'Learning ASP.NET 2.0 with AJAX: A Practical Hands-on Guide' is another gem of a book by heavy technology author Jesse Liberty et al.. If you know about recent web advances over the last couple of years you know about AJAX which has revolutionized the Web 2.0 world, allowing for real apps to be made on the web. The user doesn't have to wait wait wait any more, as they can make decision/choices and get the feedback that they are expecting right away. AJAX technology basically splits pages up into "virtual divs" where instead of displayed content being control, handshakes and communication behind the scenes is what is modified. Early AJAX code was a bit flaky but Microsoft has made things easier with their ASP.NET AJAX set of controls and classes. In order to learn how to use these tools the user needed a book that laid things out in a logical fashion and did so in a tight, useful package, this book is the result!!

This ~500 page book is broken up in the following way:

01. Intro
02. Web Apps
03. AJAX Web Apps
04. Saving/Getting Data
05. Validation
06. Style sheets, Master Pages, Navigation
07. State & Life Cycle
08. Errors, Exceptions, Bugs
09. Security & Personalization
10. Epilogue

If you have a read a Jesse Liberty book in the past you know that you are getting a top notch quality product. He's so good at writing tech friendly books it's like sitting down with him. Examples are spaced out well and content is described in a VERY user-friendly manner.

If you develop with ASP.NET and want to implement AJAX on your site, PICK UP THIS BOOK. The only disclaimer is the code is written in VB but if you are a savvy programmer it shouldn't be very difficult to make the switch to C# if that is your flavor of the month.

***** HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

"With Examples in Visual Basic .Net" -- that should be the subtitle of this book.

Many O'Reilly .Net titles include both C# and VB.Net code, but not this one. It's imperative that the programming language is clearly included in the title of any programming book, but O'Reilly somehow overlooked that.

It's really too bad, too, as this appears to be a great book. If you're a Visual Basic .Net developer this may be the best Microsoft Ajax.Net book available.

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I am impressed at how well-paced and explanatory this book is. Usually the big problems I see in coding books have very little to do with the quality of the code and very much to do with care (or its lack) in pacing and organization. The result here is a book that thinks through and accounts for the questions beginners will have.

The authors direct themselves to developers asking the question "What is the quickest way for me to build real Web applications with the least handcoding?" They stick to that so closely, anyone worrying about the VB versus C# thing should not feel any hesitation on that account in getting this book.

The examples use Visual Studio or its free counterpart, Visual Web Developer. An appendix guides you through their installation and configuration, as well as that of SQL Express.

The book has a nice addition for the serious student: each chapter has a quiz and exercises -- with the answers provided in the back of the book.
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