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ASP.NET 2.0 Unleashed Review by Robert W. Holmes
An Excellent, Broadly Based, Reference for ASP.NET
Stephen Walther's book on ASP.NET 2.0 is an excellent introduction to, and reference for, the technology. Walther starts out with a good overview of the product providing the reader with a good conceptual framework with which to make the best of the environment. From there he covers all the bases in moderate detail, such as the basics of creating useful web sites, data access, the use of the out of the box controls and security. In addition to the basics the author delves into some advanced topics such as composite and custom controls and web parts.
Overall it is a great reference to always keep within reach for all but the most advanced and experienced developers. For each topic the book provides at the minimum the fundamentals to get started and be able to make sense of the more in-depth information one will find on the web. Naturally the treatment of any of the topics covered is not very deep. While the basics are covered, the details are left to the reader's own resources. Another criticism is that the book is way bigger than it needs to be. When displaying the examples the author shows the entire markup involved, rather than showing the initial markup, then showing the additional markup required to implement each additional step in fleshing out the illustration. The book could easily be 20%-30% less dense with no loss of content. Also all examples are done using markup, rather than code. This is a big gap in the material, so it is not for those that favor code, for example to access data via ADO.NET, rather than DataSource controls. Still it makes an excellent reference and any fairly sophisticated and experienced developer can expand on their own.