ASP.NET 3.5 Website Programming: Problem-Design-Solution

Chapter 1. Introducing the Project: TheBeerHouse

This chapter introduces the project that we're going to develop in this book. I'll explain the concept behind the sample website that is the subject of this book, but as you read along you should keep in mind that this is a general-purpose, data-driven, content-based style of website that can easily be modified to meet the needs of a myriad of real-world website requirements. Although we'll use many of the older features of ASP.NET, the clear focus of this book is on showing you how to leverage the powerful new features of ASP.NET 3.5 SP1 such as ASP.NET AJAX, and the ADO.NET Entity Framework. I'll also integrate some basic search engine optimization techniques and third-party services for social networking and SPAM filtering to make a much richer site.

This book follows a "Problem–Design–Solution" approach in each chapter: the Problem section explains the business requirements for the module designed in thatchapter; the Design section is used to develop the roadmap for meeting those requirements, and the Solution section is where we write the code to implement our design. This is unlike traditional computer books because the focus is not on teaching basic concepts but rather on showing you how to apply your knowledge to solve real-world business problems.

If you are new to ASP.NET, this is perhaps not the best book to start with, but if you're generally familiar with the basic concepts of web development and ASP.NET (any version of ...