Beginning ASP.NET E-Commerce in C#: From Novice to Professional (Expert's Voice in .NET) 1st ed. Edition

I recently decided to add C# 2008 to my quiver of developer weapons, and I bought a LOT of books on the subject. Most were pretty good, one (SAMS Teach Yourself C#2008 in 24 Hours) was excellent, but none of them targeted exactly what I needed to know. I bought a lot of texts telling me stuff I already know, like how to use the Visual Studio IDE and what classes and methods and properties are. What I really wanted to know was how to implement a robust, data-driven web site using C# 2008, including how to manage data effectively with datasets and use style sheets and CSS for layout. Bits of this were in all my books, but Beginning ASP.Net E-Commerce in C#2008 was like a perfect distillation of just the stuff I really needed/wanted to know. As an experienced VB.Net developer, this book led me right to new material I could use right away, with only a little review of the basics. It really isn't a beginner programmer's book, but for an experienced developer looking to add a new language and tool set, it is ideal.The writing is clear, the narrative voice pleasant and not at all dry, the examples to the point and useful. If I could only keep one C# book on my desk (I have the Kindle DX so I can keep them ALL in one hand!) it would be this one. Well done, to the point, and USEFUL.

Way too many errors in the book and source code.This book has excellent subject content. However, there are many errors and omissions in this book. One fundamental example would be the fact that the sample products in the book have different attributes, yet the shopping cart will only allow you to add one instance of the product id. Obviously this doesn't work out if you need to add the same product in, for example, 2 different sizes. There is also no support for these attributes in the admin system. After emailing the author several times trying to get updated code, I gave up and worked on fixing the issues myself. I had to add quite a lot of functionality to both the database and the code to make the cart work the way the book indicated that it should.I am not a ASP.NET (C#) guru by any means but had enough knowledge to be able to overcome the problems in this book's source code. However, I'm sure a true beginner (Billy Bob who has never done any programming before and needs an E-Commerce site) would have thrown in the towel. The source code for this book was not well tested and you need to have some prior .NET and SQL Server experience to be able to overcome these errors and omissions. To say that this book is for complete beginners is a misrepresentation. As the other reviewers pointed out, you will not get any help from the authors (even though they give their contact info). We all know mistakes happen in books, but part of writing a book is publishing errata to fix these mistakes. The authors of this book seem to have washed their hands of this responsibility to the people who purchased this book.This is a real shame, because this would have been an excellent book. The editing of the book and testing of the source code just needed to be a lot better for it to be suitable for the "beginners" it targets.

I bought the previous edition of this book, which targeted Visual Studio 2005 and SQL Server 2005, so I was drawn to get the latest edition, which targets Visual Studio 2008 and SQL Server 2008.Christian Darie and Karli Watson do a phenomenal job in this edition (as well as the previous edition). They present both the theoretical aspects of e-commerce as well as the practical application. Everything is offered as an exercise, so you're not just getting a lecture--you get to put that theory into practice.The book is broken down into logical steps, with each chapter building more and more onto the site. Very early on, you get to build a lot, so if you're looking to show someone a prototype site, you don't have to digest the entire book before you get started. Darie and Watson do a great job of letting you start playing right away.Darie and Watson use generic code for data access, rather than SQL Server-specific code, so if you're an Oracle or mySQL fan, you can use them.For those in computer science, Darie and Watson put good emphasis on writing modular, cohesive code and also adhere to good coding standards as well as code commenting. The end product is robust, self-documenting, easy-to-follow code. You'll be up and running in no time!

The title got my attention. It is a subject that I was researching so I ordered the book. I have been going through the exercises and found them informative. I am glad that I made the purchase.

This book is unique. It is one of those few books in the market that you can take from the introduction up to the last chapter and everything you try will work... on the first try!The books covers the entire construction of a "simple" e-commerce site... "simple" in the beggining, just to get your e-shop running quickly. But in the last chapters, you start adding complex features that really spice things up a bit. Also, the authors gives you some hints on how you should expand the functionality of the site in case you are interested.In my opinion, this book is a must buy.The only "drawback" that I can find is that it should probably include a bit of Ajax on ASP.NET. If they did that, it will just be the best book in the market... but the book never states that it will teach you that, so I can't substract a star because of this.If you were looking for a book on building e-commerce sites on ASP.NET, don't look anymore, this is your book. Highly recommended for beginners on e-commerce with a base on C# and ASP.NET. It is better that you, at least, know the tools before reading this book, you will be able to get a lot out of the book that way.