That said, I think this book could be used as a classic example of how not to write extensible, maintainable code. Rather than demonstrate the power and ease of ASP.Net using datagrids and user controls, the content lists are constructed using loops and tables, and the form to edit content is repeated no fewer than 3 times. In order to filter the content before displaying it to the user we run a test on every row to determine if it meets the criteria rather than using a DataView and a filter. I am currently converting the code to a cleaner implementation and I find I am deleting an average of 2 pages of code per page, with no loss of functionality.

When talking about content management I would have expected some sort of elegant promotion system, instead we are offered a custom page complete with custom code for each promotion, in spite of the fact that the only thing that changes between pages is who is allowed to perform the promotion and which state it is being promoted from/to.

This book will not teach you to create flexible software that can be easily adapted to changing requirements. It will teach you to create brittle software that requires an inordinate amount of effort to make the simplest changes (replacing the editor textbox with a WYSIWYG control shouldn't require modifying 3 separate pages -- and I have the code to prove it).