Customer Reviews

Beginning Active Server Pages 2.0

5 star:		(85)
4 star:		(24)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

People ask me about ASP all the time and what book they should get. My answer as of April 1, 2000 is.... not this book. I recommend the new edition of this book: Beginning Active Server pages 3.0 edition of this one (amazon sells it. However if you're not running Windows 2000 Professional and won't upgrade (or downgrade in some people's view) to Win2k anytime soon then definitely buy this 2.0 edition and invest your amazon's old book discount into an index fund). But if my Beg ASP 3.0 is off the shelf, I quickly reach for this one! This book covers the basics - how to pass data from one page (it has a good 'forms' tutorial) to another, what variants & their subtypes are, touches on using cookies, and covers ADO quite nicely. The book is riddled with horrible grammatical mistakes (some funny ones in the explanations and some not so funny in the code) but the wrox.com site has all the updates and fixes so no need to fear.

As expected in these nerdspeak IT books, the reader must be disciplined and follow through no matter how boring some chapters are to make the most of it. You should plan to sit on your PC and do the exercises no matter how simple and obvious they look. Especially after the cookies chapter! If you don't understand that chapter completely you won't hang in the next ones (or at the job).

To sum it up: this is a great ASP book for the dedicated aspiring webmaster. After you read it the book serves as a great ASP Dictionary to bail you out every time you forget one of those oddball subtype commands. If you're like some of my friends who are sick of their jobs and want to become ASP gurus you should read this one, take a break, and then read Beginning ASP Databases by John Kauffman (yes, the smiling bald guy) which is quite a fun read and a good SQL starting point. If you want to know more about cookies and powerful ASP coding skip the Kauffman book and get Professional Active Server pages. You'll be creating dynamic user-tracking portal sites in no time.

As I was starting to learn ASP, I was a bit shaken by the control and power available through ASP. However, the book starts one off with an extremely satisfactory introduction to ASP that should take the shakes away from any beginner. As the book progresses, the examples and the text carry one well into the intricancies and abstracts of ASP. The result at the end of the book is a competent, intermediate/advanced level ASP programmer who should be able to design and implement basic/medium ASP databases with full web intergration.

Thanks to this book, I can proudly call myself an intermediate ASP programmer.

When I was on the market for an ASP book, I was torn whether or not to get 2.0, go straight to 3.0, or try my hand at a Professional 2.0 or 3.0. I was scared away from anything 3.0 because I didn't have Win2000 and IIS 5.0. As it turns out, I learned plenty about ASP with this book, regardless of which Win operating system I'm on (or you are on).

It is true what reviewers write below, this is a very introductory book to ASP. It assumes you are a beginner to programming. It also favors VBScript as opposed to JavaScript. But the most important part is that it is an intro and it sets the foundation to learn more (which i would suggest ASP Databases with Kauffman next!)

I had no previous ASP experience but plenty of HTML and VBScript. This book was a good choice for me because I could breeze through the HTML/VB and concentrate on how to use what I knew with ASP. It helps you with the PWS download and gets it running (which allows individuals to run ASP if you don't have Server of IIS).

It spends a fair amount of time on the big 6 ASP objects. However, there are a few other really great parts to this book. They give a few great scripts, including one that detects browsers. In addition, I really like the last three chapters. After they teach you about ASP, Ch. 13 introduces ASP with databases (including ODBC and OLE-DB), Ch. 14 discusses the ADO model (with SQL) and Ch. 15 integrates it all together with a big, 100-page database classifieds example that anyone can use and manipulate to something of their own.

Excellent for those who haven't programed before. The only stuff you need to know is plain old HTML, and everyone practically knows this. WARNING : This book is very addictive.

I found this book to be the best beginners ASP book I have come across. I tried the SAM'S series first (i.e. Active Server Pages 2.0 in 24 hrs and 21 days respectively) I found these books to have too many coding errors and not being able to properly route you to an ASP environment. This book on the other hand did a great job of telling you what you needed to run ASP on your laptop/desktop, and how to find it. My personal suggestion is that if you have the means of downloading PWS 4.0 from a network do so, because the download takes forever otherwise. I found the example programs to be pretty much on the mark. I would also suggest downloading HomePage 4.0 from Allaire, it is an excellent HTML editor. The book tells you how to go about downloading HomePage as well. I have had a lot to say about this book because it is just that good, the authors do a fantastic job of explaining how each part of the code works. Some other readers may have found this repetitive, but with limited HTML and no ASP experience, I found it to be a God sent.

Than this is your book. This book explains everything from the bottom up. I didn't no didly-do from scripting languages and yet I was up and runnig in no time with this book. At last a book that understands the needs of a beginner...

I live in Brazil. Two weeks ago I was called for programming in a web development team, but I don't knew ASP language. Quickly I access the Amazon.com and saw many ASP Books to sell. I read the reviews about many books, but this in particular interesting me. Now I am studying it. This book is very, very good. I learned much with this book. I want say for all people about this book. If you can, then BUY it!

I knew nada about ASP when I ordered this book and I have now completed my second web site. The descriptions are clear and the exercises are correct! Actually correct! I have used many computer books with exercises that didn't work. This book is well written, easy to understand and teaches the technology in a clear and concise manner. I highly recommend it.

I don't know ASP before I read this book. Wow.. this is so well written and can give you a good fundation of ASP. I have made a few sites with ASP now. This book is excellent for those who don't have a programming background, also very good for programmers who don't know ASP. The only thing that should be covered even more is databases. Well, I just finished reading a new book, Beginning ASP Databases. It's another excellent book from Wrox.

Easy to follow even if you are not a pro in HTML or any scripting language. However some basic VB helps as great deal! Great book, easy to follow examples, line by line explanations. Doesn't cover advanced topics