Customer Reviews

Murach's ASP.NET 2.0 Web Programming with C# 2005

5 star:		(20)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is a comprehensive tutorial that walks the reader through the basics of virtually every aspect of Web site programming in ASP.NET 2.0. The first half of the book is dedicated in part to programmers new to Web programming in general, or new to Web programming ASP.NET. The second half of the book delves deeper into more professional Web development techniques such as database access, SSL, user authentication and profiles, and even touching on Web services and reusable Web component design. Throughout, the authors do a good job of pointing out features that are new or specific to .NET 2.0, which makes this a valuable reference even for programmers with extensive ASP.NET development experience.

For every two pages in the book (it weighs in at nearly 900 pages) the content is repeated once in classic Murach style; the left-hand page is a detailed description of the concept being covered written in a conversational tone, and the right-hand page contains a recap of this discussion in bulleted-form, with screenshots and / or code samples. This layout is ideal for both novice and expert readers alike; beginners learn faster when a concept is restated / repeated, and experts can skim through the right-hand pages looking for content that is new to them.

The authors assume that the reader has a working knowledge of C# syntax (there is a VB version as well), but pretty much everything else involved in Web site development using ASP .NET 2.0 is explained in detail.

I read most of this book over a weekend and that's a first for me. Generally, computer books are dry and boring. I was yet to finish reading any of them in its entirety and I have been programming for over a decade. But this book uses a clever approach of giving you expanded information on a topic on a page (generally the left one) and a bulleted summary description on the opposite page. So you can read the explanation, which is very well written, and then recap with the description. Or you can skip the explanation all together and still undertand the concept. The examples are good and illustrate the concepts quite well. The only reason I give this book four starts instead of five is that the database for the examples was specific to the MSDE version of SQL Server. I have both SQL Server 2000 and 2005 developer edition and could not attach the database to any of them. I was forced to download MSDE from Microsoft and intall it on my system. A waste of space in my opinion. The author should make available versions of the database of a higher version of SQL Server. Other than that, I am very happy to own this book.

If you're even thinking about this book, you have an interest in or a project to do regarding connecting a database to a web site. This could be something simple like putting in a guest book, or more complex like a full fledged store. ASP.NET is Microsoft's vision of how this should be done (using purely Microsoft products of course).

The Microsoft products used in the ASP.NET approach include the operating system (Windows - possibly XP Professional, more likely Windows Server), Internet Information Service (the web server), Visual Studio (the integrated development environment that includes C# - pronounced 'C Sharp'), and the database (probably SQL Server).

The book covers these software products. It uses the Murach two-page presentation where the left hand page gives a text description of an issue, and the right hand side a more visual description of the same issue. I happen to like this format a great deal. One page tends to say the same thing in a different way. Sometimes one way is preferred (preferred means that I understand it better), sometimes the other.

If you're serious about this subject, I think you also will need a book on the SQL language for the particular database you will be using. SQL is a programming language all by itself. If you just use ASP, you will be tempted to do things in ASP that would be better done in a more complex SQL statement.

A great book, not for the total computer novice, but if you're planning a web site and want dynamic pages that have data coming out of a web site ....

I noticed many of the reviews are for older editions to this book. Murach's ASP.NET programming books have been around for quite a while, with this one being the 4th edition. ASP.NET 4 was released a little over a year ago (April 2010, I believe). This book's release date shows April of this year (2011). So the older reviews might be helpful for a background on the book, but look for reviews after April 2011 for this book alone.
That being said, I have read many Murach's books over the years. They seem to follow a certain style. This one is no different.

The book takes the reader through building a website, while at the same time teaching the various aspects involved. Think the style is very useful for beginners and people coming over to the .NET framework as it applies to the web.
Because the reader is building a website, they get into areas that are not necessarily ASP.NET, such HTML, CSS and SQL. Still, they are areas that any .NET web developer should know.

The book is full of useful information on various topics that are helpful in the everyday world of web development. Topics like, forcing a page to use a secure connection, creating and handling shopping carts, handling back-button problems.

The chapter on AJAX was good with regards to the Microsoft's controls and how they work. With Microsoft including jQuery in with Visual Studio 2010 now, would have liked to see more of a discussion on jQuery had how it could have been used developing the book's website.
It is easy to pick up bits and pieces of ASP.NET 4, but this book endeavors to put it all together. I have liked Murach's books in the past and found this one to be of equal value.

Have you seen the movie "Matrix"? Remember, when Neo says "I know Kung-Fu!" in 1 min after they plugged his head to the computer? I had the same feeling about ASP.NET after reading this book :-)
The book is so easy to read, even though English is my second language.

There is a lot of information in this 841 page book. It is broken into five sections starting with basic ASP concepts and finishing with web services and reuseable code. Easy to read, using the "paired pages" format: How-to on the left page and examples on the right.

This book continues the Murach tradition of good publications for the computer professional.

I have worked with both C# and ASP.Net. This book is simply the best there is to get you up to speed quickly on real world ASP.Net development. The book is easy to follow, but still gives you the depth needed for real world programming. I simply wish I could give it more than 5 stars.

Chuck Easttom
www.ChuckEasttom.com

I bought this book to learn ASP.NET 2.0 and also to have a good reference for me on 2.0 as i'm not new on ASP.NET, even if you want to learn ASP.NET 2.0 from scratch, you should get this book because its a great value and a great piece of work!

I'm recommending this book because i have a past experience with Murach's books and they were really great as this one.

Murach is quickly becoming my favorite publisher of books for learning new software development skills. This books continues in their tradition of books that do a very good job of selecting the most important topics and then treating those topics clearly and thoroughly enough to get you started with some real development.

This book gets you up and running very quickly with ASP.Net 2.0 and C#. It covers the most important new features of ASP.Net, (such as enhanced security that at the same time is easier to implement) as well as classically important topics such as database access.

The book is laid out in typical Murach style - a discussion of a byte-sized slice of a topic on the left-hand page with the corresponding example on the facing right-hand page. It's a logical and effective style that I appreciate.

There are some things left out in this book - such as a discussion of classes in C# - but you have to make choices as to what to leave in and what to exclude, and I have no argument with the way these choices were made by the authors. Meanwhile, for more in-depth teachings on C#, Murach has just released a new book on this very topic, and I expect it will be their usual high quality.

Great book which gets you learning and up and running with good examples in the first couple chapters. Good examples, great clear text - a great book for learning ASP.NET. Far superior to other ASP.NET books.