When ASP.NET hit the street a couple of years ago, it was a real eye-opener. Microsoft's tool for creating dynamic, server side web applications introduced Web Forms, a feature with the same rapid drag and drop convenience enjoyed by Visual Basic developers, along with a method for creating XML-based web services. ASP.NET was more than an upgrade of Active Server Pages it was a quantum leap ahead.

Now Microsoft has a new version of ASP.NET as part of its upcoming next generation release of the Visual Studio .NET development platform. ASP.NET 2.0 is already available in beta release, and web developers are anxious to get a good look at it. That's exactly what our new Developer's Notebook allows you to do.

More than just an introduction to ASP.NET 2.0, this practical guide acquaints you with all of the new features through nearly 50 hands-on projects. Each one places emphasis on changes in the new release that can increase productivity, simplify programming tasks, and help you add functionality to your applications. For example, ASP.NET 2.0 includes master pages, themes, and skins so you can build applications with a consistent page layout and design. Other changes allow for the automatic creation of web pages for use on mobile devices, while wizards and controls allow you to perform frequent tasks (like data access) without having to write a single line of code.

ASP.NET 2.0: A Developer's Notebook also includes suggestions for further experimentation, links to on-line documentation, and practical notes and warnings from the author regarding changes to the new version.

The new Developer's Notebooks series from O'Reilly offers an in-depth first look at important new tools for software developers. Emphasizing example over explanation and practice over theory, they focus on learning by doing you'll get the goods straight from the masters, in an informal and code-intensive style. If you want to get up to speed on ASP.NET 2.0 before its official release, this all lab, no lecture book will get you there.