Professional Active Server Pages 3.0 (Programmer to ... (ISBN 1861002610)

Amazon.com Review:
The team behind Professional Active Server Pages 2.0 has written a definitive guide for the latest version of ASP included with Windows 2000. This lengthy text offers a comprehensive look at the technology and is geared toward seasoned professionals looking to truly master this important development platform. The team of authors touch on almost every topic a working ASP coder might be interested in, including what to do when "it all goes wrong." This title is divided into six sections that focus on key aspects of ASP: the basics, ActiveX Data Objects (ADO), building components for ASP, integration with BackOffice, security/performance/scalability, and reference material. This organization makes the book useful for both lengthy reads and quick daily reference. The index and set of appendices are also quite comprehensive. Code snippets of judicious size and summary boxes with key information such as errors and function calls make the reading productive without being distracting. Most of the material is presented in a structured topical tutorial; however, an excellent XML newspaper case study provides a real-world perspective on XML and ASP. While a number of working programmers authored this guide, the group's expertise has been well-integrated to read consistently. The team provides some error-preventing programming procedures such as formatting and indenting code, being "Explicit" about declarations, converting variables to the appropriate data types, using good variable naming conventions, encapsulating script, and more. Whether you're looking for information on utilizing components, implementing certificates, or working with Active Directory, you'll find answers in this fine work. --Stephen W. Plain Topics covered: ASP basics and versions, Active Server Components, ADO, XML data, components, COM/COM+, ASP Script Components, C++ component issues, ADSI and Active Directory, Message Queue Server, Collaboration Data Objects, Exchange Server integration, certificates, performance optimization, site load balancing, and ASP Object Model.

The BEST book for classical ASP:
Obsolete??? Hardly. As I write this review, new Web page technologies are being matured: jsp, php, chm (yech). New models are being matured: Servlets, STRUTS, .NET. Classical ASP 3.0 is still quick, fast and necessary for small to medium businesses, even enterprise-level webpages. There's no better book to learn all the standards, applications, basics, and advanced capabilities of ASP than THIS book. I love Wrox. I started with their Beginning ASP 2.0 book (how I learned). This book, a bit more advanced but in the beginning level, is still all you need to get things going from single tiered applications to multi-tiered, database driven apps. It goes into COM objects and other MS Services like Index. Really a one-stop book. With this book and Google you have all the reference you need. Note: ASP 3.0 is in no way, shape, or form similar to ASP.net. A small, tiny complaint about this book is that it can be a bit wordy...just a tad. And the index in the back could use a bit more improvement. The info's still in there.

Excellent, A True God Send:
If this book had nothing more than the asptable component in chapter 16, it would still be worth the extremely high price of all wrox press books. But the book has so many useful examples that you can build on. My only experience has been a few intranets. And I always had bought the beginners series books because I didn't feel I was at the professional level. Well, this book showed me the reason I felt that way was because I didn't know the power of ASP. If you have been playing around with ASP and really want to move forward, stop playing with the beginners and harness the power of ASP.

Need to know ASP? Get this book.:
A bit outdated now with .Net, but I still get this ol' book out once in a while.

Good for reference, not for studying.:
This book covers most of topic you may need. So, you can use it as a reference on ASP3. But it is not for beginner or for studying from a ground. It is quite hard-to-read, not explained in-depth, and it made me quite ???.

good reference book:
As you I go along developing my web app, this book answers most of my questions, fexample, how to unload/load your application when you want to unload your dll from the application and vice versa. Before finding the answer in this book, I just rebooted the server. Along the way, it always answers my question to perplexing problems that I stumble upon, i.e why isn't my web app preserved the session id. I have to admit that this is not a book that I would read on spare time. I don't know whether it's the flow of the structure or what. But I always get lost in the "too much" information supplied. Hence I cannot give it 5 stars. For reference, this is a book to keep if you're developing ASP for one reason; as you become more comfortable with ASP, this book provides answers to your "no-more" beginner questions.