The book is divided into two parts, with the ASP portion well suited to programmers new to VBScript coding. The text discusses both the VBScript language and the ASP platform in short, topical sections with brief, targeted code examples. This approach gets the reader up to speed on the basics of ASP scripting in no time; only then does it lead into the most advanced topic in the first part, ActiveX Data Object (ADO) programming and database integration.

As readers move to the second part of the book--an introduction to COM component programming with Visual C++--they might want to brush up on C++, since the previous part has them focusing on VBScript. To illustrate COM architecture, the book uses the Active Template Library (ATL) COM Wizard. Other key topics, such as MTS, ADSI, and MSMQ, are introduced very briefly.

Programmers have many reasons to code COM components in C++ for production use, so this ASP introduction is quite useful. But readers should be confident in their HTML and C++ programming skills before diving in. --Stephen W. Plain

Topics covered:

• Web client/server model
• Active Server Pages (ASP)
• Component Object Model (COM)
• VBScript
• ASP object model
• ActiveX Data Object (ADO) database programming
• Built-in scripting objects
• ATL COM Wizard
• COM interfaces
• COM automation
• Microsoft Transaction Server (MTS)
• Active Directory Services Interface (ADSI)
• Windows NT Web security