I read the 21 days book and then data driven web applications book before I read this book.This book is by far the best book I have read on asp.net. It covers many more things (and in a lot more depth) than the other books I read on asp.net. I develop in C# and all of the examples are in VB which kind of [stunk] but It didn't worry me too much because I have experience with VB anway and was able to read VB and write C#.
I can't think of anything that Stephen doesn't cover in this book. I found that the examples he uses are well thought out and useful, he doesn't just use the same examples every time.
When he covers a subject he covers it very extensively which also makes this book a great reference as well as learning material. I read the 1400 pages from start to finish and feel that I know something about everything in asp.net.
He along the way the author presents some good techniques for coding like using data caching. When he makes a statement he backs it up by explaining why which I think is important.
I am not attempting to exaggerate to make a point when i say this book is thusfar not only the best book on ASP.NET but it is the best and most comprehensive book I've ever read on a web development topic (and I've read many from many different publishers on php, coldfusion, asp, SQL, etc...)This book is just too too comprehensive. The author covers nearly every topic you can think of. And what really makes this book so good is that no time is wasted in long drawn out explanations. Out of all the 1500 pages, there is code and examples on each. This is the way to make a computer book since its not a iterary topic.
The book is like topic, examples; topic, examples, topic examples one after the other. The author explains just enough for the reader to understand the code which makes the book so useful and an efficient read.
I am an experienced web developer that wanted to get into ASP.NET. This was my first ASP.NET book. Since it, I've purchased and read 2 other asp.net books to see if I needed any more. After finishing this book, other books seriously look like jokes compared to this one. Looking at other asp.net books, they don't contain 1/15th of the information covered in this book and that is an understatement.
If you are pretty good at any web programming language this will be the ONLY book you need to learn ASP.NET. Only if you have no experience would I say that this may be too much for you.
Lastly, I wanted to thank the author. It is very rare to see an author dedicate so much of his time and knowledge to one book. A lot of people just want to get their books published. Any web developer or author will know that this book must've taken really long to complete. On top of it all, there arent many inconsistencies for a book this large.
Everything you care to know about ASP.NET is in this book (basics, ado.net, data binding, web services, xml issues, mobile issues, custom controls, graphics on the fly, validation,...more) plus an e-commerce and job site. The only thing missing that you may want is a little primer on VB.NET syntax.
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