MCAD/MCSD Training Guide (70-305): Developing and Implementing Web Applications with Visual Basic.NET and Visual Studio.NET [ILLUSTRATED] (Paperback)

by Mike Gunderloy (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
This certification exam measures the ability to develop and implement Web-based applications with Web forms, ASP.NET, and the Microsoft .NET Framework. This exam counts as a core credit toward the new MCAD (Microsoft Certified Application Developer) certification as well as a core credit toward the existing MCSD certification. Readers preparing for this exam find our Training Guide series to be the most successful self-study tool in the market. This book is their one-stop shop because of its teaching methodology, the accompanying ExamGear testing software, and superior Web site support at www.quepublishing.com/certification. The CD features the ExamGear product (test simulation with more than 150 practice questions) and an electronic copy of the book.

About the Author

Mike Gunderloy pursued his first Microsoft certification the year the program was introduced, and he has earned the MCP, MCT, MCSE, MCDBA, and MCSD credentials in the decade since. As lead developer for Lark Group, Inc., Mike has worked with small businesses and Fortune 500 corporations, and he has trained many other developers in the use of Microsoft products. He got hooked on computers when you still had to build your own out of parts, and he is still passionately interested in cutting-edge software technology. As a long-time member of the editorial staff of MCP Magazine, Mike has remained in close touch with the certification community.

Product Details

• Paperback: 1104 pages
• Publisher: Que (January 10, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789728184
• ISBN-13: 978-0789728180
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 8 x 2.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (29 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #583,776 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #14 in	Books > Computers & Internet > Certification Central > Visual Basic
  #17 in	Books > Computers & Internet > Certification Central > Exams > MCSD
  #18 in	Books > Computers & Internet > Microsoft > Development > Visual Basic > Visual Studio

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best book for transition and the exam!, August 29, 2003

By	Ashwini Aragam (Worcester, PA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

What if you have a great deal of VB experience and some knowlege of OOP and want to transition to .Net? This book is a great resource to learn VB.Net. I know, you are thinking - hey, this book is for a certification exam cram. True, but think of what the exam objectives are - Microsoft wants one to understand clearly what VB.Net is and how to use it effectively. So what better way to learn almost all of it in one book - this book covers all that you need to know to use VB.Net using the new technology - how to design object-oriented applications, events handling, packaging, deployment, component development, etc. You can effectively learn what is sufficient, to do what you have always done with VB; you would have made a great, great start to continue on. Some advanced topics like threading, etc you can explore on your own.

As far as the main purpose of the book, reading all the reviews and going through the content, I have no doubt this is the only book you will need to pass the exam - just don't 'just read' it, follows the strategies described. The organization of the book is excellent - each objective of the certification is covered with hands-on examples (that are non-trivial and that work well), review breaks (a short break where you recall key points you have learnt so far), review excercises, real exam type questions and more. The answers provided explain what the correct answer is but also why the others aren't, thus giving you a chance to reinforce your learning. I am glad I got this book, you will be too.

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Book completely based on Exam Objectives. 1 Practice Test., September 26, 2003

By	Harinath Thummalapalli (Austin, TX United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

After doing some extensive research on the best way to prepare for Exam 70-305, I found this to be one of the best solutions available in the market for the following three reasons -

1. Throughout the book, the chapters closely follow the exam objectives published by Microsoft. This really helps you stay focused on passing the exam. The explanations throughout the book are excellent if you are already familiar with VB.NET for the Web (includes ASP.NET, ADO.NET, the .NET framework, etc.).

2. Each chapter follows an excellent format that ensures that you are fully prepared to address problems on all the exam objectives. The format - a listing of the objectives, chapter outline, study strategies, explanations of concepts in objectives, step by step demonstrations of important tasks, guided practice exercises, chapter summary, exercises, review questions, exam questions and answers. Of course, this guide is not meant to replace regular books to learn the technology. The guide is only meant to help you prepare for the exam once you have learned the technology through other means.

3. An electronic version of the entire book on CD-ROM along with a practice test from Prep Logic and code from the entire book.

The CD claims to be only a preview version which means that it only has enough questions for 1 practice test. There is then a link to the Prep Logic website where you are supposed to find a premium version that has 400% the number of questions and hence more practice tests BUT after following the link, I realized that the site doesn't have a premium edition available for this particular exam (there are premium editions for all the MCSE exams but not MCSD). I was a little disappointed but I think the quality of this guide is adequate to pass the exam. Please note that this information is true at the time of writing this review so check the Prep Logic website when you are reading the review to see if anything has changed in this regard.

The other books and online courses that try to help one pass this exam don't seem to be as organized and thorough as this book. The online courses that are well organized are too pricey. For this exam, I think this is your best bet to help you prepare. Good luck!

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best book on this topic, May 19, 2003

By A Customer

am an experienced IT professional and have gone through many books regarding ASP.NET. Man, I have become a fan of Mike Gunderloy after reading this book. This book is the best to teach you ASP.Net. Also, you can easily pass the exam after going through it. The style is superb and the way he has presented the material is by far excellent. I want to thank him for this effort. If you want to learn ASP.Net or pass 70-305, this is the book that you should buy. Normally, I resell the books after reading. But not this one, I will keep it with me, it is worth keeping.
The only negative point of this book is that it has more than 1000 pages. But I think that was required to do justice with the topics. For people who are going for 70-305, I would suggest them to go through it carefully and I assure you that you do not need anything else except MSDN occasionally.