For Immediate Release
For more information, a review copy, cover art, or an interview with the authors, contact:
Kathryn Barrett (707) 827-7094 or kathrynb@oreilly.com
125 Recipes in C# and Visual Basic for Web Developers O'Reilly Releases "ASP.NET 2.0 Cookbook"
Sebastopol, CA--If using a cookbook were simply a matter of opening it to a recipe and following the instructions step-by-step, then very little aptitude would be required on the part of the cook, and we could all be proprietors of five-star restaurants. But we speak of talented and gifted chefs, knowing that the cookbook is more than a set of directions: it's a source of inspiration, a starting point, a collection of designs to be improved and elaborated upon. In the same way, a programmer can look at a code "recipe" and see more than just the desired outcome. A programmer can see the potential in the code.
When Michael Kittel and Geoffrey LeBlond refer to the new "ASP.NET 2.0 Cookbook" (O'Reilly, US $54.95) as the "ultimate ASP.NET 2.0 code sourcebook," this is what they had in mind. "Many of us occasionally browse through cookbooks looking for new recipe ideas or exploring the nuances of a culinary style," they observe. "Similarly, we hope you find this book sufficiently interesting to browse, because in many respects, it is as much about software methodology as it is about ASP.NET." More than a compilation of tips and tricks, the "ASP.NET 2.0 Cookbook" solves real-world programming problems and is rooted in the authors' experience as professional programmers who have designed and built richly functional web-based projects for various corporate clients. The solutions in the book can be used as presented, or can be customized and built upon as needs dictate.
The recipes run the gamut from simple coding techniques to more comprehensive development strategies that the most experienced ASP.NET programmers will savor. As with the first edition of the book, the "ASP.NET Cookbook," every solution is coded in both C# 2005 and Visual Basic 2005, and follows the popular problem-solution-discussion format of the O'Reilly Cookbook series. The cookbook has everything readers need to go from beginning to advanced Windows-based web site development using Microsoft's popular Visual Studio 2005 and ASP.NET 2.0 developer tools.
Among the revisions and additions to this book, readers will find:
-Three new chapters, including twenty-five new recipes for Master and Content pages, Personalization using Profiles and Themes, Custom Web Parts, and more -New code for every solution, rewritten to take advantage of features and techniques new to ASP.NET 2.0 and available for download
Written for programmers who already know the basics of ASP.NET, the book is organized into twenty-one chapters, each of which focuses on a distinct ASP.NET 2.0 topic area. As with the first edition, this book provides what is arguably the most comprehensive coverage anywhere of these topics:
-Tabular controls, including the new GridView control -Data validation, including the new ASP.NET 2.0 validation controls, and techniques for performing one's own validation programmatically -User and custom controls -Error handling, performance tuning, and caching
According to Kittel and LeBlond, many readers of the first edition of the "ASP.NET Cookbook" found that studying the recipes was a great way to learn ASP.NET. "Some have even recommended that aspiring ASP.NET developers should read it from cover to cover," they report. Although they are pleased that some readers have used the book this way, they we anticipate that most will reach for this edition only when they need to solve a development problem, and so the book is organized accordingly.
"Still," they add, "we hope you find, as others have, that after months of such use, the book is looking a bit tattered but your ASP.NET code is looking quite good."
Additional Resources:
Chapter 11, "Web Parts," is available online at: