Customer Rating:  
Summary: ASP.NET for those who don't want to use Visual Studio
Comment: Bill Hatfield wrote the "Dummies" books on the original versions of ASP so you would think he would be the perfect person to carry over into the ASP.NET books, right? The problem for me with this book (and his previous ASP.NET Dummies book) is that Microsoft has created this marvelous environment called Visual Studio but Bill seems to think I prefer hand coding my pages using Notepad or FrontPage. While he does give a 'nod' to Visual Web Developer Express in one chapter of the book, he pretty much ignores it and Visual Studio throughout the rest of the book and assumes that I like to mix my presentation code with my business logic code. A better buy is 'ASP.NET 3.5 for Dummies' by Ken Cox if you are ready to take the leap.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great first book!
Comment: I just happen to find this book in the library when I was looking for a quick guide/tutorial. I've read 3 books before this and so far this is the book that stands out from the rest. I give Bill 5+ stars for clearly explaining the tech stuff clearly. Nevermind the typos, that's up to the proofreading group. Kudos to this book!
Customer Rating:
Summary: A better title would include the words "visual basic"
Comment: I think Dummies books are hit-or-miss. I always start with them, when embarking on something I am a dummy at. About half the time, they put you off to a good first step. That's not a bad record at all.
I'll always be grateful to the Dummies series, which got me started writing code with the help of Wallace Wang's Visual Basic 6 for Dummies.
This Dummies book is the best one I have read yet. But I like it for reasons that may not serve every customer of the book, so be warned. What makes this book such a gem is the author's ease at conveying the basics (and then some) of the V(isual)B(asic).Net language and framework. His ability to present concepts like objects, classes, functions, sub-routines in a simple manner using simple language is like nothing I have ever read. And I have a TON of reference manuals on my shelf. Truly, I have never REALLY understood what a "class" is, how to think about it in a way that my mind honestly gets around the concept, until reading this book. And I have been a fairly serious amateur programmer now for nearly a decade!
This book is without question a better primer on the Visual Basic language than Bill Sempf's Visual Basic 2005 for Dummies. Crazy, but true.
Still, it should be noted: ASP.NET works with lots of different programming languages. If you are a C# person, this book is probably going to seriously irritate you.
I can't imagine someone who isn't a Visual Basic programmer getting much out of this book. And I can't imagine someone who does use the VB language finding a better start at ASP.NET programming. Or a better start at understanding basic Visual Basic language concepts as well.
Hatfield hasn't written anything since this; I hope he hasn't retired, because I want him to teach me the next thing that I am a Dummy at...
Customer Rating:
Summary: ASP.NET for DUMMIES
Comment: Only having truly scanned through and hit the highlights of this book thus far. I already see many familiar concepts broken down into much simpler terms which allow me to quickly grasp the meat of the ASP language and paired with my new understanding of C# feel as though I will be able to use this book as a reference for a long time to come. The CD examples are also very good for visual and hands on learning.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great for getting oriented to .Net web development
Comment: I am a software developer with 24 years experience, and have been doing .Net Windows Form database programming for the past 5+ years.
As I am new to web development and will soon be working on an ASP.Net 2.0 project, I've been checking out the available books on this topic. I happened to look through this one at Borders, although I normally steer clear of "Dummies" books (guess I must be getting desperate..)
This seems to be one of the best books available for getting a gentle introduction to the subject. The Microsoft Step-by-Step book for ASP.Net 1.1 also seemed fairly decect (although roundly trashed in the Amazon reviews) but it's 2.0 replacement is a bit of a gangly mess unfortunately--they should have stayed with the original format, and possibly author as well.
For a Windows programmer, web development in general sometimes resemble a "Bizarro" world: familiar, but different in initially strange and myserious ways. This book does a really good job of familiarizing you with the terrain, and I would highly recommend it as a first step into the ASP.Net realm.
Of course, everybody's taste in books is different, so check it out first at Borders before ordering..
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