Best free ASP .NET tutorials and code samples

If you’re just getting started with ASP .NET, there are so many concepts and features to learn that it can be pretty intimidating at first. Luckily, there are also tons or resources out there that can teach you the basics of ASP .NET and get your started writing small ASP .NET projects.

In this article, I will try to compile a list of some of the best free resources out there to learn ASP .NET. This includes normal text tutorials, sample ASP .NET projects, and even video tutorials.

The first place to start to go, in my mind, to really learn a lot of stuff about ASP .NET and to learn it fast is the official Microsoft ASP .NET web site. A lot of what I have learned about ASP .NET has been from this website.

There are basically three places you want to go on the website to get the most information:

1. Get Started Tutorials

Here you will find a nice collection of starter videos for ASP .NET. You’ll learn how to use Visual Web Developer Express, how to create web forms, how to use data on your website, how to secure your website, and lots more.

2. ASP .NET Starter Kits

Starter Kits are basically fully functional sample ASP .NET applications that you can use to learn the language and common coding structures. Everything is well-documented, making it a great way to learn how to implement a fully-working ASP .NET application.

3. Webcasts

My favorite section, though, has to the be webcasts that are posted by members of the Microsoft product teams. The cool thing is that the presentations are from actual team members working on specific technologies in ASP .NET, so you are learning from someone who really know what they are talking about.

The official ASP .NET page is not the only place to learn about ASP .NET though! Another site that I have visited often is Sitepoint. Sitepoint has a large collection of well-written and detailed tutorials for ASP .NET.

I have found their tutorials to be very useful, especially for a very specific task, such as speeding up your ASP .NET website, securing passwords in your database, using Amazon Web Services in ASP .NET, sending web email in ASP .NET, and lots more.

Another great site for ASP .NET tutorials and samples is Tutorialized, which has tutorials for just about anything under the sun, but their ASP .NET collection is pretty huge. Articles are ranked, so you can quickly find the best tutorials out there.

One last site that I wanted to mention that also has very detailed and easily understandable articles is 4GuysFromRolla. This site has been around for a long time and is constantly being updated with new tutorials and guides.

All articles are chopped up into nice little categories, so you can quickly read all articles about AJAX or using Visual Studio or working with Web Controls, etc.

That will probably keep your busy enough for a year or two! Using these tutorials, I was able to write fairly complex programs in a short period of time. Enjoy!