ActivePerl with ASP and ADO (Paperback)

by Tobias Martinsson (Author) "Microsoft's Active Server Pages (ASP) technology makes Internet development both easier to learn and more powerful to use..." (more)
Key Phrases: Perl Package Manager, Internet Services Manager, John Doe (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Perl tends to be talked about as a cross between a religion and a programming language. It has a lot going for it: in particular, it's free and available on most platforms. ActivePerl is Perl implemented as an ActiveX component, enabling its use as an ASP scripting language for IIS. Using ActivePerl rather than Perl with CGI takes up fewer server resources.

ActivePerl with ASP and ADO is aimed at Windows developers, though it isn't obvious why they'd want to use Perl rather than Microsoft's native VBScript. This text explains the basics of the Perl language, along with ASP and ADO, but you really need more than this book if you're going to realize the full power of Perl as an ASP-scripting language.

On the ASP side, the book provides good explanations of how and why things happen and how to make them happen the way you want them to. It discusses statefulness and cookies, along with simple ASP pages and database connectivity. The text discusses ADO usage in depth--including such esoterica as converting between ActivePerl scripts and command-line Perl for more efficient client-data presentations.

The book ends with the Record object, a hierarchical data structure, followed by appendices--which include a collection of useful scripts. ActivePerl and all the code is on the companion CD-ROM.

ActivePerl with ASP and ADO is authoritative and its author is clearly an expert, but pity the poor beginner who has to master all three languages at once. Despite the roller-coaster ride, the book is well structured and provides a concise source for Windows developers looking to move to a more powerful scripting language. --Steve Patient, Amazon.co.uk

Review
"I can say that I learnt a lot about all three subjects from it" -- CVu, April 2002

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Product Details

• Paperback: 290 pages
• Publisher: John Wiley & Sons (April 4, 2000)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471383147
• ISBN-13: 978-0471383147
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.5 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,797,664 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars Please hire a real editor for the next edition!, September 24, 2000

By A Customer

There's clearly a wealth of information in this book. I'm giving this book two stars instead of one because if you read it often enough, long enough, and forgiving-ly enough some of that wealth can be yours.

Though I'm a fairly good script programmer, and though I'm quite familiar with Perl's object model, and able to use databases with the Perl DBI I had no luck making database connections with my own ASP scripts after using the book. I assumed it was just me until I found the connection syntax clearly documented in a throwaway line from a different Perl book.

After reading that book cover to cover, reading another non-perl book on ASP, and scrounging through various documentation files, and after successfully implementing an ASP-based database-driven website I'm taking another crack at this book. It's still no fun but at least I can make out what the author is trying to say. I am learning things I didn't know.

I no longer believe the author actually works for Sun Microsystems on their JAVA development team, which directly competes with Perl and ASP. But I'm not so sure about the editor.

A good editor would have helped the author streamline the flow, even out the examples, prioritize what information is presented, move all but the most relevant tables to appendices, and make sure chapter heading and subheading levels were orthogonal.

It's too bad. There's an old saying: "Those who can't, teach." That doesn't apply here -- the author certainly seems to know his stuff. We face instead the corollary: "Those who can, can't teach." A thorough revision with a good editor would greatly benefit both author and readers.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Compact and to the point, January 3, 2001

By	Thomas P. Chester (Sterling, VA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Having read many books on ASP and Perl, most much, much larger and more comprehensive than this I am still compelled to give this book 5 stars since it quickly gives a feel for the techniques and capabilities of the tools under discussion. Be warned: this book, for most readers, is most likely inadequate as a sole source of information. The author provides motivation but not necessarily all the details needed to fully use the material. But having read this book, I feel like I will definately exercise my skills more competently.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well beyond the "Nutshell" approach..and A MUST HAVE...., May 23, 2000

By	Carla Douglas (Palo Alto, CA) - See all my reviews

This book clearly explains ActivePerl with ASP and ADO. It follows a smooth "tutorial approach" and offers sheer ease in connecting databases with the internet. It is well written and highly detailed, but doesn't "over-load" the beginner with unexplained jargon. This was the one book that had my e-commerce up and running in no time.