Beginning ASP.NET 1.0 with Visual Basic.NET

While there are many books that look at .NET, this one starts from the basics and covers topics that are part of the landscape of Web development. For example, this text opens with a discussion of static versus dynamic Web pages, and a survey of earlier Web scripting languages, before turning to ASP.NET itself. Throughout this text there are patient explanations of basic Web and programming standards, like HTML forms, XML, and SQL, that underpin Web development today, whether in ASP.NET or not.

When it comes to ASP.NET, there's an admirably approachable tour of the VB .NET language itself, beginning with basic features and moving on to its more object-oriented features. The emphasis is on tapping the powers of ASP.NET rather than reinventing the proverbial wheel, when it comes to classes. Coverage of new conventions, like the new ASP.NET event-driven programming model, get ample attention. Throughout this text, the authors keep .NET internals (which can often sound esoteric to newcomers) to a healthy minimum.

Other essential APIs like ADO.NET for database programming show how to connect to databases and bind data to controls. Solid coverage of the new support for debugging and tracing in ASP.NET will show you how to get more productive. Several chapters look at how to build re-usable components, whether custom components or code-behind forms. A digestible tour of the basics of the much-touted Web services rounds out this book, which sets a high standard for approachability.

The new .NET can be daunting, but the tutorial in Beginning ASP.NET 1.0 with Visual Basic .NET can put basic Web development on the new Microsoft platform within reach for most any reader, whether you have previous VB experience or not. --Richard Dragan