Microsoft Silverlight Books

Good starting point

As the title states, this is directed towards someone beginning their foray into .net and web programming. It focuses on VB providing a good foundation to research and explore more advanced topics and projects.

P. Lawry
27 October, 2010

Missing a few things

While I agree with many of the positive things said about this book, it is missing a few things. First it completely leaves out the fact that there is a whole other programming language available for use with ASP.Net 3.5 and Visual Studio. C Sharp or C#. This, unfortunately for me, is what I needed it for. Second, you can download the code used throughout the modules in the chapters from the [...] website. That is mildly helpful. Most of it is already written out in the book. What it leaves out is example code for the exercises at the end of each chapter. That would have been extremely helpful. Instead the exercises were rendered mostly useless since there is no resource to go to if/when you get stuck.

Steven J. Kramer
29 April, 2010

ASP.NET 3.5

The book is truly for beginners. It steps through web development in the .NET one step at a time. Some sections are too remedial, but they are sectioned in chapters such that it is easy to skip chapters of topics that you already understand.

M. Souza
15 March, 2010

Scott Mitchell's ASP.NET 3.5 Book is on Point

I started programming MS Access, VB, and SQL Server since 1996. I went to technical college in 2005 to upgrade my skills to Internet and Web Design. I was taught Open Source software, since the public college could not keep up with paid software. As a result, I was at a disdavanage in getting a job, because most companies wanted people with ASP.NET skills. I have been out of work for about one year, so I decided to try my hands at ASP.NET 3.5.

I was hesitant at picking up a SAMS book, because I had found that they were poorly written in the past, and that they were filled with errors. I gambled on picking up this book by Mr. Scott Mitchell, and I must say that is one of the best investment that I have ever made. I get up every morning @ 3 AM, and I worked on a chapter from then until about 7 AM.

As a result, I have built a data driven Website, which I am using as an online portfolio. This book has pointed out additional resources to use, and it tells you where to find them. I was able to build Master Templates, Master skins, implement SQL Server data base driven security. Additionally, I have implemented my very first multi-tier architecture using Web pages, Business Logic Layer (BLL), Data Access Layer (DAL), and SQL Server 2005 database.

This book is not a magician, but it teaches you how to work smart. Mr. Mitchell focused on maybe two controls per chapter, which is awesome. The book is concise and is on point.

Wade Anthony
16 February, 2010

Good step by step approach, might have started with Master pages though.

This is my 2nd Sams Teach Yourself book and I like it. It takes you through VB and basic programming for about 7 chapters and you might skim through and still pick up some ideas... then you're into the meat.

The various topics do take you through a progression that goes from easiest to hardest but because it does it skips (until later) the key organizer - Master pages. If you learn some things doing the mortgage calculator you have a page you might use on your site. Getting it into your Master page later is more difficult.

Another thing about variables... VB allows you to use whatever variable name you like, this is gone through in depth... then immediately not used. Some conventions I have learned elsewhere I applied (like sName for a string and lName for a long), so during the mortgage calculator I used my own variable names. The original mathematical formula uses single letter variables but we don't have to.

I think you will learn a lot using this book to teach yourself and I recommend it. The reason for the 4 rating is the wish that at the end I could use what I built rather than have just learned ASP.Net 3.5.

Also, if you're getting this for the programs that are included in the CD, they're all available for free from Microsoft for download and you get the latest versions. It's pretty cool that MS makes such a great tool as Visual Web Designer available for free. Kudos to them... I own Expression Web 3 and I use this free one for ASP.Net apps. EW3 is better at the CSS stuff so I can still use it for that.

Good luck with your website.
Ed

[...] (not an ASP.Net site yet.)


TruthPortal
15 February, 2010

Excellent book!

I'm only about 80 pages in, but finally I found a book where the screen shots actually look like what I'm seeing on my screen, and where the code samples actually work. The author slowly steps you through the development of a web site, but tells you that if you already know html for example where to skip to in the book. I'm a vb 6 programmer transitioning into .net and this is going to make the ride a lot smoother. And it includes free web developer in case you don't have VS 2008.

Ok, I'm 485 pages in now out of 600, and I still love it. Only found one typo so far. Great book!

bds
09 December, 2009

Excellent book!

I'm only about 80 pages in, but finally I found a book where the screen shots actually look like what I'm seeing on my screen, and where the code samples actually work. The author slowly steps you through the development of a web site, but tells you that if you already know html for example where to skip to in the book. I'm a vb 6 programmer transitioning into .net and this is going to make the ride a lot smoother. And it includes free web developer in case you don't have VS 2008.

bds
09 December, 2009

Decent book for beginners

I've only read about half the book but so far, it is well written and definitely geared toward beginners.

