Essential ASP for Web Professionals

Rating:
Summary: Compact and helpful. Only examples but full of hints.
Review: I bought this book because I needed to know what ASP was and what it could do for me. I am pretty good with JavaScript and this book is the only one which combines ASP and JavaScript. All other ASP books only deal with VBScript.

One for the good-old JavaScripters!

I agree it may be only a cut-and -paste thing, but while you cut-and paste you also see how things work. I since have created many compact, stable and useful codes using ideas and excerpts from the examples in this book.

From the simple guest book to shopping cart to database access, all are there for you to dissect and learn. No lengthy discussions on stupid things like the history of the internet, how JavaScript was named after Java, how MS Jscript was a copy of JavaScript ,etc, etc,...Without these useless information, the book is small but full of stuffs! I got the guest book code working on my ASP personal site in one hour!

Very practical, very useful and yet very "light".
I paid for the book and I liked it!
I'll by Lovejoy's next ASP book when it came out...

Kien

Rating:
Summary: Very Pleased With My Purchase : )
Review: I liked this book - not one for absolute beginners to ASP, nor does it claim to be, but for a seasoned developer with a Visual Basic background, I found it very helpful in giving me the 'bunk-up' into understanding ASP without wallowing through 300 pages of explanations of 'if..then...else' and loops. Lots of practical, to the point, ***useful***, real-world (rather than 'Hello World') examples to get you off to a flying start with a new technology. I liked the way the code examples are line-numbered, with an explanation following line-by-line what each part of the code does, so you can easily skip the explanations of the parts you already understand - why don't more authors do this? Also has a very good companion website with all the code from the book (thus keeping the price down as there's no CD to tax...:) ), and the latest errata. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: A really essential ASP reference
Review: The business of building an interesting and profitable web site is more difficult every day, and this text, "Essential ASP For Web Professionals" is a welcome resource for those of us who are busy trying to make it. The range of web experience is always a problem when trying to explain 'how-to's' but Mr. Lovejoy does a very good job of making the tasks of building ASP code clear, starting with confidence building simple projects, and working up to more complex ones. His examples, diagrams, and line-by-line explanations are like a dictionary, making it easy to grasp. With the lines of code numbered for reference, this book can be used as a handy reference long after the initial reading. I particulary like the "How The Script Works" sections after each portion of his examples. Finally, the projects that are included are actually useful, and represent the most common components of every good website. Mr. Lovejoy's new book is certainly essential reading, and an excellent reference text, as well.

Rating:
Summary: Disappointed
Review: They say if you give a man a fish he'll eat for a day. This book let's you eat for a day. If you're just looking to copy and paste without any real understanding of what you're doing, you may get something out of this book. If you want to be able to write ASP on your own, you won't like this book. I would suggest "Sams Teach Yourself Active Server Pages 3.0 in 21 Days", an excellent resource. Also, checkout msdn.microsoft.com.

Rating:
Summary: if you're looking to write in javascript and not vbscript...
Review: this book seems to be written well, but it didn't suit my needs. maybe i didn't look hard enough but this book has examples in javascript, not the typical vbscript for classic asp. although i really have no preferance for either if you're in a team environment and suddenly pages switch languages, that could be a problem to maintain. if you're just wanting to learn classic asp and you want simple, useful examples (like random quotes) then this is a really good book!

Rating:
Summary: Great ASP book for JavaScripters
Review: This was the only book I could find that focused ONLY on ASP written in JavaScript. So I crossed my fingers and hoped it was good. I was not at all disappointed.

***You will not learn JavaScript in this book!***
It is after all an ASP book, not a JS book. If, however, you already know JavaScript (at least the basic concepts), it's great. It gives you just enough information without overexplaining. The examples are nicely laid out and based on REAL WORLD problems (the likes of which I was/am dealing with).

I wouldn't hesitate to recommend this book at all. It can be easily read on the bus to/from work in a not many days (how I did it) and is not at all dry...or too *cute* either.

If you want to make ASP work for you in a variety of circumstances and are already familiar with JavaScript, this is the book for you. Best for ASP newbies who want a quick start.