ASP.Net Kick Start

by Stephen Walther

Visual Studio .NET is the premier development environment for creating .NET applications. The environment includes specialized tools for working with databases, XML files, and XML Web services. Building applications with Visual Studio .NET is a very different experience than building ASP.NET applications with a standard text editor. Visual Studio .NET performs a lot of invisible work in the background, and the environment makes a number of assumptions...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0672324768
• ISBN13: 9780672324765
• Release Date: December 2002
• Publisher: Sams Publishing
• Length: 624 Pages
• Weight: 2.30 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.4" x 7.4" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Aptly named, a boon for beginners

This book from Stephen Walther has got everything right, especially for beginners. I wish I had seen this book a little earlier. The first part on Creating Web Forms is written very well. It neither scares the beginner nor does it bore him. Most book authors don't realize that beginners are only looking for a simple book through which they can gain confidence. The language in this book is simple and whereever the author uses sophisticated technical language he explains it. Very good book if you are looking to learn ASP.NET using Visual Studio.NET (doesn't matter if its C# or VB.NET route, code is written in both.). One other good thing is that the author takes you step by step because we all know that one cannot learn programming by reading but only by programming.

Fantastic book for Visual Studio.NET users

I did a lot of research before picking up this .NET book. I must say it has exceeded my expectations by a long shot! It's simply fantastic! I just started ASP.NET programming, and it really helps that there are step-by-step instructions on how to do all the procedures. The author makes no assumptions as to readers' proficiency in using VS.NET. Also it's great that examples are all given in both C# and VB.NET.Get this book if you are (1) a VS.NET user and (2) are a beginner to ASP.NET but intend to be proficient in it and (3) use C# or VB.NET.

No nonsense, clear as a bell

Why can't all computer books be written like this one? It's so cleanly written that you'll probably be able to follow it without any problems at all. You'll find no "Dummies"-style attempts at humor here, or other digressions taking up space. He tells you exactly what you want to know, provides a simple example you can play along with, then moves on to the logical next step. This book does make for some pretty dry reading if you're not sitting in front of your computer running Visual Studio .Net. Here's how just about every page reads:"You can do with your web form, by merely . For example, say you have a site that needs to . You would do , then . Let's try an example. Do then do , then run your page. It will look like .Then he moves on. It's a clean, simple, constructive way to teach.This book does not take you through a single mockup of an application all the way through (at least not yet, I'm not done with it yet). Rather, each section works on a separate, unrelated pretend application. I thought I would find this difficult, but I actually prefer it, because it keeps the examples so clean.Before tackling this book, I recommend reading a little .Net background elsewhere, and perhaps a C# primer if you feel you need one. All code examples are in VB.Net as well as C#.I'm going to quit writing now so I can get back to it. It's that good.

Finally, recognition of Visual Studio's importance in .Net

Most of the books on .Net development stay away from Visual Studio.Net as if it were the plague, a creation of an "evil empire", or because of some variation on the "real programmers use Notepad" idea. Developers of that mentality please don't read this book because I want you to stay in that non-competitive hole you have dug for yourself. I have been working with ASP.Net and Visual Studio.Net since beta 1 and quickly realized the need for and the advantages of using this IDE. The learning curve to use Visual Studio.Net effectively has been a long, fairly steep climb mostly because of the lack of any talented technical author(s) willing to take on the challenge of clearly documenting this comprehensive (and need I say complex?) design environment. Steve, thank you for taking it on and doing such a great job. You really won't believe how much easier and faster database driven Web applications can be developed once you learn VS.Net. The control over the presentation (learn to use "auto format" and "style builder" for DataGrid "whatifs" and you'll be hooked), let alone the Server Explorer in either of the two Enterprise editions (which among other things can give give you the functionality of SQL Server's Enterprise Manager and Query Analyzer rolled into one) just nails it! You never have to leave VS.Net and that is something you have to experience to truly appreciate. Steve gets all this out to you and more in an easy to read manner. His bio in his books say he was a Ph.d candidate in Linguistics and Philosophy at M.I.T. before he got hooked on the Web. The quality and clarity of his writing certainly reflects and is a tribute to this high level of education. I'll bet his mom's happy about it too. There is one bug in VS.Net that Steve didn't cover in this book that everyone should know about and MICROSOFT SHOULD FIX!!! They have at least acknowledged it in Knowledge Base Article 313899 (search for it using kbbug KB313899). What happens is that sometimes after you run debug on your project the properties window no longer responds and you have to restart VS.Net to get it back. You can still save your work but it is annoying. Anyway, Stephen Walther's book "ASP.Net Kick Start" will do just that, kick your development into a higher gear. Did I say the man can write? Also buy his other book "ASP.Net Unleashed" if you want the best one-two ASP.Net punch available. Hey Steve, when are you going to offer "Unleashed" in a C# version? "Kick Start" gives all its examples in both C# and VB.Net so I know you can do it. Let me know when you do and I'll trade you my VB.Net version!

Great Book!

This is a great book. It is quick and to the point. The examples are focused and short, describing a toolset you can use to build pages. However, it assumes you understand VB.NET and data websites. Certain steps you are asked to code are not particualary well documented, so it is not for beginners.It assumes you will be using Visual Studio.NET to build your site. I am new to Visual Studio and this book makes the power of that product very clear, sort of like moving from a hammer to a hammer-gun. It does not spend any time expaining why .Net is better, or run down the feature set of the .Net framework, or teach code writing. Instead it simply shows you how to use the .NET tools in the real world, the advantage becomes obvious if you have experience with classic ASP pages. I read the Wrox book on Beginning ASP.NET yet after 600 pages I still couldn't do anything meaningful, I was baffled as to why one would really make the effort to learn ASP.NET. I wish I had started with this book first. Other stuff: The page layout in nice and clean, and the writing is easy to read and understand. Highly recommended.