Rating: 
Summary: A True Beginners Book, Almost Elementary. Good
Review: I read the whole book in just over 2 hours, and that may be because I've already used ASP on IIS4 (ASP 2.0), but mostly because it covers way to many subjects that even though "related" to ASP should not make part of a book with this title. The author (the author is a family business as a group) should have included... an introduction, yes, a pointer to other sources, well ok, but not a whole 1/3 of a book!I was shocked by the layout because it made me feel like a was back in middle school. Pages with "blue print" graphics in the corners and TWO screenshots per page in EVERY page! This was a little bit too much. I give it 4 starts because I think that regardless of how useful or not the book was for me, it would make a great intro book to someone who has done NO programming before, and wants to pick up ASP. You'll learn, yes you certainly will, this I guarantee. And because of that it is a GREAT value! You will not only learn about ASP but also about IIS, VBScript, SQL and DSN, all at a intro level, but done amazingly well, simple yet not superficial. Of course ADO and some old and new Components are introduced in a manner that is brief yet elegantly and clearly explained. If you are looking for more "undocumented" information and/or new features of ASP 3.0 and its applications, please look elsewhere. This book was very hard to "judge" since it is a great book from the beginners point of view and for such purpose the layout is perhaps appropriate, but it is deceiving as an ASP 3.0 book for which you must not fall if you've done ANY ASP in the past, even if it was a one pager!
Rating:
Summary: A great introduction
Review: I recommend this book if you are new to ASP and web development. It is a great overview of ASP and its related topics. Each concept is illustrated with short example code, along with extra info about the concept. I found it very clearly written and easy to understand. This is a lot like a "dummys" book. This book assumes very little prior knowledge of programming or even things like HTML forms. It's a great introduction and reference for beginners. What this book won't give you is very much context. It will give you a lot of tools, but not tell you how to put them together into a real project. You will probably want to use this book as a supplement to a more in-depth book like Beginning Active Server Pages 3.0 by Wrox Publishers. These two books actually complement each other. Where the Wrox book gives tons of information, this book gives the main points with no extra fluff. I am new to web development, and I am not a very experienced programmer. I learned a lot from this book. It even includes how to set up your Windows 2000 web server and how to make an ActiveX component in Visual Basic. I found a lot of helpful tips (for example, did you know that pressing Ctrl while clicking the refresh button in IE will cause a 100% refresh?) A handy brief VBscript reference is also included. If you are an experienced programmer or web developer, you will want more than this book gives you.
Rating: 
Summary: SIMPLE AND EASY --- GREAT FOR A BEGINNER
Review: if (a picture is worth 1000 words) then { this book then has millions of words in it. } else { you argue with rest of the world }
Rating:
Summary: Short and sweet "guidebook"
Review: Pros:
- short and sweet 'guidebook'
- beginner (maybe intermediate) level
- just about every page has a different ASP topic
- brief code examples, specific to the topic discussed on that page Cons:
- e-book is actually 16 individual .pdf files, one for each chapter (can't search a topic unless you know what chapter it was from)
- no in-depth code examples Summary:
- good reference book that shows just about everything you can do using ASP
- need to supplement with more in-depth examples
Rating:
Summary: Good for the Basics
Review: The great advantage to this book is that it's concise. I am a web professional, and I was looking for a book that would help me get up to speed quickly with ASPs. By following the examples, I was able to complete basic tasks, including retrieving data from forms, reading files, and accessing databases. It is clearly organized, and it was easy for me to skip around to the topics that interested me.
The main drawback of this book for me is that I will probably need another book to help me with more advanced topics. Also, it tends to rely on the examples to teach the reader so if you're looking for a more general explanation of ASP objects and architecture, look elsewhere. Finally, the first 100 pages were a waste for me because I was already familiar with Visual Basic and HTML. The book could also use a larger reference section. Still, I give the book 4 stars because for the target audience of beginning ASP designers I think it's an affordable, effective solution.
In short, I would recommend this to a beginner who wants to learn the basics of ASPs quickly, and doesn't want to do much reading.
Rating:
Summary: Great Starter book, Even for experts
Review: this book has given me "eye opening" insight on every page. it is a must own for new and old ASP developers.
Rating:
Summary: Great Starter book, Even for experts
Review: this book has given me "eye opening" insight on every page. it is a must own for new and old ASP developers.
Rating: 
Summary: Really not a good book.
Review: This book is very flawed. It is more likely to confuse a beginner than enlighten them.
The first major flaw: No real 'big picture' of the topic is offered. The book consists of small superficial sections, one devoted to each element of ASP. The problem is that each element is not satisfactorally placed in a context. But worst of all is the books 'visual' approach, supposedly helpful. Why on earth would a reader need to be told to press tab to indent a piece of text, each and every time it is required? This overkill of step by step visual explanation becomes absurd. Check it out before you buy it.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent is an understatment
Review: What I most enjoyed about the book is the strategy employed in teaching newbies the basics and fundamentals of asp. It is refreshing that such a book takes a visually inspiring approach to teach people who might find it hard to grasp the language in the first place. Even there service is excellent, i had a faulty cd that came with the book, i emailed customer service and in no time they sent me a new cd, and I live on the other side of the world.
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