Hi All

Please move this if I have posted in the wrong forum.

I am looking for books to help me develop a (web) MIS system which will sit alongside Sharepoint 2007 (not necessarily part of it). Part of the system has already been partially built:
SQL 2008 database (needs to be updated and completed / expanded)
C# Web application (many more need to be built) using LINQ (So I assume ASP 3.5 / C# 2008)

It is my job to continue development. I have Visual Studio 2008 which I am starting out with.

My Experience: I have a college degree which covered C & C++ using visual studio 6, and producing basic dynamic web sites using ASP classic/access and php/mysql. I used Expression Web 2 & Dreamweaver MX2004 to produce these. I have an understanding of database design (normalisation erd's etc) and know my way around photoshop. I have spent a small amount of time working with SQL Server 2005 (very basic) and Visual Studio 2005. I have built a MOSS 2007 Server farm and provided basic customisation to it using Sharepoint Designer.

So (i think) I need to learn C# 2008, ASP 3.5, SQL 2008 & LINQ but I am not sure where to start and what books to buy. Do I buy beginning C# or skip straight to Pro C#? Will Pro Visual Studio 2008 help or should I concentrate on books on the separate technologies (ASP 3.5 / LINQ etc)? What about WPF / Ajax etc. Will i need a sql 2008 book in addition? Any pointers / opinions / suggestions would be great help.

Thanks

The best place to start would to probably pick up Imar's book Beginning ASP.NET 3.5. The code samples are provided both in C# and VB.NET. Imar's books are the "de facto" standard (in my opinion anyway) around here for new ASP.NET developers. Everyone that posts questions about given examples really seem to enjoy it and he is always around to provide assistance on any question you might have about the material in the book.

I think that Imar's book will get you on the right path and, unless you are really worried about all the ins and outs of SQL Server, I would hold off on purchasing a book focused solely on the topic.

http://www.amazon.com/Beginning-ASP-.../dp/047018759X

hth
-Doug

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Ok thanks Doug muh appreciated - I will have a look at 'Beginning ASP.NET 3.5' . From the contents page it certainly looks useful. Any one else have any advice? Seeing as we are at the beginning of the project I think it will be much easier to request resources now rather than later on, so I may request a number of books. Thanks again, Dave

Well you could consider Wrox Books 24x7 - this gives you full access to all Wrox electronic books for either a 3 months subscription or a year subscription.

http://wrox.books24x7.com/

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/- Sam Judson : Wrox Technical Editor -/

Think before you post: What have you tried?

Thanks for the suggestion. I looked at the 24/7 trial but I dont think it suits me. I am still rather attached to paper, but don't mind PDF sometimes. Although the subscription allows bookmarking etc I found it a little slow to use here, and so prefer to have paper or ebooks in PDF viewer.

cheers anyhow.