Beginning Active Server Pages 3.0

This is one of the best beginning books that I have ever read. I am a big fan of Wrox Press and Oreiley books, and this is clearly the book to use if you want to begin ASP pages. The book starts off for someone who has no programming experience at all but very quickly jumps into complicated subjects such as cookies, server access, databases, etc... The use of actual screen shots of what the code looks like in a window is a huge help. The chapter that serves as a sample application has helped me write more than 20 different applicationd already. Once you have mastered this book then I also recommend Professional Active Server Pages 3.0 as a reference book. Combined you will be an ASP Wiz.The book also touches on topics like COM and XML, so if you want to get your feet wet, then they are useful features as well, but not really what the book is all about.

An excellent book for beginners, Beginning Active Server Pages 3.0 starts simply and builds on what you've learned until you code a fairly fully-featured application. By the time you've gone through the book, you'll be able to create web pages that can return and capture information stored in databases, tailor pages based on information captured from input by users -- in short, create web pages that are in fact active.Although there are some grammatical errors in the text itself, I think another reviewer perhaps overstated their existence. More importantly though, the examples and exercises take you through using the materials covered in a clear, concise manner. Not a lot of fluff or worthless repetition.Although geared towards Windows 2000, the book can be used if you have a Windows 95/98 platform, at least as far as learning ASP basic coding techniques. An appendix covers use of Personal Web Server (required to let your 95/98 based PC act as a server and thus run the ASP code).Numerous other appendices provide worthwhile reference materials concerning errors, VBScript reference, runtime libraries. etc.If you are looking to teach yourself ASP, this is an excellent book to use to achieve that end. Don't let its size (1100+ pages) turn you away.

for technical content, BASP3 is an excellent book; those who have issues with the grammer did not notice the literary style was geared more toward fisrt-person casual interaction - hence the series title "Programmer-to-Programmer." Even someone experienced wih ASP (as I was) can benefit from the excellent VBScript reference and ADO explanations. The book provides very hard-to-find information, including how to interface with different types of databases (this is harder to find than you'd think) as well as detailed syntax descriptions for VBScript options (another difficult to find item).This is not a book to learn web development! If you don't already have a good grasp of HTML, start somewhere else. If you've taken HTML as far as you can and are ready to learn dynamic content using ASP, this is the place to start.

Covers a broad range of topics well enough to get running with VBscript, ASP and ADO. Occasional typos in the text and code but nothing that wasn't fairly obvious. Outstanding deal for a novice. If you are comfortable with VB already a number of chapters can be skipped but remaining chapters are VERY useful - esp. re: ADO. When looking at similar books make sure they are using ADO rather than the older DAO for DB access. Written in a clear, excellent style that is surprisingly homogenous given the number of authors. Highly recommended.

In two days...in two days I was writing my own ASP pages ! This book covers the basics in a format that is comprehensive and easy to follow. You think you are just learning asp...but what you don't realize is you are aslo learning VBScript! The book is written in such a way that you are literally "forced" to remember what you just read. Packed with explanations and examples and explanations of those examples, this book takes you by the hand and builds on what you learn page by page. Forget the other guys...this book teaches you what you need to know. Definitely one of the best "investments" made into my future !