Customer Reviews

MCAD/MCSD XML Web Services and Server Components Development with Visual Basic .NET Study Guide (Exam 70-310)

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

 

 

I have tried to unzip the examples come with the CD but many of that not functioning especially for chapter 4, .Net Remoting and chapter 5 XML Web Services.
I have sent the error to the author but without any reply for months.

Since there were hardly any other books for test 70-320 when I took it, I decided to buy this book, even though it is for the VB .NET version of the test. I found that the programming language does not make a lot of difference for these tests, especially if you are somewhat familiar with VB .NET. If 70-310 is the one you are going after, I strongly recommend this book.

I had used these series of test preparation books for the Java certification, and what I like about them are the following sections:
* Exam watch: tips/things to watch for during the test.
* Certification summaries, at the end of each chapter.
* Two-minute drills: a review section for each chapter; great for a final review the day before the test.
* Sample questions at the end of each chapter, 10 per chapter with brief answer explanations.

Something else I liked about this book is that there is a closer mapping of the test objectives with the chapters of the book, compared to the MS Press kits (at least the one for test 70-315).

There is also a sample test with 50-questions, which (mistakenly?) is in C#, and in my case convenient. I say mistakenly because it is the same sample test included in the All-in-one C# MCAD from Osborne. I also used this book in preparation for the test, and there was obviously some overlap between the two, which makes sense considering that is the same author and publisher.

Just like most 1st. edition technical books, this one has a fair amount of typos/mistakes, which is the only reason why I'm not giving a higher rating.

A final warning: this book has a good coverage of the topics for the test, but it may not be enough to pass the test. I strongly recommend going deeper and looking into the MSDN documentation.

This was the second book I bought to study for the 70-310 exam. The test covered completely different material from this book. It did not help prepare me whatsoever for the exam, I am currently seeking a refund from the publisher.

By looking at the other reviews I can tell their looking for a book which gives them everything they need to pass the test. The book would have to be 3x as long to explain everything in the .NET Framework, etc. This touches all the topics. Although I don't agree with all the answers to the example questions, it is good enough to use for preparing for the test if you have actually used these technologies before you picked up the book.

I give it 3 stars because there is no Eratta available at the Osbourne website, etc. There are errors in the book, but I have never bought one where there were not.

I read the other reviews about the typos and example code errors but thought I could handle it, boy was I mistaken... I spent all day today trying to get through 2 chapters (with the examples) and I am so frustrated, what a waste of a day. I'm not sure what I'll do, I guess look at the example code on the CD instead of working through them on my own, not exactly my preferred way of learning...

I'm going to play Half-Life and try to get rid of some stress.

Good Luck,

A.S.

I have only completed the first 4(of 9)chapters, hopefully it will get better.

This book has a large amount of typos/mistakes which really hinder the learing of the material. Further, typos in the text are one thing, typos in the code exercises (which do exist) are another...the examples will not work and the reader will be completely lost. The book has incomplete explanations of the topics covered and the exercises. After completing the exercises the reader is left wondering why it worked. To make any sense of the examples (which do not work half the time) you must constantly consult MSDN (not a bad thing really, I think you learn more that way...was that the authors intent?)

You WILL need more than this book to pass the exam.

Chapter 4, Objective 4.03 - Completing the exercises as shown in the book do not work. Once you look at the exercises provided on the CD you can see that there is a difference. A simple thing to fix, but again no explanation is available, if this is your first real experience with .NET Remoting you are certainly confused...not exactly prepared for a certifcation exam.

To the books credit I will say that the organization is well done, but for me, the lack of good content negates this postive aspect completely.

This really is a bad book. I read through it only because I got one for free. The author simply does not know what he is talking about. While Typo and syntax errors are common for a rushed book, so many basic facts are incorrect. The Osborne series is known for its poor quality, but this one is probably the worst.

I think the book is good overall but I know I wasted a lot of time correcting the code exercises. If anyone has figured out how to get exercise 4.03 of the Remoting chapter working then please post the fix in your review because I wasted a good 3 hours on it before giving up. The problem is, is that there is no good documentation on the MSDN for using Activator.GetObject. In the web.config file, I'm still unsure if it should be ObjectUrl (in the book) or ObjectUri (every other article I've read).

I used the Microsoft Press books for the 70-305 and 70-315 tests with success, but the Microsoft book for the 70-310 test wasn't out yet so I picked up this one. After taking a Transcender test I've decided that this book just doesn't do the job and I ordered the Microsoft book since it has now been released. However, I do think that this book has excellent step-by-step instructions on dealing with Web Services. It will come in handy when I'm actually developing and setting up Web Services. Where it lacks is in the conceptual information that is necessary to pass the test.

Un livre de la sorte ne devrait pas exister. Juste à lire la couverture et l'endos du livre, nous sommes embalés par toute la capacité du livre, mais aussitôt qu'on se met à lire les chapitre on se demande: Où sont donc les éléments mentionnés sur la couverture. "Xml web services", hahaha, ... , 1 chapitre sur le sujet. Par chance que je ne m'hasardais pas sur le sujet. Un livre de 520 pages ? Ne vous fait pas avoir par l'arnaque; le livre contient 400 pages et le reste sont des "Appendix" sur quasiement toutes les lettres de l'alphabet. Le chapitre le plus gros porte sur les manipulations de données! He, je penses que j'en ai lu avec 70-306 assez pour dire que le titre du livre est Xml web services and server components Development et non la manipulation de données. Enfin, cela reste un opinion.

La raison de mon 1 étoile! Parce qu'il n'y avait pas 0 étoile lors de l'écriture de ce commentaire.