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Active Server Pages (ASP) is the standard way of doing server-side scripting under Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS). ASP offers tight interaction with Microsoft database servers, and isn't as hard to learn as you might think. With a good book at your side--
ASP Programming for the Absolute Beginner is one--you can expect to be doing simple ASP work within an hour, and elaborate projects within a few days of experimentation. Progress along the learning curve requires only an open mind and a bit of diligence, as well as some careful guidance from someone who knows both ASP and the requirements of its typical users.
As the title of this book implies, it's meant for someone who's just getting going with ASP, and who in fact has chosen ASP as their first programming language. For that reason, John Gosney doesn't just show how conditional statements are implemented in ASP; he also explains why you'd want a conditional statement in the first place. Readers also learn about related subjects, such as HTML form syntax. Not all the information is elementary: there are full tutorials on connecting to Active Data Objects (ADO) databases and formulating SQL queries. The approach seems to work nicely, on the logic that assuming too little is better than assuming too much. Most programmers will be able to learn all they need to know for most ASP projects from this book. --David Wall
Topics covered: All about Active Server Pages (ASP), from square one (installing IIS 5) to the intermediate level (connecting to databases, executing queries, and presenting nicely formatted results). With several example games, the author illustrates ASP syntax, control structures, interaction with HTML forms, and connectivity to back-end databases.
Book Description
ASP Programming for the Absolute Beginner is designed to help readers with no programming experience learn not only the basics of ASP, but also the fundamental programming concepts they need to grasp in order to learn their next programming language. Offering an easy, non-intimidating approach to ASP, the For the Absolute Beginner series was designed by computer science instructors and takes a unique approach to programming. Throughout the book, you will be using programming concepts to create simple games with ASP. Before you know it, you will have accumulated a wealth of programming skills that you can easily put to use in real-world scenarios, including programming ASP Web pages with VBScript, using ASP to work with databases and forms, and working with ASP objects and components.
