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So here you find me, in an inexplicable turn of events, reviewing Active Server Pages for Dummies. To what shall you attribute this wanton betrayal of a deeply-felt credo, this spineless surrender to the forces of the Dark Side, this embrace of the precipitous decline of Western Civilization, this abandonment of the inmost self to the inexorable disintegration of traditional moral values? The main reason is that most of the other introductory books on Active Server Pages are so poorly written that a book called Active Server Pages for Dummies can actually look pretty good by comparison. As a consolation prize, it gives me an opportunity to bash the publishers about the ears a bit.
The first few chapters of Active Server Pages for Dummies are a fairly generic introduction to VBScript for non-programmers, with a dash of Javascript thrown in for variety. The middle portion of the book introduces the reader to components, objects, the structure of an Active Server Page (ASP) application, and database access. The useful tips scattered through the book are convincing evidence that the author actually has some practical experience with ASP in a non-toy environment. The last section of the book and the CD-ROM contain the source code for two example ASP applications: a chat room and a classified ads server.
Aside from the obnoxious and sophomoric attempts at humor, this book is basically sound and delivers the most value among the entry-level books on ASP that I have encountered thus far. Programmers should bypass this book and go directly to Wrox Press's Professional Active Server Pages 2.0.
-- 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.