Learning ASP.net

[elrasho]

What's the best way of doing this? Are there any self study courses equivalent to the Microsoft MCITP courses? I was thinking of finding a really good beginners book but there are so many out there, or maybe some training videos a la lynda.com/CBT Nuggets.

I wan't to learn to create ASP.net web sites as well as ASP.net applications

 

[elrasho]

Don't learn ASP.NET, it's slowly being dropped in favour of ASP.NET MVC: which is (IMO) far easier to learn anyway and far more awesome.

Thanks so where should I start? I've done some research and people suggest learning C# first is better

 

[elrasho]

To get better career prospects, I want to move into Software/Web Development. My current workplace use ASP.NET to create web based applications so I thought why not have a go and see what ASP.NET is all about.

 

[elrasho]

Thats not necesarily true! I have seen loads of asp.net (mvc and what not) jobs around and get called and emailed daily about them...

Stelly

Yep me too, there are loads in the North West area

So am I right in learning C# first then going onto ASP.NET?

 

[elrasho]

Thanks for the advice guys, where is the best place to start for learning C# in a VB environment?

 

[elrasho]

ah you'll want to pick either c# or VB to learn, they both use the .net framework but are alternative languages. IMO learn c# unless you need to code VB, there's more examples in c# and I think it's a cleaner looking language.

You can use linqpad to learn the basics of programming, it lets you run small bits of code without having to make up a whole Solution like you'd need to do in Visual Studio.

http://www.linqpad.net/

Set Language dropdown to c# statements to start with then past this in to the main window and press run

string myString = "Hello World!";
myString.Dump();



I spend a fair amount of my day in linqpad just prototyping code, when set to c# Program you can make up classes as well and as such make up complex examples.

That looks really useful but all above my head, I have no C# experience. Where do I start? Will this book be a good starting point?

 

[elrasho]

Do you know OOP at all??

Stelly

Nope but touched on it at Uni when doing Computer Science

One of my work colleagues just chucked me this link, it's some guy who does a video series of learning programming from pretty much the beginning, you could give it a go, free as well

http://www.computerscienceforeveryone.com/Course_1/Unit_1/Lesson_1/

Thanks will take a look at them

I'm gonna start working on that Head First C# book and see how I go. I work in a Support role in IT and really want to go into a different area, been doing Support for 8 years

 

[elrasho]

Is there anyone in the company that does coding that can help you? we've got one of our programming leads here who spends maybe 1 day per week teaching programming to anyone who wants to learn it. We've had a few takers now and a couple of current secondments to see how they get on.

There are .Net coders but this place is full of Knowledge silos (it's like people not wanting to share their knowledge)

 

[elrasho]

Thanks davetherave2, very helpful post.

As it stands I have an opportunity to create a .Net site which will be used as a Knowledge Base in work. It will be so that users would search the KB for answers to IT related queries like how to map a network drive, add a mailbox in Outlook.

It will also allow them to email the Service Desk if the KB doesn't resolve their issue. I'm planning on making this site using .Net and from here I'm hoping it will lead me to make other .Net applications.

As it stands I need to first learn .Net in a Web Developer POV. It's this starting block I'm struggling to find... do I get a book? Do I look at online video tutorials?

 

[elrasho]

I guess first things first and apologies if this has been asked and answered already in this thread. Do you have any prior development skills at all?

If so then it should be relatively easy to adapt those skills to the .net environment/ syntax.

I terms of where to start it depends on how you learn best. If you are visual person then the online training sites will be a good place to start if you have access to them such as Lynda, Plural Sight etc.

If you prefer books then there are hundreds to choose from it is just picking up one that is suitable for you and the way you learn.

From the looks of it this is a fairly meaty project and although challenging may be a bit over ambitious as a starting project (if coming from ground zero) but could be built in phases to help aid with learning and focus on specific areas of the project.

If you are completely new to the .net world then MVC is probably the route to go rather than webforms (purely down to this now getting more traction and also helps re-enforce design principles)

I have this book which has helped me a lot with the conversion from webforms to MVC but also works with no real prior knowledge
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Pro-ASP-NET...=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1363724287&sr=1-1

As I said you can't go wrong with one of the dummies books or something like this:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Head-First-...=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1363724367&sr=1-2

Also to help with getting a good user interface built using something like twitter's bootstrap will aid in faster development for a front end perspective as it takes out all the hassle of the complexities of html and css.

A good mocking tool for using bootstrap is http://jetstrap.com This helps you craft a front end for prototyping in a very simple user interface and then allows you to play with ideas on the look and feel etc and when you are happy with the look you can then download the html and plug in the actual code side of things.

If you are looking to develop a cms (content management system) for your knowledge base then it may be worth looking at technologies such as umbraco and joomla.

But these maybe a step too far at this early stage for you.

Got my hands on the HeadFirst book. Also going to sign up for the free trial at Pluralsight, if it's good I'll get a months subscription.

I've never coded before so wish me luck