Sams Teach Yourself ASP.NET in 24 Hours

by Joseph Martin, Brett Tomson, Joe Martin, Brett Thomson

Paperback: 480 pages
Publisher: Sams
ISBN: 0672321262; 1st edition (August 27, 2001)

Building on an overview of the basic architecture of the.NET framework, guides the reader through ASP.NET's basic structure, function and working syntax. For beginning users.

From the Back Cover: Building on an overview of the basic architecture of the .Net framework, Sams Teach Yourself ASP.NET in 24 Hours guides the reader through ASP.NET's basic structure, function and working syntax (data types, operators, functions, web forms etc). The unique approach exposes and explains both VB.Net and C#, including examples for both. Then, the programmer is walked through the creation of a live ASP.NET application. Finally, concise explanations of data manipulation, security, deployment, and yes, even profiling/optimization are introduced.

About the Author: Joe Martinhas been developing client-server, client and web-based applications for more than 10 years. He is currently working as a Senior Software Engineer for NetIQ Corporation. NetIQ is a leading provider of e-business infrastructure management and intelligence solutions for all the components of an organizations' e-business infrastructure-from back-end servers, networks and directories to front-end Web servers and applications. His expertise covers a broad number of Microsoft development technologies, including Visual Basic, C++, ASP, IIS, MTS, Access, and SQL Server.

Brett Tomson is a partner and developer with OSIRIS interactive, a digital media services company specializing in custom web application development, web hosting, multimedia, graphic design, training and consulting. His portfolio includes web applications designed and developed for companies ranging from small businesses to multinational corporations. Brett has an extensive background building applications with ASP, JavaScript, Dynamic HTML, COM+, Microsoft SQL Server, and Oracle.

Customer Reviews
Basic beginners fare, November 1, 2001
Reviewer: Gregory A. Beamer
Overall, I am not impressed with this book. By far, it is the least expensive of the current lot. However, getting a bargain is not always the best route. I would recommend plopping down a few more bucks for one of the other books than picking this one up. The book is not bad for a beginner's book, which is its intended audience. My problems with the book lie in a couple of areas:

1. Coding ASP.NET as if it were a new version of ASP - there is no real reliance on CodeBehind. The separation of code and UI is done strictly through functions in the ASP.NET page. This is the way most ASP.NET books do it, so this is not necessarily a showstopper. Learn to write code more like VB if you really want your ASP.NET to shine. This book will not teach you how.\

2. Examples far more complex than they need to be - not sure if the author(s) needed to impress someone, or if they really believe ASP.NET is this difficult, but many of the examples approach things the hard way. My personal philosophy: a simple problem generally has a simple answer; a complex problem generally has a simple answer or a group of simple answers. The author(s) do not subscribe to this theory.

3. Not enough meat - this is more a comparison of this book and the competition. While there is some good material, the book is quite short. If it did what it did well, I would not see this as a downside, but it gets a bit bloated with code and misses the point.

Still, I would rate the book about average. If price is your primary objective, you can get a good start with this book. If you can spend an extra $10, I would recommend the Sams 21 days book (+ $10) or the Beginning ASP.NET with {your language here} from Wrox. Either will give you a much better introduction.

Dec 5 - Source code is finally available.

Nothing Exceptionally New Here, September 4, 2001
Reviewer: Gary B. Wheaton from Chester, VA USA
This is just another ASP.NET in Visual Basic book. Teach Yourself ASP.NET in 21 Days is better and showed up first, which kind of takes all the wind out of your sales doesn't it? Topics are covered in more detail. They both profess to teach you the basics in virutally the same amount of time--here 24 one-hour lessons, the other 21 one-hour lessons. I am extremely disappointed in the books that have come out thus far simply for the fact that the editors lead you to believe that FINALLY after all this time they've come out with a book that includes one of the powerful and newest tools in .NET...... that is, C#. The editorial description of this book says it has examples of VB and C#. There is indeed an honorable mention of C# on page 7... it simply says you can use it but for beginners you better stick with VB. I am still waiting for anything from Sam's or anyone that steps you through the C# aspect of this technology.

I bought Teach Yourself ASP.NET in 21 Days as soon as it came out. It also professed to at least have a chapter on C#--chapter 4. Well, the exercises in the chapter dedicated to C# were in Visual Basic........ hello, is there anything wrong with this picture? I am going through the book and translating every exercise to C#, probably a better way to learn it anyway. Maybe all you publishers and authors have done me a favor by seriously falling short in this area. Maybe I should sell the authors my version of their exercises??? To give Sam's and the authors of this just-another-one-in-the-pile, I would have to say that technically, it does indeed cover ASP.NET pretty well and if you are a VB programmer, you've got another decent instructional book. But, because of the advertised inclusiveness of C# that simply is not there, I have to give it a 3 at best. It just looks like I'll already have learned it on my own by the time the C# dedicated Sam's comes out in Feb or March, if it meets it's projected publishing date that is...................

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