Murach's ASP.NET 3.5 Web Programming with VB 2008 [Paperback]

Anne Boehm (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 14, 2008

"This book is by far the best computer programming book I have ever bought. You can go into my upstairs closet and find 20-30 books that I have purchased since the days of VB6.... All together, they could not add up to as much information as you have given me in the first 11 chapters of this book." (A developer's comment on the previous edition of Murach's ASP.NET)

Already know how to code Visual Basic 2008 desktop applications? Then, you're ready to master web programming with the 3.5 edition of this best-selling ASP.NET book from Murach Books.

It covers the 3.5 features that provide new functionality...like the ListView and DataPager data controls, LINQ data sources, new CSS-related tools, and ASP.NET AJAX...while it teaches you how to develop web applications from scratch. And it does that using all the same features that have made earlier editions such favorites among professional developers:

#1. It's concise, practical, and crystal-clear in telling you what you need to know

#2. It shows you how to get the most from Visual Studio 2008 as you code, test, debug, and deploy ASP.NET web applications

#3. It gives you a 7-chapter section on database programming...2 more chapters than in the previous edition because .NET continues to deliver new, powerful tools for this critical component of business applications

#4. It gives you solid training in the essential skills that you'll use every day, including data validation...state management...improving the user experience with easy site navigation and a standard look and feel...boosting user response time with ASP.NET AJAX...handling security...developing reusable controls...working with database data using SQL, object, and LINQ data sources...and more

#5. It gives you real-world application examples that guide you in applying what you're learning as you develop your own websites (you can download the applications for free from the Murach website)

#6. Its paired pages presentation makes for fast reading, instant reinforcement, and time-saving reference (to see how the paired pages work, you can download free chapters from the Murach website)

So if you need to learn ASP.NET 3.5 web programming, we hope you'll try this book first. We're convinced that it will deliver the training you need better and faster than any competing book.

Editorial Reviews

Review

If you're a Web application novice who wants to learn ASP.NET 2.0 using Visual Basic, this is the perfect book. --Guy Barrette, levelextreme.net, 2006 --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

From the Publisher

During the last 30 years, many customers have asked me how it is that a small publisher in Fresno can make the best programming books. The short answer is that no other publisher works the way we do.

Instead of using freelance writers who get no training, we use a small staff of programmers who are trained in our proven writing and teaching methods. Instead of publishing 40+ books each year, we focus on just a few. Instead of showing pieces of code, we provide complete applications that have been checked and re-checked for accuracy. And instead of rushing books to market, we refuse to let schedule or budget interfere with quality. As I see it, that’s the only way to make sure that every book we publish is the best one on its subject.

That’s why I say that no other ASP.NET 2.0 book will teach you so much, so fast, or so thoroughly as ours will. Try it and see for yourself! --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 974 pages
• Publisher: Mike Murach & Associates (July 14, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1890774472
• ISBN-13: 978-1890774479
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 8.1 x 2.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (45 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #210,745 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Anne Boehm has over 30 years of experience as an enterprise programmer. She got started with Visual Basic in the days of VB5, and has been programming on .NET since its inception. In the past 5 years, she's added C# to her programming repertoire, and she's authored or co-authored books on Visual Basic, C#, ADO.NET, and ASP.NET.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Great Soop to Nuts tutorial for the latest ASP.NET dev., August 28, 2008

By 

Joe Stagner - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Murach's ASP.NET 3.5 Web Programming with VB 2008 (Paperback)

I'm my job I review hundreds of books a year. I only publically comment on the really good ones and this one is super !

If I were going to teach a course on ASP.NET Development in VB, this is the book that I would use. It's complete, well written, up to date with all the latest ASP.NET technology, and aesthetically pleasing !

Joe Stagner
www.MisfitGeek.com

11 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good book, but not for beginners, March 21, 2006

By 

W. Flanagan "SteelerFan" (Gilbert, AZ) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Murach's ASP.NET 2.0 Web Programming with VB 2005 (Paperback)

I purchased this book after reading the excellent reviews. I have decent html knowledge, and some limited asp 3.0 skills. I wanted to start using asp.net 2.0 and Visual Studio 2005. I found myself quite confused with the first one page project in the book. This was because the project is presented as if the reader already has VB 2005 experience. I found similar reviews to Murach's ASP.net 1.1 web programming book. If you are looking for entry level use of VS 2005 with ASP.net this unfortunately is not it. I was hoping to see explanations of different controls in the toolboxes, etc. I will keep this for future reference and keep searching for a good beginner's book.

19 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Not for Training, Barely for Reference, June 12, 2006

By 

S2 - Candle Trader (Portland, OR) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Murach's ASP.NET 2.0 Web Programming with VB 2005 (Paperback)

This book is not sure who it is intended for. It states it is for Training and Reference. It is not a training book and as a refence book it leaves much to be desired. If you know anything about ASP.NET the first 300 pages will bore you (so will most of the rest of the book). Whether you know ASP.NET or not parts of the last 200 pages assume you are an expert and even states topics the author raises won't be covered since it is assumed you are already familar. Leaves you wondering who the book is really for.

I feel that most of the content in this book is covered better in Scott Mitchell's ASP.NET 2.0 in 24 hours from Sams, even in one of the two ASP.NET 2.0 Dummies books if you are a beginer. If you are experienced with ASP.NET you will be better served looking at O'Reilly's ASP.NET 2.0 A Developer's Handbook by Wei-Meng Lee. IMHO

The paired pages are not well done. The left hand page supposedly has the description; the right hand page, always referred to as a 'figure' even if it is all text, has: (a.) a summary of the description; (b.) a table; (c.) a very few lines of code, often out of context; (d.) a screen shot; or some combination of these. The description invariably immediately refers to the figure but then lists what you should get out of the 'figure'. On more than half the paired pages there is no need to read the the right-hand page.

An additional complaint with the book is that the granularity required to produce the paired pages is often to granular to convey a complete idea in context, often when this happened the balance of the idea is not presented in the next paired page but later in the chapter as is continually stated by the author, making the book seem disjointed on many occassions.

There is good information in the book but 800+ pages is a lot to wade through to find those nuggets; it works better as a reference than as a training book but even as a refernce it falls down due to the disjointed, incomplete idea presentation. A couple of things in this book not yet found in the others I've read is the new ability to have accelerator keys (Alt+'key'), User & Server Controls.

Before you commit your money and your time tothis book you should evaluate where you are on the ASP.NET learning curve, what you want out of an ASP.NET 2.0 book and whether this book will fit your needs. I think there are better books availble to learn ASP.NET from, regardless of your experience.