11 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Good For A Start, March 13, 2010
This review is from: MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-502): Microsoft® .NET Framework 3.5 Windows® Presentation Foundation (Hardcover)
I Just passed 70-502 this morning with 918/1000. I had to put lot of effort for the last 3 months being a novice in WPF. Finally it paid off.
Pros about this book:
1. The book is nicely divided into chapters and lessons so that reader will have some sense of achievement every day. I could complete 1 chapter in a day roughly and then corresponding exercises in 1-2 days. In total this book can be finished in 25-30 days at the most.
2. Exercises were good and if we do earnestly they would definitely pay off
3. This book gives us a sense about different kind of problems that WPF solves, where as other main stream WPF books some what confuses us. For example Converter, Validators, various Data Binding scenarios are explained in a very clear problem-solution approach rather than just blindly narrating to us.
4. Very minimal number of errors in the C# section
Cons about the book:
1. Striking issue with this book is it doesn't cover all the stuff that exam has. For example no mention of 3D. No mention of Hierarchical Data Templates (I got two questions in the exam), Annotations (I haven't got any in the exam but I heard few got), CSPROJ file entries and other obscure stuff that is hard to get any from any books that are available in the market except from MSDN
2. Even though Localization, Click Once and XBAP Security are covered the questions I got in the exam are beyond what is covered in the book
3. Some of the chapters are very unclear and won't give us a solid foundation.
4. Lesson questions are okay but they are more theory focused. Exam questions are more practical real world problem type.
To be honest with you all, this can help us achieve 80% of passing mark (700/1000). I still thoroughly studied Pro WPF in C# 2008 (MacDonald) cover to cover + read first Nathan for understanding.
I recommend this approach if you are a starter
1. Read Windows Presentation Foundation Unleashed by Nathan first (at least first 3 parts until 2D)
2. Then read Pro WPF in C# 2008 (Don't start with this if you don't know what is WPF) cover to cover (Very hard thing but no choice)
3. Read this book one time thoroughly and second time just go through it. It will be enough.
4. Buy and practice selftestsoftware tests. They would be enough. Don't buy any other cheap stuff. I ended up paying to 3 companies but only selftestsoftware tests are kind of useful. They don't cover 100% either but very useful and practical
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent for Certification, October 18, 2008
This review is from: MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-502): Microsoft® .NET Framework 3.5 Windows® Presentation Foundation (Hardcover)
This book on 70-502 can help you toward the certification exam. It is excellent for its certification purpose, and in my opinion, moves someone toward intermediate programming ability with WPF and 70-502. By contrast, the book does not attempt or pretend to tackle complex installation or performance issues (for those important topics you can search the free MSDN documentation online, or also ask specific questions on the MSDN forums).
The purpose of this book is a hands-on start using the .NET 3.5 Windows Presentation Foundation technology. Whatever technical errors will be dynamically listed on the Microsoft website errata. You can ask questions on the free MSDN forums.
The pace of the book is moderated by specific chapter objectives, and each chapter is broken down into time sections for completion. I recommend working complete sections at a time (and don't start a new one if you don't have time to complete it). You can use the step-by-step exercises to gain some experience with the new technology.
Here is a book outline:
Chapter 1. WPF Application Fundamentals
Chapter 2. Events, Commands, and Settings
Chapter 3. Building the User Interface
Chapter 4. Adding and Managing Content
Chapter 5. Configuring Databinding
Chapter 6. Converting and Validating Data
Chapter 7. Styles and Animation
Chapter 8. Customizing the User Interface
Chapter 9. Resources, Documents and Localization
Chapter 10. Deployment
Anyone who has been using Visual Studio 2005 will have a quick transition to the similar interface in Visual Studio 2008 (required for .NET 3.5 technology). Also, experience with .NET 1.1 and 2.0 programming with Windows Forms is assumed to be the general foundation for moving into this new technology.
It does help to understand design patterns, and for example the concept behind the Facade pattern. A key part of the Windows Presentation Foundation is removing the application logic from the interface (now coded in XAML, Extensible Application Markup Language). Developers can apply this discipline to previous .NET versions and to all programming, and this version encourages and supports this healthy practice.
Going through the material, the Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) has its own vocabulary, and a major reason for reading this book is less about learning how to program, and more about new terms. The exercises are structured, but only experience informed by design patterns provides a more stable foundation. I have programmed in many languages, and while nothing substitutes for experience, new technology by necessity requires new terms and terminology. For example, WPF adds "styles" and "animations" and it's important to know how Microsoft defines these terms so that you can effectively communicate with other developers. Again, a primary way to learn more (beyond this book) is to read .NET blogs, attend Microsoft conferences, and interact with other developers in the MSDN forums. It's important to know these terms to be able to communicate more effectively. Thus, this book functions as a program for your brain, mapping the .NET 3.5 basic-to-intermediate terminology to whatever previous experience you already have.
This book does not cover typical advanced production topics like versioning and working on development teams (for example). Microsoft wants its developers to not just read books but interact with a dynamic community. This book focuses on the fundamental specific lessons and objectives to get new developers hands-on experience and comprehensive (to the intermediate level) training. Microsoft developers and developer evangelists make themselves available to developers and they desire two-way communication and feedback about their products.
I will next list of the hardware and software requirements for running the exercises (from pages xxi and xxii):
Hardware Requirements
The following hardware is required to complete the practice exercises:
* A computer with 1.6-gigahertz (GHz) or faster processor
* A minimum of 384 megabytes (MB) of random access memory (RAM)
* A minimum of 2.2 gigabytes (GB) of available hard disk space is required to install VS 2008. Additionally, 50 megabytes (MB) of available hard disk space is required to install the labs.
* A DVD-ROM drive
* A 1024*768 or higher resolution display with 256 colors or more
* A keyboard and Microsoft mouse or compatible pointing device
Software Requirements:
The following software is required to complete the practice exercises:
* One of the following operating systems:
-- Windows Vista (any edition except Windows Vista Starter)
-- Windows XP with Service Pack 2 or later (any edition except Windows XP Starter)
-- Windows Server 2003 with Service Pack 1 or later (any edition)
-- Windows Server 2003 R2 or later (any edition)
-- Windows Server 2008
* Microsoft Visual Studio (VS) 2008 (A 90-day evaluation edition of Visual Studio Professional Edition is included on a DVD that comes with this training kit)
I recommend obtaining at least Visual Studio 2008 Professional if you are serious about developing applications with this technology. Even without this book, you can currently (as of November 2008) obtain a free 30 day trial version from the Microsoft website. More advanced material is abundant in many developer blogs, and circulated through conferences. Active developers should plug into a real-time community through online forums, blogs, webcasts, and conferences.
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