ASP .NET Programmer's Reference (Programmer to Programmer) [Englisch] [Taschenbuch]

I used to love Wrox. From a programmer's standpoint, they used to have the best books, bar none. Unfortuantely, they seem to be more interested in being the first to market these days rather than being the best.

On the plus side, Wrox's books always have plenty of sample code. This book is no exception. The problem I have is the book tries to be both an intro and a namespace reference, and it does neither exceptionally well, although it does better as a namespace reference. For this reason, I will keep this book in my normal reference library until something else comes along, but a more complete reference on the .NET Framework would be a wonderful addition (hint! hint!).

The book starts out as an intro to ASP.NET. Since ASP.NET is more of a technology than a language or product, this is a tough row to hoe. ANd, the book falls a bit flat. In previous ASP books, this was a much easier task, as ASP was thought of more as a language (due to the overwhelming adoption of VBScript for server side code) than a technology.

The book then begins to go through various .NET Framework namespaces that you will use with ASP.NET. While I believe a more full reference is in order, the namespaces covered are those you are more likely to use in your web work. The book tools along for awhile and then takes a sudden break with mobile controls. While I believe these are useful for web work, the placement of this chapter in the middle of the book is a bit confusing (must be the multiple author problem). The other confusing chapter is called Useful .NET namespaces - since almost every chapter deals with a namespace, why stop in the middle to generically single some out?

The book is not bad, and it is certainly worth the (price). I guess I have just come to expect so much more from a Wrox Reference. As they become heftier, they are less useful as a book to carry to a client site. And, as they become more a teaching book (which they are not doing well at here) and less a reference, it becomes harder to justify the expenditure.

In Summary: If you need a reference to learn a bit more about the .NET Framework namespaces, as they relate to ASP.NET, this is a good addition to your library. If you want to learn ASP.NET, look elsewhere.

However, the name ASP seems to be maintained to provide familiarity to those of us making the transition from ASP 3.0 to "any-web-application-built-with-.NET." This book fulfils that calling by giving the right mix of definitions, examples, and background information without using excess space or time.

The majority of the chapters cover most of the collections of objects (namespaces) that give an application functionality on the web. Without question, we used these sections the most. For those of us making the transition to C# at the same time we're getting used to .NET web development, these chapters were a life-saver. They gave all the answers we couldn't find in any C# reference manual tailored specifically for the types of web applications we were creating. Since we adopted .NET a few months ago, for the first time we were able to concetrate on functionality instead of C# as a frustrating language. I'm not sure how VB 6.0 programmers will look at it, but they seem to be getting the better reference books in the marketplace so far, so it was a relief to find every example done in both C# and VB.NET.

While this book would be key for beginning .NET developers ready for more robust applications or intermediate programmers moving from another language, I suspect that advanced programmers will be disappointed. For example, XML and Mobile Devices get chapters, but they don't conatain enough information for real development. You would need to have a much better background in either subject to actually develop. However, if you had that background, these sections wouldn't tell you anything you didn't already know.

The strength of this book is not as a "front-to-back" read, but as the dog-eared, coffee-stained reference that allows an intermediate level programmer to produce web applications that work--and work well. While not an expert, I've used ASP.NET Programmer's Reference to give myself a solid base of knowledge. By the time I master the material, I'll be well-prepared to tackle some of the more obscure .NET namespaces and cutting edge web technologies. ---Reviewed By Jay L.