Product Description

ASP by Example assumes a basic knowledge of VBScript and teaches you how to create dynamic web sites quickly and easily. Using real-world examples, ASP 3 by Example teaches proper, accepted coding techniques that will cause fewer problems and allow you to apply your knowledge to more than simply the task at hand. Topics include: ASP, objects, cookies, applications, and database access.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1392427 in Books
• Published on: 2000-06-11
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 592 pages

From the Back Cover
ASP by Example assumes a basic knowledge of VBScript and teaches you how to create dynamic web sites quickly and easily. Using real-world examples, ASP 3 by Example teaches proper, accepted coding techniques that will cause fewer problems and allow you to apply your knowledge to more than simply the task at hand. Topics include: ASP, objects, cookies, applications, and database access.

About the Author
Bob Reselman is a nationally known software developer, writer, and teacher. He is a founding principal of Cognitive Arts and Technologies, a group dedicated to integration of creative, artistic endeavors with the practice of software development. In addition, Bob is a member of the faculty of Simpson College. In the past, he has held positions as a Principal Consultant for the international consulting firm, Cap Gemini, and as Platform Architect for Desktop Systems for Gateway. Bob is a co-author of “Practical Visual Basic 6.”

Customer Reviews

A good way to learn a critical technology
Although HTML is the language of the world wide web, the real action is carried out by code that resides on the server. The life and death operations of a business to business (B2B) or business to consumer (B2C) e-business are the web pages created on the server by programs that accept data from the client and interact with server-side databases. One of the most widely used technologies is the Active Server Pages (ASP) technology created by Microsoft. Naturally, given its paternal origins, the scripting language used throughout is VBScript, the pared down version of Visual Basic.
This is one of those books where the promises made by the title are kept. The topics are all presented by examples of working code, which in most cases is understandable and effectively carries out the operations to be demonstrated. The initial two chapters are introductions to the ASP model and the VBScript programming language. By necessity brief and somewhat incomplete, the treatment of the ASP model is adequate although the reader with no experience in VBScript will probably have to consult other resources.
The middle chapters are used to present the basics of how ASP files run on the server and how communication with the client pages is accomplished. This is as good an introduction of this critical matter as I have seen. Topics covered include the global.asa file, the ActiveX Data Object (ADO), cookies, SQL connection and recordset objects; ad rotators and counters; and how to use installable components.
The later chapters are devoted to the creation of a more elaborate site designed to implement an online educational institution. This involves the creation and updating of address books, a login page with security that prevents unauthorized access and sending e-mail messages among other things. Interacting with databases using SQL commands forms an integral part of the site. While not a complete model for all things one could or would do on an e-commerce site, it is complete enough so that you can learn what is necessary to understand the structure of such sites.
ASP is not the only technology used to dynamically create web pages, the effectiveness of which makes or breaks any e-business site. However, it is currently the most popular and should be learned by anyone with a serious interest in commerce on the web. This book is a valuable and effective tool in learning those critical lessons.

Not a good book for Beginers
Being a beginner with ASP I bought this book as a tutorial to learn ASP. I have access to ASP professional Developers so I was able to ask a lot of questions in learning ASP. The code and explainations that are in the book are not clear and are hard to understand. I had to ask many questions. The code seemed to be hard to follow. The Developers that I have access to felt that the Author used too many 'functions' when they were not needed (this made the code hard to follow.) I am going to have to buy another book to learn from. This book may be good for refrence, but not learning from.

It's just inconceivable...
Regardless of how good the text in any programming book is, the book is pretty much useless if there is not adequate support for the code - particularly in a "By Example" book - which this book purports to be. The book contains no CD to test your code against the authors. Well, that would be OK if there were the support files online - like Wrox has; but NO. No supporting code anywhere. And don't be fooled by the "Where to find the Code" heading in the Introduction - it just points you to sample code for a single chapter. I encountered "internal server error HTTP: 500" in one of the exercises, and wanted to test my code to what the author had written. No such luck. Was it me? Maybe. Was it the code in the book? I'll never know... Buy "Beginning Active Server Pages 3.0" published by Wrox. They know how to support their products. As for this publisher, they don't have a QUE.