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Chris Taylor <Next>
Well ASP.NET 1.0 has finally been released. This is the time frame that I was waiting for to take a class to get up to speed with the new ASP.NET.
I'm a learn by example kind of person, so a training class is perfect. Lots of examples, lots of learning. I just finished a 5 day training course with Charles Carroll of www.LearnASP.com in Phoenix Arizona.
I've seen a couple people on this list ask about these training classes before and I thought I'd send a line to say how great the class was. I'm sooo excited about programming in ASP.NET that all new pages for my sites will be with ASPX pages. I can't say I'll never run any ASP code, because it's been good to me over the years ;) but after you spend any time with ASP.NET you realize how many 100's of extra lines of code you use writing Classic Apps. 1 Example is a datagrid. 5 Lines of Code, VS 200 lines of code if you're paging a database into a presentation table.
So what's different about Charles class?
First of all, he buys lunch. It's a very nice gesture, and everyone in the class really appreciated it. So much that a couple of us took turns buying lunch for the 10 of us, so he didn't have to burden the cost, but he was willing to buy lunch for all 10 of us, every day.
Second, he gave every one of us 6 books, which he refers to as the 6 best ASP.NET books. These are great books, and now I have a nice ASP.NET library to reference when I have questions.
Third, I really like Charles enthusiasm. If you've never met Charles Carroll, you don't know what I'm talking about, but let me tell you this was not a class that you got bored in. His enthusiasm owns the room and you get excited about what he's talking about. He also has some pretty good analogies that are not only funny but really help tell his story.
Fourth, I like simple. Let me rephrase that. I love simple. Charles can take a very complicated subject and make it simple. For example, take serialization. This is a phrase that I've heard people talking about, but I never new what it was. In about 5 minutes Charles explained it and while I can't claim to write a full application using serialization techniques, I at least have a good understanding of the ideas behind the subject matter. I really feel like I have a good grasp on the ideas for what I'm going to be doing over the next month or so with porting my application. There are no doubt sections that I'll need help with, fortunately with all the books I brought from the class, and the code samples I'm fully prepared to tackle the project.
Last, Now that I've gone to a class I know that I can go again next time he runs a class. SO if in the future ASP.NET 2.0 comes around, I can sit in on a class and learn all the new stuff and it won't cost me anything. My favorite part of the class was data grids and custom controls (classes). These are things we've never had before in Classic ASP, and I can't wait to start coding with them. Hope this helps someone out there looking for training.