ActivePerl with ASP and ADO

Rating:
Summary: What You Need to Know Now
Review: "ActivePerl with ASP and ADO" is a book for theaspiring or present Windows scripter.

Introduced in 1996, ActiveServer Pages has since first introduced grown extremely popular. Itentails many scripting languages to be used with its services, and this is the first book for the PerlScript language; however, to be corrected, PerlScript is _not_ a "lite" version of Perl; PerlScript is Perl implemented as an ActiveX Scripting Engine, giving you its full potential.

A first on its topic, the book consequently assumes no previous knowledge, so the reader is taken from the basics of Perl, ASP, and ADO into an intermediary level of deploying the three technologies.

With low minimum requirements, the majority of ADO examples use the Northwind database; these examples are included as Perl-files (.pl), too, thus run without the PerlScript ActiveX Scripting Engine...

Rating:
Summary: Compact and to the point
Review: Having read many books on ASP and Perl, most much, much larger and more comprehensive than this I am still compelled to give this book 5 stars since it quickly gives a feel for the techniques and capabilities of the tools under discussion. Be warned: this book, for most readers, is most likely inadequate as a sole source of information. The author provides motivation but not necessarily all the details needed to fully use the material. But having read this book, I feel like I will definately exercise my skills more competently.

Rating:
Summary: Fired me off into ASP and ADO!
Review: I knew nothing about Perl, ASP and ADO until I read thisbook.

The first chapter did a great job introducing ASP in plainEnglish. I had the software installed and running before the second chapter!

2nd chapter taught me the basics of Perl like variables, files, regular expressions, flow-control, and modular programming from the start. Cool scripting language to someone like me, little experienced with VBScript and JScript in WSH. The book did not brush off the language. It really did not expect me to know anything, and I didn't know ActivePerl before I picked it up.

Chapter 3, 4, 5 explained the ASP 3.0 built in objects with background and examples to them ... retrieving forms, validating submitted forms, cookies, server functions, global application variables and maintaining state.

Chapter 6 was about MDAC, ODBC, OLE DB, and ADO. Or about explaining them. A refresher on the Structured Query Language was in there too.

Chapters 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 were about the ADO objects. 7 is about Connection object to connect to and run queries at databases. Chapter 8 was extensive about the Recordset object, although easy to understand. Explaining among things its cursors and locks, extended properties, paging a recordset, fabricated recordsets, and hierarchial recordsets.

Chapter 9 contained a short description of the Command object with some program-code. Could have been more examples, I think now, but the object reference really makes it clear, so no hard feelings.

Chapter 10, 11 were about the Record and Stream objects. The chapter on the Stream object was short, but its functionality is already given by Perl and other ADO objects explained.

The appendix contained a surprise! It included scripts that set me up for sending and receiving e-mail, drawing graphics, getting the dimensions of an image, etc! The book showed how to connect to SQL Server (and others) so MS Access was a stepping stone used in the examples to help people like me, I think. :)

The writing-style of the book is pleasant to follow, but adverbial conjunctions are used somewhat often, although one of the better written computer books. A good-bad thing is that I want more pages in the book. :)

Very worthy of its title. It taught me ActivePerl with ASP and ADO, and it included good useful reference, so five stars to you.

Rating:
Summary: The content is excellent, but the editing is poor
Review: If you're looking for a printed resource on ASP scripting using perl, this is the only one you'll find to date. Fortunately, it is filled with valuable information and clear examples (in code) demonstrating how ASP and PerlScript provide efficient solutions to problems you are very likely to encounter. The editing, however, leaves much to be desired. Either the text was translated to English or the author's English was not edited at all for an audience for whom English is a first language. It makes uncomfortable reading for those accustomed to O'Reilly tech books.

This book is a good investment, in any case, since you won't find another single resource with the same quantity of information. ....

Rating:
Summary: Please hire a real editor for the next edition!
Review: There's clearly a wealth of information in this book. I'm giving this book two stars instead of one because if you read it often enough, long enough, and forgiving-ly enough some of that wealth can be yours.

Though I'm a fairly good script programmer, and though I'm quite familiar with Perl's object model, and able to use databases with the Perl DBI I had no luck making database connections with my own ASP scripts after using the book. I assumed it was just me until I found the connection syntax clearly documented in a throwaway line from a different Perl book.

After reading that book cover to cover, reading another non-perl book on ASP, and scrounging through various documentation files, and after successfully implementing an ASP-based database-driven website I'm taking another crack at this book. It's still no fun but at least I can make out what the author is trying to say. I am learning things I didn't know.

I no longer believe the author actually works for Sun Microsystems on their JAVA development team, which directly competes with Perl and ASP. But I'm not so sure about the editor.

A good editor would have helped the author streamline the flow, even out the examples, prioritize what information is presented, move all but the most relevant tables to appendices, and make sure chapter heading and subheading levels were orthogonal.

It's too bad. There's an old saying: "Those who can't, teach." That doesn't apply here -- the author certainly seems to know his stuff. We face instead the corollary: "Those who can, can't teach." A thorough revision with a good editor would greatly benefit both author and readers.

Rating:
Summary: Well beyond the "Nutshell" approach..and A MUST HAVE....
Review: This book clearly explains ActivePerl with ASP and ADO. It follows a smooth "tutorial approach" and offers sheer ease in connecting databases with the internet. It is well written and highly detailed, but doesn't "over-load" the beginner with unexplained jargon. This was the one book that had my e-commerce up and running in no time.

Rating:
Summary: A Great Value
Review: This book clearly explains Perlscripting, ASP, and ADO through concise programming examples. The CD with all the scripts plus ActivePerl makes it an excellent buy!

Rating:
Summary: Must have.
Review: Up-to-date materials. Useful both as a tutorial and a reference. But the English and flow are less than desirable.

Rating:
Summary: Don't listen to the negative review
Review: While it is true that the author is Swedish, and has a distinctive style, his writing is perfectly understandable. The impression I get from the book is that Mr. Martinsson is trying to convey as much practical programming info as possible without extraneous narrative. This approach is great for those of us who want to get started programming right away. Also--check out the CD. It has more valuable code and tools than most book CDs--all the scripts, plus ActivePerl!