Learning ASP.net

[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

 

[DanF]

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.

 

[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)

 

[davetherave2]

elrasho, I was in a similar position to you 6 years ago (wow how time flies)
I wanted to move from a support role to a development role which meant changing companies for me.

I too went from a position of knowing nothing about the .net framework, asp.net, sql etc and was overwhelmed by the language and all that sat around it.

Luckily the lead developer at the time picked up on this after throwing me in at the deep end and asking me to convert an application to .net 2.0 from 1.0 and seeing the blank look on my face kind of said it all.

So to get that basic fundamental of the language down and re-energize lost programming concepts I went with the classic Dummies book at first just to use more as a reference material to understand the basic syntax, loop structures, object-orientated programming etc.

Because I was working with a lot of winform apps I then got this book
Windows Forms Programming in C#, Chris Sells

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Windows-For...6208/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1363678280&sr=8-1

This gave me more of a grounding of the c# language and allowed me to develop on the core concepts that I had learnt.

In order to build on these pieces of information I developed a little winforms apps to help me understand the language but actually use it in my day to day work life. (it's still used now - although when I look back at the code it makes me shudder )

After several months I then moved more into the web arena which meant learning another language (HTML) which looking back on it was a step too far as I was still trying to get to grips with the basics of working with C#.

Role on several years and I have finally started the move from web forms to MVC and all the new technologies that go with it.

My best piece of advice would be master the basics of the language and basic design principles before moving on to look at more advanced features/ interesting features of the language. Due to my scattergun approach to learning the C# language it is only within the last 12 months that I have started to really review my own development training and it highlighted my failings in a number of key areas such as Object Orientated Design, Generics, Linq, Unit Testing and a few others.

These are books that I got to help me with some of that learning

Dependency Injection in .Net (has been invaluable in helping me think about designing code)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=317828027&pf_rd_i=468294



The art of unit testing (not really used this in anger yet but I will be on my next big project)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/...&pf_rd_t=101&pf_rd_p=317828027&pf_rd_i=468294



HTML5 Programming for asp.net developers (am using this as a refresher and update for the web side of things and to link in with new MVC learning)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/HTML5-Progr...r_1_19?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1353375270&sr=1-19



HTML & CSS: Design and build websites (really visual and works with no programming knowledge)

http://www.amazon.co.uk/HTML-CSS-De...=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1353375634&sr=1-1

I personally found the easiest way to get started was find something that needed a software solution and then develop an application for it. This then allows you to get used to thinking like a programmer and then helps to build on any background reading.

Once you have then completed this first application then take a step back and look at the code again and if you see improvements add them in and test. If you look back and don't seem to understand what is going on then it is time rewrite and build it in a more structured way building on those first principles. (If you have existing developers then it may be worth getting peer review and see if they will help in your development)

I hope this hasn't bored you too much but I wanted to show I guess that the swap from support to development can be achieved with no prior background it just takes time.

As a side note it may be worth looking at plural sight as a source of training material if you have a subscription via work (we recently started using it and it has some good courses on basic software fundamentals/design patterns).

 

[dmsims]

davetherave2

even though it wasn't for me! thanks for a very useful post

 

[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?

 

[davetherave2]

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.

 

[davetherave2]

some additional material on design patterns:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Head-First-...7124/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1363726106&sr=8-2

(this one may be a bit heavy going but is useful once you have some more of the fundamentals behind you)
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Professiona...2784/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1363726106&sr=8-7

 

[SkyTerran]

Microsoft is promoting ASP.NET as a platform with multiple products running on top: webforms, MVC, SignalR, Web Sites, WebAPI, etc.

Learning webforms today is completely pointless, concentrate on modern stuff like SPA. Pluralsight and TekPub have many great developer courses.

 

[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

 

[Mr^B]

http://www.wibit.net/curriculum/the_c_lineage/intro_object_oriented