ISBN0-7645-8850-8

This is only a tutorial book. If you are looking for something that you can use as reference look elsewhere. The projects are somewhat disorganized and it leaves you jumping back and forth. If you are a true beginner this will bring you up to speed with the ASP.NET architecture but that's it. It seems like they wasted at least 150 pages on simple controls that could have been covered in less than 1/2. I was able to go through half of the book in 4 days and quickly decided a more in depth book was needed. I am now looking into the Murach's versions. They are more reference based and have a lot more information for an extra $5.

As a an ASP developer and an IT Professional, I wanted to get up to speed on ASP .NET 2.0, so I picked up a copy of this book.

I would not recommend it to others, as it is not very well written.
Also, the examples are very GUI-oriented without deviating too much from Wizards and such. If you're more interested in being able to write ASP .NET 2.0 code by hand, and fully understanding how it all works this book is not very helpful.

I also picked up a copy of Professional Asp.Net 2.0 (also from WROX) which, although more advanced, is easier to read and understand.

This book (beginning ASP .NET) is only useful if you want a quick tour of what ASP .NET 2.0 Can do, and not even a full tour at that.

I bought this book because it had the word "Beginning" in the title, but I'm having trouble getting past Chapter 2 because the book is so confusing. The authors need to do a better job clarifying how they set up the sample sites. For example, instructions are left out explaining that you have to unzip and copy chapter 2 to the folder that contains your web site, then open Chapter 2 as a separate web site from Chapter 1. You have to figure it for yourself. I was stuck thinking I was suppose to add a new item called Chapter 2, like I did in the first chapter. The book also has you looking for property items that don't exist. I couldn't add a CSS to the site.master because the property doesn't exist. If the property does exist, I don't know where it is since the Properties picture in the book doesn't match with WVD Express 2005 Properties features for a site.master page. And, when I try using the web site admin tool as instructed in Chapter 2, I get error messages.

The lack of clarity in the instructions and the bugs makes this a very difficult book to learn from for the beginning student. I am very frustrated with this book and I'm only on Chapter 2. I will continue to stumble through the book, but ignore all error messages and parts that don't make sense. Hopefully, I'll pick up some useful information that I can transfer once I find a better book.

If you enjoy spending ages correlating a colossal errata with its respective book, then this book is for you.

If you enjoy following instruction to the letter to find the project crash, then this book is for you.

If you enjoy code-generating wizards as distinct from writing code, then this book is for you.

It was not for me.

I cant believe this book ever made it to the presses. This book is so disorganized and chaotic. The exercises and examples are very difficult to understand and comprehend what the authors are trying to get us to achieve. Some examples that should have been written in VB were written in Javascript. I do not recommend this book to anyone unless you need to prop up the leg of your coffee table or a booster for your young child. I am very disappointed and frustrated. I hope the other Wrox titles out there are not as bad as this one.