ASP.NET in a Nutshell [Paperback]

G. Andrew Duthie (Author), Matthew MacDonald (Author)

Book Description

Series: In a Nutshell (O'Reilly) | Publication Date: June 15, 2002

ASP.NET is the newest generation of Active Server Pages from Microsoft. More than a mere upgrade, it's designed to support the development of dynamic and data-driven web applications and web services in much the same way Visual Basic enabled the rapid development of Microsoft® Windows® desktop applications.

For those experienced with previous versions of ASP or the .NET platform, ASP.NET in a Nutshell is an invaluable resource that goes beyond the published documentation to highlight little-known details, stress practical uses for particular features, and provide real-world examples that show how features can be used in a working application. ASP.NET in a Nutshell uses Visual Basic .NET for the many examples.

Unlike other books, it distills what is a large and comparatively complicated subject into a tutorial and reference that is useful for both learning essential concepts and daily reference. This book covers application and web service development, custom controls, data access, security, deployment, and error handling. There's also an overview of the web-related namespaces in the .NET Framework Class Library.

Like other books in the "In a Nutshell" series, ASP.NET in a Nutshell offers the facts, including critical background information, in a no-nonsense manner that users will refer to again and again. It is a detailed reference that enables even experienced web developers to advance their ASP.NET applications to new levels.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

is President of ProseTech, a software documentation consultancy, and a project manager at VoiceIQ (http://www.voiceiq.com/), a provider of software for interactive voice-enabled applications and services. Matthew is a coauthor of the ASP.NET in a Nutshell (O'Reilly), and a contributor to the C# in a Nutshell (O'Reilly) API reference.

Product Details

• Paperback: 800 pages
• Publisher: O'Reilly Media; 1st edition (June 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0596001169
• ISBN-13: 978-0596001162
• Product Dimensions: 8.7 x 5.9 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,117,639 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I keep this book within arm's reach, August 5, 2002

By 

Rex (Vancouver) - See all my reviews

This review is from: ASP.NET in a Nutshell (Paperback)

If you're serious about knowing all the nooks and crannies of ASP.NET then have this book on standby at all times. I haven't read every page in it yet since it's so much of a reference manual (covers all the web namespaces) but when I'm stuck on something it has in most cases been able to solve the problem for me. I've been turning to this book if I need to know the name of a method or property or what namespace it's located in or if I want a particular functionality but need to find out if such a function even exists. This book has helped me in those areas. You won't get the most benefit from this book until you're at least at a comfortable level with ASP.NET so don't try to learn it from scratch from this book. Have at least one good ASP.NET book under your belt first.
Happy Coding!

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Reference -- So-So Tutorial, September 26, 2002

By 

rclocher3 (Merlin, OR USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: ASP.NET in a Nutshell (Paperback)

I picked this particular book because it was by O'Reilly, and their reference "ASP in a Nutshell" is excellent. However, that other book is by a different author, and ASP.NET is far more complex than classic ASP.

The dilemma the authors faced was that if they wanted to create an excellent reference at a reasonable price, they had to skimp on creating a good tutorial. Well, they succeeded in creating an excellent reference at a fair price. The book is almost 800 pages, and I think they used the space very well. But as other reviewers have noted, if you need a slower-paced introduction, you will need another book. O'Reilly & Associates have apparently realized this, because they also publish "Programming ASP.NET" (which I know little about).

To me, the authors seem to be very knowledgeable. The book is well-organized and doesn't skimp on any ASP.NET topics. They know "classic" ASP extremely well, which is helpful if you yourself are migrating from classic ASP.

C# and other non-VB programmers will notice a slight bias towards Visual Basic .NET, but honestly this shouldn't be a problem for anybody, especially if you were used to switching between VBScript and JScript in "classic" ASP.

If I could change one thing about the book, it would be the introduction to ADO.NET. ADO.NET only bears a superficial resemblance to "classic" ADO, and the bound ASP.NET data controls are completely new. Yet the chapter that covers them is only 23 pages long. The chapter is explicitly written as an overview, but if you have no other printed reference handy the chapter ends up being just a teaser. The examples in that chapter are fairly similar to the ones in the MDSN library, which are quite "lazy". I would have gladly paid another $2.20 for 50 more pages to expand upon the topic. Instead I will have to find some good examples on the web somewhere, or buy another book (not likely).

I don't own any other ASP.NET books, but I can say that if you could only buy one ASP.NET book, this one would be a good choice.

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars ASP.Net in a nutshell, February 26, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: ASP.NET in a Nutshell (Paperback)

Review: ASP.NET in a Nutshell - A Desktop Quick Reference

ASP.NET in a Nutshell is the fast track way to get up-to-speed on Microsoft's next generation technology for building web enabled applications on the .NET platform.

The book is structured in three sections. Part 1 provides a high level overview of what ASP.NET is and discusses the new features such as Web Services, Server Controls, Data Access (ADO.NET), Security, Configuration, Error Handling, and Validation Controls. Part 2 is a reference to each of the major classes that are available as part of the ASP.NET object model. A chapter is devoted to each of the following classes:

- Page

- HttpApplication and HttpApplicationState

- HttpContext

- HttpException

- HttpRequest

- HttpResponse

- HttpServerUtility

- HttpSessionState

Part 3 provides a reference to the namespaces you'll most commonly come across while developing ASP.NET applications. Of all three sections, I found this section to be the least useful. Although each of the classes has an introductory reference, Most of the information here can be sourced easily from the MSDN documentation. Such a reference would have been better suited to a book on ASP, where the official documentation was somewhat scarce.

The books introductory chapters start out with code examples written in both VB.NET and C#, however as you progress further through the book the samples are provided in VB.NET only. This is not such a bad thing, but I would have preferred it had the authors stuck to one language throughout the book, or give consistent examples throughout the book in both languages.

This is not a book for beginners. For those readers just starting out with ASP.NET or with little to no web development experience, I would suggest reading other titles such as Programming ASP.NET (O'Reilly) or Professional ASP.NET (Wrox Press) before purchasing ASP.NET in a Nutshell.

At the end of the day, ASP.NET in a Nutshell provides a good quick reference to the fundamentals of ASP.NET, with excellent tutorials and "How To's" throughout. Despite the namespace reference providing only a little more than the MSDN documentation, the first two sections more than make up for those 300 odd pages of filler. And If you're willing to live with most of the example being written in VB.NET then this book is definitely a worthwhile purchase.