Last year (September 2005), it was good to see the ASP.NET 2.0 Upgrader's Guide - one of the first of a whole set of new Framework 2.0 based books from the great publisher Murach. Those of you who haven't tried the exceptional Murach style have a real treat in store for you. More than any other publisher, Murach gives you a standard tutorial format that you can rely on to learn a new technology.
I've written about this format in every previous Murach review:
This latest Murach book is another quality product in the same "paired-page" tradition and I recommend it for all the same reasons I've liked previous books.
Another thing this book has in common with previous Murach books is complete, useful system that demonstrates the technology (with a 5 MB code download at the publisher's site). For ASP.NET 2.0, they have created an online store application (selling Halloween items) since this type of system is probably more in demand than any other. Another big bonus is a remarkably complete 5 chapter ADO.NET 2.0 section (for systems that also need a database) that is the equal of some whole books on ADO.NET 2.0.
The "Pro" and "Con" Arguments
In my review of the earlier Upgrader's Guide, I mentioned that, as great as this book is, it doesn't cover everything. My "test item" then was an explanation of the Expands keyword that a lot of experts say creates a whole new "code beside" programming model that makes ASP.NET 1.0's "code behind" model obsolete now. Unfortunately, there isn't any more about this in this latest book than there was earlier even though they have expanded the page count to over 800 pages.
So the "pro" argument for getting this book is that you won't find a better tutorial anywhere. The "con" argument is that it's not for advanced programmers, it's for the rest of us.
