DeBugging ASP is a book I've been hoping to find for a long time. As one who has been programming Active Server Pages-based Web sites for a little over a year, I was still frustrated over the lack of an Integrated Development Environment (IDE), no real way to see where the programming was breaking, and still committing novice programming mistakes. This book was written with all these frustrations in mind and offers solutions to most of the problems.

While there is still no decent IDE for developing ASP sites (Microsoft's Visual InterDev and Macromedia's DreamWeaver UltraDev are far below par compared to the IDE in Visual Studio), the book does instruct the developer on how to set up the development environment for easy debugging.

Such instructions include, in order of importance, getting IIS on Windows 2000 configured for a developer's server as opposed to a production (live) server, getting Microsoft's Script Debugger loaded and configured, and suggesting some additional utilities that make debugging simpler.

Chapters that follow include common errors caused by programming aspects that don't follow the dictates of logic; NT file system issues that could cause no end of headaches relating to access and execute permissions; and then more common issues of maintaining "state"; passing data through Web pages; building COM components; database transactions and other data connectivity issues; then programming style and performance issues; and miscellaneous topics including cookies, e-mail, and data verification.

Derek Fergeson, the author, began by keeping a list of the minor (and major) things that annoyed him about programming ASP. In just a few weeks, the list had grown to the point where a book such as this was not only justified, it pointed out its critical need. Fergeson's writing style makes one realize that the world of ASP programming isn't as capricious, arbitrary, and unstructured as a novice ASP programmer may come to believe.

Key fundamental issues are discussed first, including learning how the script debugger works and making it work for you. Understanding the power of this tool goes a long way to making an ASP programmer's life a lot smoother. Since it is the second most important thing to accomplish in setting up the development environment, there is in-depth coverage of its most critical functions.

Following the section on using the debugger, Fergeson elucidates on the vagaries of VBScript, the language typically used for ASP, and uncovers some nasty gotchas caused by caching, whether it be server caching, browser caching, or some other entity's caching.

DeBugging ASP is as important a book to be included in your library as any other reference books on VBScript and ASP technology you probably already have.

DeBugging ASP
Derek Fergeson
[460 pages, $39.99]
Osborne/McGraw-Hill, 2000
ISBN: 0-07-212534-9

I have always wondered why there are various editions of the same subject from the same publisher. QUE books publishes "Using...", "Special Edition Using...", and "Platinum Edition Using...". That's because the subject being discussed has a very wide range of skill levels that need to be addressed. There's no point in having a 3,000-page book that starts with "An Introduction on Saving Your Document" and finishes with "Distributed Transaction Processing Using Transaction Server." The Platinum Edition supposedly covers the most advanced topics at the highest skill levels for the given subject.

Platinum Edition Using Visual Basic 6 takes you to the highest level in your VB programming skills with in-depth coverage of developer topics (although the first 200 pages serve as review of basic Development Environment activities). The activities this book presents won't make much sense unless you've already been through the prior two books.

Visual Basic 6 is the current evolved state of BASIC, the programming language we've all heard about and, if you've been playing with computers since the '80s, quite possibly even wrote a few programs yourself. BASIC was a language that essentially waited for user input, did something with it, and spit out results. (Actually, that is the definition of a program.)

What made Visual Basic the next evolutionary step was that user input and function activation was accomplished mainly by clicking on buttons in a graphical interface. Now, as Visual Basic evolves into ever higher versions, what these buttons (and other controls) can do becomes ever more complex. Hence, Platinum Edition is the volume that covers the most complex aspects of the language and its capabilities.

Examples of complex programming:

• Visual Basic uses "controls." Typically, an application is built with specific layouts and pre-determined, pre-configured controls for all pre-programmed functions. But, you can also install controls that create new controls on the fly.
• Visual Basic applications are built as a collection, sometimes a huge collection, of controls, forms, modules, and classes. Managing this collection requires an ever-escalating degree of finesse. Not only do you need collaboration tools to keep the multiple programmers in sync, you also need version control tools to manage rebuilding the project to a past stable state.
• Visual Basic applications stand alone. Not only do you need tools for creating documentation, you also need tools to prepare the application for general distribution, including installation instructions, adding routines that automatically upgrade the user's system if necessary, as well as tools to create "wizards" that assist the user in configuring the application for his or her specific requirements.

Platinum Edition then covers interesting technologies including SAPI (speech-recognition), advanced ActiveX controls, Internet connectivity, and the ever-necessary database connectivity in ways not yet dreamed of.

As far as I can tell, the book is not so obtuse as to be totally incomprehensible. However, you must be ready for it.

If you've the interest and the time to learn Visual Basic (or anything for that matter), I recommend the "...in 21 Days" series to start, followed by the "Using..." plan as outlined above.

Platinum Edition Using Visual Basic 6
Loren Eidahl
[1140 pages, $49.95 hardback w/CD]
QUE books, 1999
ISBN: 0-7897-1916-9