Customer Reviews

CLP Fast Track: Lotus Notes/Domino 5 Application Development (MCSE Fast Track)

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

i found it absolutely a must have. i passed the exams with 90%, 94% and 85% by reading this book and studying some self-test exam questions and thomas-consulting test questions.

it's brief but to the point and covers the exams very well.

good luck to all and a happy, healthy 2001

To put it simply, Tim & Dave are the "Shakespeare's of Domino". I've been a avid reader of their previous book, Lotus Notes & Domino Essential Reference, and when I purchased this book I knew I could do no wrong. Coming from an administrative background,this book like the last one, allows me to not only prepare for the CLP Development Exams, but gives me a comfortable feeling about Notes Devlopment best practices. The simplicity, clear cut examples and the questions make this book a Pulitizer Prize for Domino Based books. Keep up the good work and I look forward to your next book.

I bought this book after i read the customer reviews here. Almost everybody think that this is a great book. But I'm not sure. After I started to read the book I realized that the book covers all the exam subjects but not enough depth. There are a lot of editing errors and also some info errors exists. I think there sould be two reasons to buy the book: First you would learn the exam concepts (which exists in Exam Guide from Lotus) and second there are three sample exams in the book.

I think IBM RedBook - Lotus Domino Release 5.0:A Developer's Handbook which available on-line (of course free) at IBM web site - is the only book one need to be able to pass not only 510,511,512 but the optional exams which are necessary to be a PCLP. There is one more document you will need that is Exam Guide from Lotus web site. By reading the exam guide you will learn the concept of the exams and you will find all the subjects in RedBook sufficiently depth. By the way I passed all four exams ( also optional LotusScript exam - covered in Redbook).

I have been looking for a couple of mths now for an exam guide after officially completing the training course for Application Development Update for R5 of Lotus Notes.

This book is definately an essential guide to clp qualification in 5. The sample questions are very close to that provided in the exam.

Each chapter explains what is necessary to know for the exam but it is advisable that you are confident in designing apps in Notes 5. The chapters also finish with a 'What you need to know', which helps you to 'pin point' requirements.

A fine effort indeed, even for those points after the exam

Although it is a fairly thick book (600+ pages), it reads very quickly - cutting through a lot of the fluff you may find in other guides. The book is divided into 3 sections, each covering one exam. Each chapter ends with a "What's Important to Know" section which I found very helpful. The sample questions for each exam were also critical.

If you are an experienced Notes/Domino developer, you still need this book. Everyone becomes accustomed to working in their own environment and rarely has the need to familarize themselves with other environments which are covered on the exams. Also, there are always aspects of Notes that as a developer, you rarely use. And of course, as an seasoned Notes developer, you have no doubt found work-arounds for all of the limitations of Notes. All of these things can cause you to flunk a cert. exam. Even point releases of the product can sometimes trip you up.

All of these things are covered in this book. If you read this book, you will greatly increase your odds of passing the covered exams. Good Luck!

I just completed my PCLP this morning. My advice? Get the practice tests and don't put too much faith in this book. It does contain some basic info that will help set you in the right direction, but DO NOT expect it to be a stand-alone resource. There are informational mistakes: Content hidden to web browsers does NOT appear in the source code of a web page. There are mistakes in the practice questions at the end of the book: Question #3 of Exam 512 addresses access for a user listed in an Authors field but not in a Readers field on the same document -- The answer is listed as None (Incorrect). But the detailed explanation states that the user is able to edit that document (Correct). As long as you read the full answer, you will catch the mistake. But if you just check the A-D answer, you will learn the wrong information.
Pay attention to the fine print: "Here are some of the TYPES of questions that MAY appear on your exam." I got a real shock when I went in for my first exam (510) and saw that the questions were drastically different than the examples in the book. I passed the test with an 87. But it was based on practical experience, NOT the examples (or even the content) in the book. On the last test (512) I didn't even bother to read the practice questions. (Well, I stopped after the error on question 3) I went through the computer based practice exam instead, and got a 92.
Bottom line: The book isn't bad for learning the basics. If you need to learn about the different types of design elements, or the differences in ACL settings, this is a good resource. But unless you have a good amount of real life experience, do NOT expect this book to get you through the tests by itself.

This book does a great job of covering all three exams. I passed each on on the first with the help of this book. I would recommend it to anyone wanting to get R5 certified.

I have used this Book to prepare myself for Exam 510 and 511.
For 510 this book contains proberly too much of theory, which only comes handy in 10% of the Exam. More Formula coding is required in those sections.
But the Authors advice to also use the Developer Handbook from Lotus.
I used this book and the Developers Handbook for 510 and I have passed reasonable well.
For the Exam 511, this book is a "MUST HAVE" through and through.
It contains EVERYTHING you need to know in order to pass the Exam.
I have only used this book for 511 and passed with 94 %.
No other book is better for 511.

For a none nativ english speaker like me, the book is clearly written and gives no trouble with technical terms.

I have to say, the Exam questions in the end of the book, are not as real as it gets in the Exam.

This book is a good to get you going in the right direction, but it doesn't provide you with any information to pass the exam(s). I found this out after reading the first section for Exam 510. I studied the section, found the errors and took the practice test at the end of the book. After all of that, I had no clue to the answers when taking the practice exam by SelfTest software. I passed exam 510 using the Domino Help referenced in the selftest. For the next two exams, I relied on the selftest software and used the book as a high level overview. (Also, found more errors which I emailed the authors about and the errata sheet still has not been updated.) I didn't even bother doing the sample questions in the back. I have my CLP thanks to selftest software (passed all on the first try).

I had used the previous Fast Track book (for release 4), and since I was quite pleased with that one, I purchased the R5 version. To my chagrin, this book omitted some of the features I considered critical, including 1) practice questions at the end of each chapter, and 2) a CD based practice exam. While there was a printed sample test for each exam, I found this rather insufficient.

While all the information you're likely to need to pass the exams appears to be in this book, it doesn't do much to actually help you prepare.