Amazon.co.uk Review
Although half as long as other titles on the subject,
Essential ASP for Web Professionals is probably just as valuable for getting started with ASP. Aimed at the beginning or intermediate Web developer, this is an extremely useful cookbook-style tutorial with examples that will help readers of all levels use ASP (and JavaScript) to create Web pages dynamically by concisely offering a series of simple, effective ASP examples. The full source code is included, along with extensive annotations and suggestions for extending the code in custom projects. This approach is ideal for anyone who appreciates a hands-on approach to learning.
The examples themselves are immediately practical. First off, a date-time script--and an example--gives out a random "tip of the day" read from a text file on the server. Then it's on to basic database programming with ADO and ASP. After a quick tour of database basics, readers learn some expert techniques for generating forms based on any database table without changing ASP code. (Not only will you be able to easily generate HTML forms on the fly, you'll also find out how to update databases from forms automatically, again without changing ASP code.) This flexible, "soft" approach to working with databases will help you write ASP code that's a lot easier to maintain.
The book culminates in a full-featured shopping-cart example for an e-commerce site. Techniques demonstrated include maintaining state with cookies. Throughout, the book does a fine job of showing how ASPs often work together to get the job done, instead of creating monolithic (and unmaintainable) scripts. For instance, the shopping-cart example uses no less than 11 ASP files. (A quick "site map" diagram shows the organisation.) Besides the basics, Essential ASP also offers a guide to some best practices, ensuring you'll learn the right way to do things as well as pick up the basics quickly.
Efficiently packaged, yet filled with some very useful code, this is a truly worthwhile tutorial for ASP development that's exactly what the busy Web professional needs to get started with this powerful standard. --Richard Dragan
Product Description
This concise, practical, example-rich guide teaches Web developers exactly what they need to know to achieve high-quality results with Microsoft's Active Server Pages and JavaScript -- immediately. Endorsed by the World Organization of Webmasters, Essential ASP for Web Professionals offers no-nonsense, practical coverage designed around real-world examples you can see working on a live sample site. Leading Web developer Elijah Lovejoy teaches Web developers exactly what they need to get up-and-running fast -- from the basics of embedding ASP code in HTML pages to full-blown application development. Essential ASP for Web Professionals walks you through these and other real-world examples: shopping carts, database applications, sending email from Web pages, creating guest books, and embedding variable information such as dates in Web pages. Every chapter includes practical overviews of relevant ASP and JavaScript features, reinforcing all that's been learned. Essential ASP for Web Professionals comes with a free web site that includes additional projects and solutions, downloadable code, images, additional in-depth explanations, and other valuable resources.
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