Pure ASP.NET: A Code Intensive Premium Reference

by Robert Lair, Jason Lefebvre

Paperback: 640 pages
Publisher: Sams
ISBN: 067232069X; 1st edition (October 15, 2001)

The premium reference for Active Server Pages development in the new Microsoft .NET Framework. An invaluable guide to ASP.NET developers.

Pure ASP.NET is a premium reference for Active Server Pages development in the new Microsoft .NET Framework. Like all books in the Pure Series, Pure Active Server Pages.NET is comprised of 3 parts.

Part I Conceptual Reference is a fast-paced primer that covers ASP.NET fundamentals and concepts.

Part II Techniques Reference is full of well-commented, commercial-quality code that illustrates practical applications of ASP.NET concepts. Examples are presented in both Visual Basic and C# to appeal to a wide variety of programmers.

Part III Syntax and Object Reference contains detailed coverage of .NET Namespaces such as System.Web and System.Data that are invaluable to ASP.NET developers.

About the Author: Robert Lair is a nationally known developer, technical writer, and trainer. He studied computer science and engineering at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, and has been working in the area of software development for more than five years. His latest achievements in the software industry include his work on IBuySpy (Vertigo Software), the premiere demo application that shows the new features of ASP.NET. Other applications Robert has worked on in his career include ProposalMaster and RFPMaster (The Sant Corporation), OpenTable (Vertigo Software), and Shoes.NET (Vertigo Software), the premiere demo application shown at DevDays 2000 to show off the Microsoft .NET enterprise servers. He has worked with a number of major clients, including Microsoft, MCI, Williams Communications, and Prognostics.

Robert has also provided training at technical conferences, discussing a number of topics on Microsoft .NET and ASP.NET, as well as how to increase the efficiency of the software development process by simplifying the maintenance of complex applications. Conferences at which he has spoken include ASP Connections and the ASP Developer's Conference. He has also presented a number of internal technical learning sessions while working at Vertigo Software and the Sant Corporation...

Customer Reviews
A good reference for those with experience..., February 7, 2002
Reviewer: walnut_head from Florence, KY USA
Sams has provided another quality book. This ASP reference is very clear, concise, and provides the information that developers would otherwise need to seek out in other sources. Excellent productivity tool for those who are in the know.

Poor Quality and code mistakes, January 3, 2002
Reviewer: someone70 from New-York, New York United States
The quality of this book is the lowest. Its boring, code won't run, sentences repeat themselves. I don't think there was any QA reading done on it. It looks like trying to be quick outside at the market with a .NET book without making sure that the code supplied in the book actually runs.

Generally disappointing, January 1, 2002
Reviewer: A reader from San Diego, CA USA
Before buying this book, I was encouraged by the previous reviews and the marketing hype in the title itself. Who could argue with a "code-intensive premium reference"?!? Unfortunately, this book contains little that isn't already available free to the public online at MSDN both in the form of a simple framework reference and in the form of quality examples. The last third of the book is merely a rehash of the .NET framework docs on the classes most relevant to ASP.NET developers. The earlier content is decent, however, and does a fair job of demonstrating the basic ASP.NET controls and in demonstrating some of the interesting configuration aspects of ASP.NET applications.

The examples never touch more than the surface, however, so once you hit a wall, you're back at the (generally good) MSDN documentation anyway. The moral of the story here is that this book is a fair reference, ideally suited for someone who wants a concise, ASP.NET-oriented subset of the MSDN docs/tutorials in an easy-to-hold-in-your-hand format. If you like to read printed documentation, this book will be good for you. If you're happy with HTML-based documentation online, then you won't find much value in this book -- certainly not enough to justify the cover price.

Not great to be Advanced Level, December 30, 2001
Reviewer: Satyam Tuttagunta from India
Book's back cover says user level is Advanced. If you are a VB.NET programmer or C# programmer (or atleast know anyone of these) oly half of the book is for you. Most irritating part of this book is that, each example it repeated twice. Once for C# and once for VB.NET. It even repeats the HTML part, which, ofcourse, does not change with language. Another part is, Reference part. It has a good idea of explaining all class memebers. But this just repeats whatever is in MSDN. It should include explainations to things which are not trivial, after all, this is why anyone buys a book for. If we try to convince that its alternative to MSDN, we anyway need MSDN because many of explanations were not detailed enough to be understood.

Its a good book to start with and if you are in a hurry to learn in a short span, its a good option. But certainly not for Advanced users and users who wanna know in-depth.

Back to ASP.NET Book Index

Books Subjects

Learning ASP.NET

ASP.NET Reference Manual

.NET Application & Database

ASP.NET Training Course