Programming Microsoft ASP.NET 4 Book Review

This is the ASP.NET book a .NET Software Architect wants by their side. Not that it isn't good for a developer also, it just really focuses on all the things a .NET Software Architect needs to know about the technical aspects of ASP.NET 4. This book covers all its material in-depth. A lot of the material is for advanced ASP.NET programmers. The author gives this warning at the beginning of the book. The book has complete chapters on ASP.NET and IIS, Configuration, HTTP Handlers, Modules, and Routing, Core Server Controls, Input Forms, Data Binding, HTTP Request Context, State Management, Caching, Security, Ajax, and jQuery. One of the things I did not like about the book is that it has cut the advanced aspects of ASP.NET and refers you to the author's previous book for those topics. This seems to be the new way publishers are saving money. Although I have seen some reviews that complained about all the previous material being included and bloating a book, I have seen 10x the amount of complaints about the removal of the material. Another thing that annoyed me was the inclusion of material from one of the authors other books, Microsoft® .NET: Architecting Applications for the Enterprise (Pro-Developer) . It is not that the material is bad (actually it is great), is just is too limited to have an impact. It felt out of context. You should read that entire Architecting Applications for the Enterprise book, not just a few chapters from it. I would have preferred more technical ASP.NET information be included in its place. The saving grace with respect to the two annoyances I listed above was that the author did not repeatedly refer to his other books. I have read some books that it seemed every five pages you were being told to go look something up in the author's other book before reading what they had written in their new one. My favorite thing about this book is the level of detail the author goes into. He does a great job of providing the complete picture of all the topics he covers. The chapter on security is great. It breaks down all the aspects of ASP.NET security including Where the Threats Come From, The ASP.NET Security Context, Forms Authentication, The Membership and Role Management API, Claims-Based Identity, and Security-Related Controls. The code is very well organized and usable. It is all under one solution file. I highly recommend this book to anyone doing advanced ASP.NET programming or doing .NET Software Architecture.

Programming Microsoft ASP.NET 4