Rating:  Summary: Good Reference, but try to read thru the 1.000+ pages Review: Good book, if you read Wrox's "Programming VB.NET with Public Beta" or "Programming c# with Public Beta". Excellent quality of material, you come to expect from Wrox, which is 60% of my library. However, as other reviewers point out, too big to read. May be finished in 5 months by working individual. Wrox books seem to get bigger and bigger, 2000 page books are now common.
Rating:  Summary: dissapointment Review: I bought this book on the prospect of getting more information regarding the use of ASP.NET with C#. Much to my dismay i found that the vast majority of examples are in VB.NET .If you're looking for a book about ASP.NET and C# STEER CLEAR of this one ...
Rating:  Summary: Simple examples for a complex issue. Review: I enjoyed this book as much as other WROX books with one exeption; the examples given are too simple to be powerful. They don't dive into topics like recursion in a way that is helpful. Additionally, this is NOT a book for beginners of XML. Very little explanation of the .NET approach to XML is explained in layman's terms (hence the "Professional"). Overall, I think that I would have done just as well reading the online information.
Rating:  Summary: Excellent as usual Review: I have yet to buy a Wrox book I didn't like, and this is no exception. Professional ASP.NET is a great resource for ASP developers who want to learn the latest and greatest. Great book on a great technology.
Rating:  Summary: Excellent & major improvement over Preview to asp+ Review: I originally bought Preview to Active Server Pages+ (Wrox 2000) and was very frustrated at the way .Net was introduced as well as the order of the chapters. It simply wasn't pleasant trying to dig into this asp.net 'thing'. With Professional ASP.Net, the experience has been totally different, probably since it's 1 year later and also based on Beta2, and not Beta1. An exellent introduction to how .Net works, and how everything fits in leads into a logical flow of chapters that makes perfect sense to me. It's an absolute pleasure learning from this book!
Rating:  Summary: Not good enough Review: I read most of the early Wrox titles on .NET and this book, like many of those (Public beta etc.,), are a great introduction into the various technologies. Unfortunately, there is too much errata (should you visit their site) and makes you seriously question the credibility of the prose and capability to learn the technology from their text. I have found "Pure ASP.NET" and "Designing ASP.NET" as better sources, but they were written or finalized during the Release Candidate phase. There will probably be a slew of 2nd Edition titles forth comming that will be better but if you, like me, bought several of these titles from Wrox (...dollar amount...) then this could be disconcerting encourages a more wait and see approach if you rely more on this publisher. On the other hand, being an early adopter may involve this kind of trial. In short, my review is to the huge number of errors. I copied and pasted the errors directly into Word from the website and it was 22 pages.
Rating:  Summary: The ASP gods have stumbled Review: I read Pro ASP 3 and thought it was a rare model of excellence for computer books. Pro ASP.NET does not come anywhere close to that. This book is painfully unorganized and full of holes. Granted ASP.NET is utterly different than old ASP but I got the feeling that the authors did not totally understand the subject themselves. There is some very good information here but it is not in a format that allows you to quickly get up to speed. Unlike previous books this one is not even a good reference. The authors are good, I hope they try again soon and get it right. Anyone who gave this book 5 stars or even 4 must be on the Wrox payroll.
Rating:  Summary: This is effectively VB.NET, way below "professional" Review: I think the content of this book is strong, but the code is buggy. A lot of the examples written have errors, such as missing tags or poor method calls. It makes me wonder if anyone actually went through the book and tried to compile the samples as typed. But given that .NET isnt even out yet, I would say WROX did an acceptable job.
Rating:  Summary: a bit rushed Review: I think the content of this book is strong, but the code is buggy. A lot of the examples written have errors, such as missing tags or poor method calls. It makes me wonder if anyone actually went through the book and tried to compile the samples as typed. But given that .NET isnt even out yet, I would say WROX did an acceptable job.
Rating:  Summary: A fantastic book...but very advanced Review: I veyr much enjoyed this fine text. Much like the .NET Framework, the book's focus is on applications development for the Web, so a lot in the vein of classical software engineering takes place...which the authors note may confuse current ASP devs skilled largely in VBScript. And yes, there are few working examples which can be "plugged in" to sites, but that's the point. The emphasis here is on describing the .NET Framework for what it is...a developmental blueprint...not to provide a bunch of predetermined samples to plug into your own site. There's where the application of the coding concepts comes into place. I would also recommend Sams' "Teach Yourself ASP.NET in 21 Days" as a primer for the less-experienced programmers...such as current ASP devs or non-coders. On that level, in contrast to other "Beginning..." series books by Wrox, the text assumes a fluency in HTML enough that most of the samples aren't fully coded out...only the important subroutines, functions, and ASP.NET server controls that call them. So this definetly isn't for the beginner who would like the entire thing explained from line 1 to line N. A fair degree of expertise is assumed. I did like how the book covered C# adequately (something the aforementioned Sams text sorely left out), and mirrored the majority of the coding constructs in VB.NET with C# and JScript.NET likenesses. You'll come away with a succint knowledge of all 3 langauges...enough to get you started. All in all, a fantastic job....a real challenge...but well worth it!
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