J. Storms
14 September, 2009

Ideal for quickly getting up to speed on ASP.Net 3.5

The Sams 'Teach Yourself' range of books are an excellent way to learn new technologies quickly. Whilst they don't give you an in depth understanding of the technologies, they do provide plenty of examples and exercises to help you learn the essentials of a particular IT subject.

In this book, the subject is Microsoft's ASP.Net 3.5. I chose this particular book as I was involved in some web application projects built on ASP.Net and needed a way to quickly get up to speed on ASP.Net. This book is structured in such a way that you are thrown straight into writing code and getting real results on screen. Scott Mitchell is a master at this and has written several other books on the subject, as well as his own blogs. The effect is to immediately capture your interest so that you are keen to press on and complete the full 24 hours, rather than being bogged down reading pages of theory.

The only criticism I have of the book is that it perhaps assumes too much knowledge. The User Level is stated as 'Beginning-Intermediate', which is fairly accurate. However, to fully exploit the power of ASP.Net it is necessary to have a working knowledge of one of the application programming languages like Visual Basic or C#. This is not apparent when starting the exercises, but is quickly realised when dealing with topics on database access and creating classes. Having said that, the book does provide enough knowledge to build a fairly basic ASP.Net web site, and I would recommend it to anyone who needs a cursory understanding of the topic.

Paul Esler
07 July, 2009

Great introductory book to ASP.NET

Great introductory book to ASP.NET for absolute beginner or someone with technical experience that wants to skim across the top and learn quickly.

Matt Duguid
01 July, 2009

All-In-One Microsoft Web-Development Basics, Nicely Done Again

ASP.NET is the heart of Microsoft's web-development platform. ASP.NET includes a large set of web-page controls and database access controls that are executed by a server-side engine. Just drag and drop these controls on a web form from the Visual Studio IDE (or in this case its free, stripped-down but still quite capable version, Visual Web Developer), add some code (VB, C#, or other) to handle events, and you have a web application that handles almost any task, including heavy duty database access. Publish the ASP.Net pages using Microsoft's IIS (Internet Information Services) or other web server with .Net support. When a user with any browser requests or enters data on an ASP.NET page, the web server passes the request to the ASP.NET engine, which processes the web controls on the page, fills data requests, and then returns information to the user via the web server as standard HTML. ASP.NET is one of the top technologies used for major web sites. Any site showing pages with a ".aspx" extension is an ASP.NET site.

As you do the tutorials, you will use a complete suite of Microsoft web development tools except for IIS. Instead of IIS, the tutorials simplify matters by directing the use of the web server built into Visual Web Developer.

The included CD has it all - (1) Visual Web Developer 2008 Express, an integrated development environment for site design, page design, code editing, testing, and project administration with most the of the important features of the professional Visual Studio environment, (2) an integrated web server that mimics Microsoft's IIS (a production-grade server) and will run even on XP Home Edition while IIS will not, (3) Visual Basic 2008 Express, which is today the most common language for writing Microsoft code, (4) SQL Server 2005 Express Version, a starter version containing the basic functionality of the full SQL Sever 2005, which is one of the three most popular relational databases used for major websites.

Visual C++ 2008 and Visual C# Express Editions are also on the CD for those who do not want to use VB; but the tutorial text uses VB only.

So to this book just add a computer with any version of XP, Vista, or Windows 2000-2008. You will not need another reference to learn the basics of ASP.NET, VB, or SQL Server since this book is written for those with no prior experience with these Microsoft products. You can move right into a production environment, since for many companies the Express Edition tools are all that will be needed to do all but the most sophisticated applications - just add IIS. The Express Edition tools are also free downloads from Microsoft.

Author Scott Mitchell is a noted authority on ASP. I used and enjoyed his earlier Teach Yourself ASP.NET 2.0. I am now using his latest book as a refresher after being away from development for the last two years.


David Gurgel
18 June, 2009

The best SAMS 24 hour book by far.

Normally, I find SAMS Teach Yourself Something in 24 Hours slightly frothy--long on white space and illustrations, short on detail. Scott Mitchell excels at balancing the requirements of a complete newbie and those of an intermediate programmer who wants to learn a new skill. If you can't find what you want in the text itself, you can look up the numerous references, including his further 75+ tutorials, which are all available on the web. The Visual Basic programming examples are clearly explained, with sufficient background to avoid the need for a separate VB primer. A great job!

R. Parker
17 May, 2009

Laymen - Enjoy!

I am a laymen developer just scratching to get my own website up to snuff with Asp.net and deliver a more dynamic product. Computer programming is decidedly NOT my field and that's precisely why I enjoyed Scott's book. I have feeling it's geared just for people like me; it's clearly written and nicely organized, has plenty of information and it takes things at a good steady pace.

There are several good books on asp.net - Imar Spaanjaars book is excellent and I gave it five stars - but Imar throws alot at you. Scott works you through the material more slowly and I really need that at times. Basically I'm using both books - Imar for some more advanced material (nothing in Scott's book on Linq) - and Scott's to really ground myself in the material. I think they're an excellent combo.

