This book introduces the Visual Basic developer to the world of the Web primarily via the use of WebClasses.

The book provides a concise introduction to WebClasses, IIS, MTS, ASP, ADO, Component-based development, state management, and browser independence. Plenty of relevant coding examples are provided.

The chapter of State Management is probably the best chapter, it discusses the various options available for the very real problems of scalability and maintaining state.

If you're a VB developer that has little knowledge of the web, then this book is a good introduction, it is aimed at the intermediate-level VB developer.

It might be questionable if there a need for a book on WebClasses. WebClasses are, in essence, complied ASP. A very good concept, but if job numbers are a reliable indicator then stick with ASP.

A easy, enjoyable read.

I found the book to be full of real-world, useful examples. I enjoyed the author's writing style. Seemed to be VERY up to date, including work-arounds for several things I noticed in on-line newsgroups just recently. Helped me decide is was feasible to write many of my web-based apps using VB now. Could be a little bigger, but still a great buy. I would also recommend chapters 12-14 in book ISBN 1-861002-22-X - the only other book to cover webclasses well.

An excellent book complete with real world examples and workarounds for some "features" of webclass applications. Great tips and concepts on creating scalable web sites. I'm a consultant and don't have time for beginner books or rehashes of manuals. This book is neither. Well worth the money.

I've been trying to use this book as my primary reference for ASP.NET for a couple of months now, and I'm to the point where I'm going to go out and buy another book.

This book could be dramatically improved if it had been under the kind eye of rigorous editor, one that would have pulled all the spurious soapboxing and helped refocus the book on addressing topics the author is not favorable towards.

A couple of examples:

1) Paragraphs of prose dedicated to a lengthy explanation as to why usernames and passwords are obsolete, bordering on arrogance. Finally, begrudgingly, getting to the meat of what I need to know: how to do authenticated login. I wouldn't mind so much if the author was providing relevant insight into the directions that the industry is taking, but his proposition that smart cards and biometrics will overtake passwords is the same old rhetoric expounded over the last decade... which has not come to pass.

2) An attitude of MS Access = Bad. Yes, SQL is one of the stonger solutions for the back end, and sure, you should use MSDE if you can't do SQL, but I have a client that needs it to be MS Access. To completely short-change Access is to write yourself out of a very real segement of the market.

In essence, I think this book suffers by actively distancing itself from real-world issues. A more pragmatic, non-preaching approach would have been better, one that focussed on what *I* need, not what the author feels compelled to tell me about.

Ignoring the soapboxes, the rest of the book is pretty good. The author obviously knows his ASP.NET. I'll keep this book around as a secondary reference, but I'm out hunting for a new primary reference.

I generally dislike writing reviews like this, but I dropped ... this book (a local Borders) and I would really have liked to have seen a review like this before I made that decision.

I have 3 other Mastering books and they are all great. This one is not in that category. Mastering C#, Mastering VB.NET and Mastering Cool Fusion 5.0 are all very good books. This author seems like a real C#/ASP.NET Guru but has no ability to convey that knowledge in a clear concise way. It seems to me like everything is just dumped on the pages instead of being built up step by step. This book might be good if you are already very good at ASP.NET and want to gleam some more insight into some of the deeper workings of ASP.NET, but definitely NOT as a beginner/intermediate book. I consider ASP.NET Unleashed a masterpiece compared to this book. After chapter 6, I just gave up and am going to purchase another ASP.NET C# book to meet my needs.

This is the best asp.net with c# book for beginner and experienced web developer among the 4 similar books I bought 4 momths ago, this is the only one I read trough and do it from first to last chapter. Thanks, Russell.

I have been an adult computer trainer for six years and was sadly disappointed in this book. I found it to cover too much information incompletely. I found no concrete application or practice exercises. Usually, a book like this would start by presenting the concept, move to simple and conceptual examples to demonstrate the how, and then advance to more complex and practical examples. Some areas of the book never move past the conceptual to the practical so I can't imagine a reader would know how to apply the knowledge. Some areas covered basic examples but didn't go deep enough. The authors need to take a few education classes before writing anything else that is so out there.

This is a great book for both beginners and experienced VB programmers.

I absolutely loathed this book out of all of the books in the series. It spends too much time jumping back and forth between the pioneers and the Native Americans! I did not like the setup at all, to the point where I would rather not buy this book, even if it completes my collection of American Girls Collection books. If you want a book that jumps around too much between two worlds and does not give a good idea of either world, feel free to pick it up. But there are plenty of other books out there on Pioneers and Native Americans, many of which probably make more sense!

Whether you are a fan of the American Girls Collection or not, this book is historically accurate and delightful. The story tracks Kirsten's family's journey from Sweeden to the New World using primary source documents like photographs, newspaper articles, letters, and artifacts. Gathered together like a museum exhibit, the information is layered so that readers of different ages and interest levels can engage in Kirsten's life on the prairie, where she lives in a sod dugout and interacts with the local Native Americans and settlers from all over the world. This is a great book for in the classroom or in the home!

This book is one of many that should only be picked up if you are one heck of a fast reader. It's 403 pages of what you could do with a condom are pretty explicit and go on and on. I only liked the one about sticking one on the door handle to stop thieves. Well, anyway, it doesn't COVER too much besides that.

The guide is worthless, guides do not , will not, work for online games, heck i looked at my friends guide at "online prices of items" that doesnt work, you see, EQ has an economy, Items raise and drop in prices, like for instance the fungul regrowth tunic, used to be 20 k, now 40k as its price raised, finding the right spells is not hard, right click spell and it wsill tell you, its VERY easy to get the hang of the game if you just read the manual. If you need maps look for them online, need quests you can also find them online, this strategy guide all in all is not worth your money

Everquest is so huge and complex that getting started with only the game provided quide is very frustrating. Before I got this book I spent hours buying spells only to find I couldn't use them on my particular character. The book itemizes and describes the spells and who can use them at what level up to level 10. It has maps, character creation guides, handy references for commands and emotes. It helped make the game much more enjoyable.

Why only 3 stars? Despite being 166 pages, it is still very thin on coverage of the game. Fortunately it does provide links to websites that literally have thousands of pages of info. You could simply search the web and get the info contained in this book there, but the book does compile the most critical starter info into a neat organized book.

As far as I can tell there are no other Everquest strategy guides (except the Luclin one) in print.

Worth getting unless you are on a really tight budget and prefer to spend your time hacking away at learning the basics or have the time to research on the web.

This book says it is intended for beginners only, so that's what it is for. It gives you a lot of info, tips, and things you need to know as a new person playing this game without overwhelming you with hundreds and hundreds of pages.

The layout of this book basically covers what you need to know from levels 1 - 10, after that, you will need to get another source of information.

I particularly enjoyed the detailed info on characters, spells, tips, the Jargon Glossary (which is very good so you can understand the many many abbreviations used in the game), commands , emotes, and detailed maps. Well, That means I particularly enjoyed the whole book then.

I recommend this book for someone who wants to learn, but not have a huge 300 - 400 page book to have to sort through. This book about 160 pages, very illustrated, and easy to understand. I am happy i bought it!