Customer Reviews

ASP 2.0 Programmer's Reference

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Very good reference book. This is what I learned ASP from. Intended for an intermediate programmer with knowledge of programming and uses vbscript examples. So if you know VBScript already, this book will get you programming ASP in no time. One thing that this book lacks is a language reference. Other than that it's great.

I was very disappointed with this book. All of the other ASP books by WROX are excellent, so I felt safe in buying this work, assuming it would be excellent as well. Unfortunately, I was wrong. The main problem is the layout. Most programmer references are laid out in a dictionary style format. ASP 2.0 Programmer's Reference in laid out in chapters instead, making it difficult to find code snippets. To do so, one must search through the Index. For example: to find about Request.Form, you look in the Index and find: Request.Form collection. See Form Collection. Then you flip to Form Collections, 38-45 and then you have to search pages 38-45 to find anything...very irritating. Most of the book is like that. That is not to say that the book is completely without merit. The chapter on ASP 3.0 and what it will bring is mildly entertaining and informative. If you don't already have Beginning ASP 2.0, Professional ASP 2.0 and Professional ASP Techniques for Webmasters, any of those fine books would be a better investment.

This book did me good. As an independent consultant, I have to constantly retrain at my own expense. In a few nights, I read 200 pages and was building small ASP database applications. It is worth a lot more than I paid for it. ASP 2.0 is very organized. It covers the basics from setting up the ASP environment to how to organize a good ASP application. While advertised as a programmer's reference, it has a lot more than just lists of objects and methods. It was enough to bridge me from C++ gunslinger to ASP pea-shooter. I found it thorough to an appropriate level, fast to read, and with a focus on performance. It does expect you to pick up VBScript yourself, but there are enough code snippets that I managed without having ever used VB more than a day. They can't cover every detail in a book of this brevity and I'm glad they didn't. If they did, I'd still be reading and not writing code.

I found the book very helpful. The examples are quick and to the point and I found them much more useful in my day-to-day work then the more convoluted "application" examples given in many of the other ASP books. This is not to say ASP 2.0 Prog. Ref. replaces those books only that the book does succeed as a great reference guide.

I did not find the chapter format to be a problem as items seem to fall into the chapters rather logically.

I find myself using the book more and more and think it is well worth the money.

I generally love Wrox books. They are generally the top of the list for working programmers. I bought this book, hoping to reduce the heft of my Reference Library of ASP 2.0. And, it failed.

I am not saying that this is a bad book. For the price, it is hard to beat. But, the examples used are not nearly as real world as Professional Active Server Pages, and a lot is left out in the creation of data objects. Perhpas the publisher intends you to pick up the ADO reference also.

If you program ASP as a regular part of your job, the charts at the back are nice and well worth the $19.99 suggested retail. But, do not throw away your books on database access or you will pull your hair out.

In summary, this is a good book that should have been a great book.

The concepts introduced in this book are very clear and easy to understand. The performance chapter needs more reference

I've read Beginning ASP 2.0 and Professional ASP 2.0 . . . and I found this book a good quick review on those subjects I'm rusty on. It's nice to have the information available in a smaller book that I can carry with me from job to job (the appendix is thorough and well organized). This is not a practical "first book" if you are serious about learning how to code ASP. If you're a manager and want some background the first few chapters are targeted for you. If you're a programmer, you won't develop any serious applications with this book as your guide. But, if you forgot how to deal with cookies or can't remember the exact syntax for sending mail with CDONTS - then buy this books. It's portable.

The brief chapter on ASP 3.0 is a nice introduction to the next release of ASP. (I just got the ASP 3.0 programmer's reference). Good luck!

This book gave me a clear view and understanding of how asp hangs together. It is very important to understand the architecture of how a web site is put together and this book explains exactly that. This book has definately made me a better asp programmer. (I'm just about to order Professional ASP 2.0)

I wasn't expecting too much from this book when I bought it because it's suppose to be a programmers reference anyway. My problem is: instead of confusing new ASP programmers on database access, it's better to leave the topic to a better author, or say explicitly that samples will not work. I'm looking for a better book anyway!

Please email me if you have any better suggestions.

I usually really like Wrox books; along with O'Reilly I find that they are concise, timely, and accurate with their information. I bought this slim reference hoping to rid my desk my regular ASP book and clear up some needed real estate.

Unfortunately, this book won't be replacing Professional ASP anytime soon. I know ASP VERY well, but I need syntax refreshers occasionally. This book will help with that for the most part, but it doesn't include a VBScript or JScript appendix. I know Wrox has other books for these topics, but an ASP programmer needs coverage of the scripting languages along with the ASP object model. Inclusion of a quick chapter would have made this book a four or 5 star for me. As is, maybe I can trade the book with one of my coworkers. :(