devotes an entire section to data interaction with ADODB (very useful!). I only give this book four stars because I would have liked a VBScript reference included - but then, O'Conell also sell a VBScript reference! All in all, an excellent purchase - it is easy to recommend this book if you are after an ASP reference.
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