C# Developer's Guide to ASP.NET, XML, and ADO.NET

Rating:
Summary: A highly recommended professional reference
Review: C# Developer's Guide To ASP.NET, XML, And ADO.NET by Microsoft tool developer Jeffrey P. McManus and Chris Kinsman (Vice President of Technology at DevX.com) is a comprehensive, accessible resource for computer programmers. Individual chapters include basics for programming HTML controls, debugging applications that use ASP.NET, web service class references, security, step-by-step instructions for using XML, and much more. Packed with lines of sample code, advice on avoiding common pitfalls, straightforward tutorials for crafting specific applications and much more, C# Developer's Guide to ASP.NET, XML, and ADO.NET is a superbly written, highly recommended professional reference which is ideal for the novice and certain to contain a number of useful tips for even the more experienced Web designer.

Rating:
Summary: No download
Review: I would never buy this book if I knew that it is not accompanied by downloadable source code.

Rating:
Summary: Not for real programmers
Review: If you are really looking for programming I would suggest go for some other books. This book I bought just because of reading some reviews but after reading the book I realize it was not true.
According to me this is a book for level - starter.

Rating:
Summary: Great readable reference
Review: It starts of with a quick up to speed section and does a great job of showing ASP.old vs. ASP.NET. The book then immediately heads into the questions that developers want to answers to like caching and controls. This book is a great introduction and a reference that doesn't leave my desk.

Rating:
Summary: Great readable reference
Review: It starts of with a quick up to speed section and does a great job of showing ASP.old vs. ASP.NET. The book then immediately heads into the questions that developers want to answers to like caching and controls. This book is a great introduction and a reference that doesn't leave my desk.

Rating:
Summary: A good explanation of ASP.net but...
Review: The review by "Southern California .NET User Group" pretty well sums up my impression of this book. Contrary to what that review states, there is source code download available at http://www.awprofessional.com. However there is a little too much shovelware in this book, space that could have been devoted to more in depth coverage. People with intermediate "ADO.old" experience and knowledge of C++/C#/Java will benefit most from this book and it is certainly better than the online documentation at Microsoft.

Rating:
Summary: A good explanation of ASP.net but...
Review: The review by "Southern California .NET User Group" pretty well sums up my impression of this book. Contrary to what that review states, there is source code download available at http://www.awprofessional.com. However there is a little too much shovelware in this book, space that could have been devoted to more in depth coverage. People with intermediate "ADO.old" experience and knowledge of C++/C#/Java will benefit most from this book and it is certainly better than the online documentation at Microsoft.

Rating:
Summary: A good explanation of ASP.net but...
Review: The review by "Southern California .NET User Group" pretty well sums up my impression of this book. Contrary to what that review states, there is source code download available at http://www.awprofessional.com. However there is a little too much shovelware in this book, space that could have been devoted to more in depth coverage. People with intermediate "ADO.old" experience and knowledge of C++/C#/Java will benefit most from this book and it is certainly better than the online documentation at Microsoft.

Rating:
Summary: Not making source code available is a disaster
Review: This book has several good chapters but too simple on a few important chapters. It is a shame that the source code is neither included in a CD, nor downloadable from the publisher web site. Source code listing occupies a large portion of the book. The book also contains many "reference" sections that list members of classes without explaining them. Such references are simply useless.

Chapter 1 is the introduction of the book. It did a good job in pointing out the problems with asp.old and summarized the new feature of asp.net.

Chapter 2 contains the real meat of the book: asp.net page and controls. The chapter covers a lot of materials. Unfortunately, the explanation of concept is too simplified and it does not show any insight. The section that describes HTML control and server control simply lists all the controls and members without detailed comments on how to use them. The examples are too simple. The authors should really split chapter into multiple chapters and discuss each subject in detail. After all, this is the most important part of ASP.NET.

Chapter 3 discusses the ASP.NET tracing and debugging. The tracing portion is OK but the debugging portion is too simplified.

Chapter 4 discusses the state management and caching. This is a good chapter that clearly explains how things work. The examples are good.

Chapter 5 discusses configuration and deployment. The overall chapter is OK. The discussion on XCopy deployment is excellent and very useful.

Chapter 6 discusses web services. Unfortunately, this chapter is like chapter 2. It does not have enough depth on the discussion of such an important subject.

Chapter 7 discusses security. This is another good chapter with clear discussion and good examples.

Chapter 8 discusses the HttpHandlers and HttpModules. The discussion and examples of HttpModules are very good.

Chapter 9 discusses the user control and server control. This discussion of server control is OK but I hope the author will go into more depth on user control since it is important.

Chapter 10 discusses XML. This chapter has a few good examples. However, this chapter does not have nearly enough depth if XML is one of the three subjects listed on the title. Some of the XML technologies in .NET, such as XML Serialization, are not discussed at all in this chapter.

Chapter 11 discusses ADO.NET. Again, this chapter is too simply single ADO.NET is one of the three subjects listed on the title. The discussion on data adapter is too simple and strongly-typed dataset is not discussed at all.

In overall, the authors did a good job on some chapters but several most important chapters are too simple. Not making source code available is a disaster since the book has to use a large portion of 590 pages on code listing. Also, some reference sections of this book are useless. The book should give more room to in depth discussion on how things work, what is useful, what works and how. --Reviewed by Li C.

Rating:
Summary: This book covers the most cutting-edge topics in .NET
Review: This book is an excellent reference to C# programmers to tackle web development. It covers the most cutting-edge topics in .NET technology, in particular Web Services and Security. As it is mentioned in the title, this book is not C# tutorial from scratch, but to use C# programming language for web applications.

It is clear that this book is for the C# audience to use ASP.NET, XML and ADO.NET. It covers enough topics with excellent examples. Although, it is a good reference for C# developers with hands on .NET framework and not a C# programming language tutorial.

The book includes 11 chapters covered in 590 pages. The introduction chapter describes ASP from the scripting languages to ASP.NET. Chapter 2 is devoted to page framework. Chapter 3, 4, and 5 focus more deeper on ASP and configuration. Chapter 6 is devoted to Web Services. Chapter 7 point out the Security topic. HTTP containers are reported in chapter 8. Chapter 9 covers user controls and server controls. Chapter 10 is devoted to XML, and the last chapter is devoted to ADO.NET. An outstanding index section covered in 60 pages that include the most searched keywords and subtitles.

The authors share in this book their strong knowledge of .NET framework, with very interesting comments and examples. I recommend strongly this book for C# community to use it as a reference for .NET platform. ---Reviewed by Abder B.