Cort Johnson
30 April, 2009

You'll learn ASP.Net

As an experienced VB.net programmer I hadn't written anything in ASP.Net. I found this book to be as good taking a class on the subject. The book contains everything one needs to complete the lessons. It includes a DVD with all the software you'll need to do the practice programs and exercises. The book is broken down into 24 chapters, the author calls hours. Accomplishing everything in a chapter in one hour is a little optimistic. If you do all the tutorials and exercises, you'll spend more than an hour per chapter. If you new to programming, I suggest you spend some time learning VB.net first, then move to this book. The book is great if you have had some programming experience. Just follow the examples, do the exercises and by the end of the book you'll be able to create web pages using ASP.net. I like these kinds of books that take you by the hand and teach with examples and explanations.

Mr. Ralph Brescia
15 April, 2009

An excellent resource for those new to ASP.net and Visual Web Developer 2008

I have probably bought 30-40 computer books over the last 10 years. I always find myself starting out with good intentions, but slowing very quickly to where I do not think I have ever actually finished one of the books. That actually changed with Scott's book. My work required me to get up to speed on ASP.net and VWD 2008. I found this book to move at a nice pace and never to slow or bogged down to where I was nodding off. The presentation with screen shots was always dead on, and the explanations were easy to follow. I would recommend this to anyone wanting to get the basics and overall functionality of ASP.Net and Visual Web Developer 2008 Express.

W. Flanagan
05 March, 2009

AJAX

Overview: The coverage of asp.net was good. I learned most of asp.net by searching out questions on google and then trying the solutions. VS 2005 standard and tool is excellent. I've record most of the samples on my site. A very important topic covered in the book was Templates. Templates, event handling, and reusable code are the keys core values of asp.net. In 3.5, the dropdownlist template has a selectedvalue attribute, priceless. In 2.0, you have to access the databound event, get the editindex row, find the control, and then set the selected value by accessing the findbyvalue method. The author covers a wide range of controls, techniques, and ideas. However, he missed passing parameters between pages, communicating from the Child page to the master page, ODBCconnection communication and data explorer, How to setup ASP.NET; gridview (rowupdating, rowdeleting, rowediting, findcontrol, templatefield); calendar control; databinding to the listbox, datatable - datarow - dataset; oledb; treeview; overriding datasource selectparameters, updateparameters, insertparameters, addwithvalue ; replaces for redim preserve using arraylists; performance improvements by using stringbuilder; system.threading.threadpool, sleep, and queueUserWorkItem; critical issue of SQL parameterizing order; building menus. Visit my site for information on these issues.

AJAX

1. AJAX is a set of interrelated technologies that improves data exchange by transmitting only the necessary element names and values and returning only the HTML portions of the page that need updated.
2. An AJAX enabled postback is referred to as a partial page postback.
3. User display is update more quickly because less data is between passed between the server and the browser.
4. AJAX enabled web page requires added functionality to both the web browser and the web server. The web browser must know how to make a partial postback, the web server must know how to partially render the page and return only the necessary HTML back to the browser.
5. The browser work through the use of client-side Javascript. Javascript includes functions for sending information to a web server to be used to initiate the partial page postback.
6. If you building a website using master pages where the majority of the pages are AJAX enabled it makes sense to place the scriptmanager in the master page.
7. The Updatepanel control defines a region on the page that can participate in a partial postback. Additional controls may be added within an updatepanel.
8. The Updateprogress control is useful for informing the user that a partial page postback is in progress.


Golden Lion
04 December, 2008

Sams Teach Yourself ASP.NET 3.5 in 24 Hours

Be carefull when you buy this book. You do not learn that the source code used in this book is only Visual Basic. No Visual C# is provided. You find this out after you purchase the book.

John K
21 October, 2008

Solid Intro to asp.net 3.5

If you're looking for a book that will give you a solid foundation to asp.net 3.5 through Visual Web Developer, this is it. Many books throw advanced material at the reader in the beginning chapters to show what the software can do, thereby confusing the novice. This book proceeds logically.

Also, hats off to author Scott Mitchell! I emailed him because there was a glitch on the Sams website & the sample exercises were not available. He emailed me a link within a few hours enabling me to download the info.

L. Brenan
16 September, 2008

book review from AskBargains.com

very nice book, easy to follow. include most basic concept of the ASP.NET 3.5

uwspstar
12 August, 2008

SAMS Teach Yourself ASP.NET 3.5 24 Hours

This book is very good for those who are starting .NET from the begining. It has very good flow of topics an very easy going pattern. Covers almost all basic point those are required for starting. It has some grammatical mistakes but it happens in first edition. I hope publisher/Writer will be working on that.

I'll recommend this book to purchase.



Bhoopendra Singh
28 July, 2008