daveschinkel said
I'll keep this short and simple. This is what I call the "Bible" of ASP.NET books. I reference this quite a bit along with Internet articles on syntax and approaches.

PROS

- Code available for all examples in both VB and C#
- Author is very easy to understand, examples are great and to the point
- The book covers a ton and does it well
- The author provides explanations throughout explaining the transition from Classic ASP to ASP.NET

CONS

- Outdated, waiting for Third Edition for ASP 2.0 but still very useful if you're still coding in ASP.NET 1.1
- Author should have shown many examples referencing Stored Procedures which is what most people use...if you know what you're doing in application design
- No code behind? I'm sorry but this is just wrong...even if he's trying to show simple examples, it should all be done in code behind
- Lack of coverage on security...Check MSDN for that good stuff

Anonymous said
After reading some ASP.NET lists, here on Amazon, I decided to buy "ASP.NET Unleashed" to build up my web programming skills although I have access to some Microsoft Press books, especially the MCAD/MCSD training kits.

By far, this was the best book I have read about ASP.NET: it covers every topic I can think of, from simple web pages to security and building controls. ADO.NET, one of the most difficult topics for a beginner, is covered in great detail in more than 300 pages.

True, there are some problems for C# developers with the VB.NET-only code examples, but this book is really worth the 5 stars.

mss21413 said
The seller told me that he included the CD along with the book but I did not recieve the CD. When Reported I was told to ship back the book in order to obtain refund but it was hassle for me to ship back so I got the CD from my friend.
I am still reading the book so it is early to rate the text.

btsander said
This is a great all around book. If you're a beginner, this book has a through introduction. If you're a mid level programmer, there is always something new to learn or something you need a refresher on and this book is about as complete as they come. If you're an advanced programmer, this book may seem a little basic overall but covers advanced topics, a great reference, and easy to understand examples. All levels of programmers can use this book from cover to cover.

crowley said
I'm an experienced web developer who knows a lot of Java. I recently got a project in ASP.NET and turned to ASP.NET Unleashed to get me up to speed. It did that job perfectly.

I was able to quickly find specific examples and explanations for features that I needed for my program. The book only prints code snippets in Visual Basic, but the included CD has all the C# code samples if that is your preferred language.

I wouldn't recommend this book to an experienced ASP.NET developer because it's too detailed for a reference, but for anyone new to the environment (but not new to programming) it give just the right amount of explanation.