Most Strategic ASP.NET Book Going!

Given some initial hurdles, I fervently believe that Alex Homer's (plus 5 other authors) "Professional ASP.NET 1.1" is the most strategic book going, to really learn to program in ASP.NET. Or, from my life, it was the best thing I found after 3 years and more than $1000 worth of .NET-programming books.

In true fairness, I believe the up-front hurdles are NOT the authors' fault. Rather, they come from the massiveness, and the version-one nature, of .NET. Among my .NET-student peers, I have heard a strong consensus that NO .NET training class (one example, even from a world-class university), or book prepares you to "really program". So, before attacking Alex's book, you must "make your peace" that some work is required. For example, I recommend that you struggle to pass 70-315 certification. After 2-3 tries, or so, I think you'll start to see the "worth" of Alex's book; far better than many alleged test-prep books.

Finally, I recommend that you also develop the skills to convert Alex's examples to Visual Studio. While the "worth" is already there in the text-only aspx-page examples, I found the graphical nature of the Studio to be delightfully soothing to my "student" mind. For hours at a time, despite my habitual irritation with IDE marketing, even I was impressed with my own programming "power".

Other Reviews

• A good book to waste your time and energy.
• Most Strategic ASP.NET Book Going!
• Book if you are serious about getting ASP .NET knowledge
• Not a book for those who want to learn ASP.net
• Thorough, good examples, screenshot heavy