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Here's some light beach reading done on our recent holidays (vacation for all you American readers). Yes, I have now more than adequately proven that I am a geek. But at least my wife still loves me.

I grabbed it before heading out of country as it's pretty much the first ASP.NET 2.0 book published for the final VS release - and it's not a dumbed-down overview (although, while it states that it's aimed at intermediate-advanced, it's more accurately beginner-intermediate/advanced). From what I've gone through so far (Reigna keeps me rather busy), it's proven to be a great resource. Great overview of 2.0 while providing non-stupid/non-useless real-world examples. Data access coverage is great: it's a small thing, but it's surprising how many resources neglect to mention the importance of closing your connections - this resource is one of the few that does. All in all, pretty much 1000+ pages with minimal fluff. There is one yucky bit in the second chapter discussing Visual Studio 2005:

One convenient way to organize content in a web page is to place it in the different cells of an HTML table using the table tag...in Visual Studio 2005, life gets easier. To try it, drag a table from the HTML tab of the Toolbox. You'll start with a standard 3x3 table, but you can quickly transform it using editing features that more closely resemble a word processor than a programming tool...With these conveniences, you might never need to resort to a design tool like Dreamweaver.

Ikes! A word processor?!? Noooooo! Good thing the authors know their stuff on everything else. I wish I didn't have to resort to Dreamweaver, but if this is what is lauded as stellar design tool improvements in VS, somebody needs their head checked. Take a look at Dreamweaver 8 (and weep). VS CSS support still, well...let's leave it unsaid. But heh, out of 1000+ pages, only one page that needs to be burned is not bad at all. When I've finished, I'll likely come back and do a better overview (or not). So far, highly recommended.

Ted

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