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ASP.NET Developer's JumpStart
by Paul D. Sheriff, Ken Getz

Publisher: Addison Wesley Professional Buy it Now! 

ISBN: 0672323575
Format: Paperback, 672pp
CD: NO

ASP.NET a great part of the whole .NET framework, now let's Web developers build true OOP dynamic, data driven web applications. The purpose of ASP.NET Developer's JumpStart is to show you how to use ASP.NET and MS's Visual Studio .NET to build real-world business applications on the Web. Whether or not you have some previous web programming experience, you will get a lot out of this book; however it is recommended that you have some familiarity with relational databases, such as MS Access or MS SQL Server.

The authors move developers quickly step-by-step through the practical applications of .NET and ASP.NET that illustrate how to build Web-based applications using ADO.NET, Web Forms and Web Services, as well as good programming principles. The book is divided into four parts. The first part, "Introduction to MS .NET and VS.NET", is designed to help you prepare for the rest of the book. It features a sample ASP.NET application you'll refer to, as you work through the book you'll study and create many pages related to this application. Great idea. This part of the book consist of 9 chapters, the authors explain the story behind the .NET, internet programming in general, debugging in VS.NET. ASP.NET is introduced by pointing to how it compares to old ASP, and what are the benefits web developers will gain from .NET.

Part 2, "Data Handling", on nearly 300 pages, introduces and puts right into the action the ADO.NET. You'll learn about data binding, error handling, most important classes in ADO.NET. There's is even a chapter on using stored procedures - the one you'll certainly want to concentrate on if you are to build fast data driven web applications. This part of the book also provides enough info on the most interesting web controls - DataGrid, DataList and similar.

The next part of the book, "Web Development techniques", covers some more advanced features like: creating web reports with Crystal Reports engine, building user controls, controlling state management in a web application. The authors also provide a chapters on web security, building mobile devices, and development and deploying techniques.

Part 4, "Web Services", discusses one of the most used buzz technologies today. From the ground up, the text shows you what the power of XML is; what are XML web services, and how to create and consume, investigate and secure web services.

To download the examples discussed in this book, and to find updates and fixes, visit the Web site: http://www.pdsa.com/aspnetjumpstart.

I found the book to be a great resource. I've reviewed several books on ASP.NET at have to say that this one covers the most. Because this book focuses on building an application that looks and feels like a simple business-oriented Web site, you'll get the flavor of the types of issues that will affect every ASP.NET developer.
Inside the 31 chapter of this book, you'll hardly find something missing. I do find one thing left by: creating custom Web controls. However, the title states it's a "Jump Start", not "Jump Over" - if you want much much more web development power, you'll need to reach for another book.

After completing the ASP.NET sample application, you will have the knowledge to begin building your own ASP.NET web applications (with whatever server script language designed for .NET). It fits quite well in the Top Delphi ASP.NET Books selection.