Rating:  - Good book for beginners and intermediate .NET developers
If you are looking at learning ASP.NET by hard coding then use this book. If you are looking at developing ASP.NET applications by using all the functionalities of VS.NET then go for ASP.NET KickStart by Stephen Walther.
For beginners I would suggest going for this book since it lets you get into the code which is very essential in understanding how things work in the .NET framework in general and ASP.NET programming in particular.
For intermediate developers (from other fields like Java, Classic ASP etc.) who already know the basics of Web programming and would like to know VS.NET in detail should go for Stephen Walther's book.
This book scores a point more in my opinion since it walks you through building an Intranet application while teaching you to program in ASP.NET.
Rating: - Great for what it is
This is a well written beginners book that gives simple and complete beginner's code.
Rating: - Excellent ASP.NET Development Book
This is the first Sitepoint book I have read and the second on ASP.NET.
The book requires that you have either Windows 2000, XP or 2003 installed and requires .NET Framework Redistributable (1.1 is the version the book is written for but most examples should work in v1.0), .NET Framework SDK, IIS (Or Cassini) Web Server, a modern web browser (e.g. IE v5.5+) and an editor. (Anything from notepad to Visual Studio will be sufficient). Access (JET), MSDE and SQL Server are the databases used in the examples. Instructions are included in the book on how to install and configure IIS and how to install MSDE and Access and how to attach the example database.
No previous knowledge of ASP.NET, C#, VB.NET, IIS nor databases is required. However you will need to be familiar with HTML before reading the book.
The format of each chapter is a brief, single paragraph introduction, then straight into the subject matter with a brief summary at the end. Throughout the chapters there is a liberal sprinkling of figures and tables and extensive code examples, nearly all of which are in both C# and VB.NET. During the course of the book a complete intranet application is developed which includes a helpdesk, employee store, newsletter archive, employee directory, address book and admin tools.
Pros
Extensive code samples
A complete intranet application is developed within the book.
Superb range of subject matter.
Liberal use of figures and tables.
Excellent layout.
A good tool for learning both C# & VB.NET.
Cons
Topics covered in each chapter are not listed at the beginning of each chapter.
If you are just a VB.NET or C# programmer the duplication of code examples in both VB.NET & C# may prove to be annoying and a waste of space.
Conclusion
My own opinion is that this is not the book for a casual hobbyist but aimed more towards at least a semi-professional developer. You will get more than a basic grounding in ASP.NET but will have to put in a fair bit of effort to extract everything the book has to offer. But what a lot it has to offer. The range of material covered is excellent. Of the many highlights the chapters on Datagrids & DataLists and Datasets were particularly impressive. The author's enthusiasm for ASP.NET shines throughout the book and his narrative style kept many of the duller topics interesting. The pace of the book is never pedestrian and sometimes quite frantic but always leaving you wanting even more.
At the end of the book you should feel confident to develop your own ASP.NET web sites in either C# or VB.NET. This book is another welcome addition to my bookshelf.
Rating: - A Common Sense Approach to ASP.NET
Learning ASP.NET has not been easy for me mainly because all of the books I bought never seemed to get to the step by step process of real-life web app programming. I don't want to read about stuff I'll never use. I need to get stuff done now! I'm only about 2/3 through this book but it already has given me insights into some of the details never mentioned in all the other books on my shelves. Brief but concise explanations of IIS and SQL Server Desktop Engine installation and configuration were very much appreciated. The chapter on database design is excellent. Finally a book that doesn't assume I'm already a relational database expert! I feel like I'm starting to get a much better understanding of OOP as well. I've skimmed through the shopping cart section and so far it seems pretty logical and straightforward. Another big plus - this book is pretty lighthearted and funny. I highly recommend!
Rating: - A great reading
Written by a web expert, it shows readers how to create the basic, dynamic, and advanced ASP.NET pages in Microsoft's .Netprogramming languages, and explains how to interact with the database using ADO.NET.
The author reviews the fundamentals on Object Oriented Programming with clever and easy to use examples. He also explains how to create web forms and web controls.
The author covers every aspect of developing a Web application including building an e-commerce site or reinforcing the security.
One thing I particularly like in this book is the code published in the two main .Net languages, C# and VB.NET.
Thumb up !
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