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Visual Basic, once little more than a entry-level tool for the development of one-off applications and user interfaces, has evolved into a complex family of development environments, language variants, language subsets, language creoles, and embedded scripting tools. In typical Microsoft fashion, the various dialects' backward and lateral compatibility is poor, the documentation is sparse,and the true behavior and capabilities of each programming environment can only be determined by experiment. The Visual-Basic-like syntax used in Active Server Pages (ASP), which is a mishmosh of capabilities and features adapted from other Microsoft products, is no exception.
Professional Active Server Pages is only one of many recent releases on this topic, but it is one of the most useful. The book does not go into great depth on any individual topic, but the range is considerable. Most importantly, the book contains many practical examples of various programming and database access techniques, and the code listings are readable and devoid of typos. Unlike most other books in this genre, Professional Active Server Pages is careful to draw a clear distinction between server-side ASP programming and client-side VBScript programming -- a crucial issue for developers that want to keep their web applications browser- and platform-independent. The weakest point of the book is the ASP reference material in the appendices, which is terse to the point of unusability.
WROX Press is a new player in the computer technical book market, but the attention shown to editing, accuracy, and delivering solid value in this lengthy book is a good omen.
-- Ray Duncan (duncan@cerf.net)
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Explanation of ERCB rating scale: No stars = unacceptable, 1 Star = marginal, 2 Stars = average, 3 Stars = above average, 4 Stars = exceptional.