Over the past several months, I’ve been participating as an adviser to an interesting Microsoft patterns & practices effort named Project Silk. I don’t publish posts here about every project I’m tangentially involved in, but I think Project Silk is worth a look if you’re building modern, JavaScript-heavy web applications.

The project itself is comprised of a complete reference application and an extensive set of documentation describing how the app works and the process behind the design decisions that the team made along the way. Think of it as the NerdDinner sample (and accompanying book chatper), but focused almost entirely on client-side development rather than the server-side MVC component.

One of the most valuable aspects of the project is that it takes aim at the almost intractable topic of building large, maintainable JavaScript applications. You can see how seriously they took that goal by the time you get to just the second paragraph of the project summary:

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If you’ve been reading long, you might remember that I’ve been a fan of ASP.NET AJAX in Action since the original was published. By avoiding heavy reliance on drag ‘n drop methodologies, the Manning book leaves readers with a deeper understanding of the framework.

Without understanding the underlying mechanisms well, developing successful solutions is as much a function of luck as it is skill; especially when it comes to debugging and maintenance. So, I think a comprehensive book like this is absolutely essential.

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Having used JavaScript for over a decade, I’ve read many books covering the language. Some focused primarily on syntax. Others recounted and solved specific real-world problems.

Learning a language as a set of tasks is one way to get up to speed quickly, but it’s not a very good way to thoroughly learn a language’s nuances and idioms.

While those sorts of books certainly have their place, it’s disappointingly rare to find a book which presents JavaScript as the first-class programming language that it truly is.

After reading no more than the first page of this book’s preface, I knew that I had finally found the antidote to those trite examples of compound interest calculators and the tedious minutiae of books that spend pages on alert()’s syntax. No, this book is different than the rest…

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I am happy to announce that the first release of Username Availability Validator is available on CodePlex today: http://www.codeplex.com/UsernameAvailability.

Username Availability Validator is an ASP.NET server control which provides indication of username availability, for use in new user registration functionality.

Features include:

• Choice of automatic validation of the username’s availability as the user types it or validation when the user changes form fields.
• Derived from BaseValidator, so Page.IsValid and the ValidationSummary control function correctly.
• Flexibility of validating against an ASP.NET MembershipProvider or a custom authentication store, through a user supplied web service or page method.

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I know I’ve been teasing you for weeks about this contest, but it’s really here now.

Adam Calderon and Joel Rumerman have generously provided three copies of Advanced ASP.NET AJAX Server Controls to give away.

Given the topic of the book, building an ASP.NET AJAX server control seemed like the perfect way to give the book away. So, that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to build a free, open source server control on CodePlex.

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The most common complaint I typically have with the ASP.NET AJAX books I review is that they simply don’t cover JavaScript in enough detail. JavaScript represents half of the nouns in the AJAX acronym, and all of those relevant to ASP.NET AJAX.

For that reason, when I read a book that only contains a few pages about remedial JavaScript and then jumps directly into using UpdatePanels and Timers, I don’t recommend it to you.

However, I was very impressed when I began reading Adam Calderon and Joel Rumerman‘s recent book, Advanced ASP.NET AJAX Server Controls.

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When I heard the banging on my front door early this morning, I thought it was yet another solicitor selling magazine subscriptions or overpriced vacuum cleaners.

That periodic interruption ranks near the top of my short list of telecommuting drawbacks. It’s truly amazing what gall door-to-door solicitors have, even in the face of the NO SOLICITING sign prominently displayed on the only street into my neighborhood.

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Thanks to Alessandro Gallo and Manning Publications, I am happy to announce that I’m going to be giving away three copies of ASP.NET AJAX in Action this week in celebration of my blog’s one year anniversary.

If you haven’t read ASP.NET AJAX in Action, you really owe it to yourself to check it out. The book does a great job of helping you understand what’s actually going on under the hood, not just the syntax of the controls. That sort of intimate understanding of the fundamentals is crucial when creating real-world AJAX solutions.

The book goes on to explain all of the ASP.NET AJAX server controls and show full examples of their use, while continuing to keep you aware of any consequences that a particular strategy might have. It also delves into more advanced topics a bit, like building AJAX enabled controls, the ASP.NET AJAX futures, and how to maintain unique URLs for intermediate points in your AJAX application’s workflow.

I don’t generally read technical books about practical application, but I couldn’t put this one down. If you’re reading my site, there’s an awfully good chance that you’d enjoy this book.

Now, on to the fun stuff. I’m going to select winners for the books in three different ways:

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