
Reserve it at BN.com & pick it up in 60 minutes at your local store.
Enter a zip code
(Hardcover)
ASP.NET 3.5 Unleashed is the most comprehensive book available on the Microsoft ASP.NET 3.5 Framework, covering all aspects of the ASP.NET 3.5 Framework--no matter how advanced.
This edition covers all the new features of ASP.NET 3.5. It explains Microsoft LINQ to SQL in detail. It includes a chapter on the two new data access controls introduced with the ASP.NET 3.5 Framework: ListView and DataPager. With its coverage of ASP.NET AJAX, this book shows you how to take advantage of Microsoft’s server-side AJAX framework to retrofit existing ASP.NET applications with AJAX functionality. It also demonstrates how to use Microsoft’s client-side AJAX framework to build the web applications of the future: pure client-side AJAX applications. All code samples are written in the C# programming language. (Visual Basic versions of all code samples are included on the CD-ROM that accompanies this book.)
CD-ROM includes all examples and source code presented in this book in both C# and Visual Basic.
More Reviews and RecommendationsStephen Walther is a Microsoft Software Legend, a Microsoft ASP.NET MVP, and a member of the INETA Speaker's Bureau. He has spoken at a number of major conferences, including Microsoft TechEd, Microsoft DevDays, and ASP.NET Connections.
Stephen wrote several ASP.NET best-practice applications for Microsoft. He was the lead developer of the ASP.NET Community Starter Kit and the Issue Tracker Starter Kit.
His company, Superexpert ASP.NET Training (SuperexpertTraining.com), has provided ASP.NET training to companies and organizations across the United States, including NASA, the National Science Foundation, the U.S. House of Representatives, Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Verizon, and Microsoft.
Reader Rating:
See Detailed Ratings
March 03, 2009: I never by Sams books because of the overall poor quality. This book was required for an ASP.NET class. Having worked with ASP.NET and C# previously, I considered myself at an intermediate level before reading this book.
In the beginning of the book, the other regularly refers to how things were done in classic ASP. This would be alright if he presented the material as a comparison, but he does it more as a side note. It seems so out of place. Also, the book is nearly 200 pages long, because almost all of the code is printed in the book. This seems counter-productive, considering development is better learned through practice, so wouldn't it make sense to only refer to a filename on the enclosed CD? What really gets me is that the code is supposed to be in C#, but a few of the examples are still in VB in the book! This forces me to question the capability, organization, and overall quality of both the author and the editor.Another thing that I don't like, but others may, is the extensive use of Data Sources. In every example, he uses SqlDataSource, or ObjectDataSource. It would be more conducive to learning the real-world application of data binding if the book would go more in-depth into handling data in the methods of the controls.As far as overall innovation, this book doesn't come close to expressing anything new. It should have been called "A Verbose Introduction to ASP.NET", because that's all it really is. When the author posts the same 3 pages of code, only to change 1 or 2 lines, you easily reduce a 30 page chapter to about 12 or 15 pages.I would not recommend this book to anyone who has previously used ASP.NET. I would recommend this book only for people who have an understand of programming, but haven't used ASP.NET or C#.If you really want quality instruction on ASP.NET (C# or VB), you should check out http://www.asp.net/learn . This site has video instruction, downloadable code, and articles on almost everything you will need.I Also Recommend: Beginning ASP.NET E-Commerce in C#, Pro ASP.NET 3.5 in C# 2008, Ajax Patterns and Best Practices.