MCAD/MCSD Training Guide (70-306): Developing and Implementing Windows-Based Applications with Visual Basic.NET and Visual Studio.NET (Paperback)

by Mike Gunderloy (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description
This certification exam measures the ability to develop and implement Windows-based applications by using Windows Forms 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 test 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: 1152 pages
• Publisher: Que (December 12, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0789728192
• ISBN-13: 978-0789728197
• Product Dimensions: 9.4 x 8 x 2.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 4.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #509,289 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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  #9 in	Books > Computers & Internet > Certification Central > Visual Basic
  #10 in	Books > Computers & Internet > Certification Central > Exams > MCSD
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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 26 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best of the bunch!, February 6, 2003

By	Frank (Cape Cod, MA) - See all my reviews

If you are following the VB route towards the MCAD/MCSD .NET certification, you can't do better than with this book! I admit that I sometimes go a bit overboard on books, but I have tried several others and this one comes through as the best organized, most thorough and most error-free of all them. Lot of material here with probably more hands on excercises than you will care to do. Don't kid yourself that you'll go through this one in a week, but if you go through it conscientiously then you should be as ready for the exam as you ever would be from any other single source.

Example: The other sources that I went through all seemed to come up way short on ADO. The chapter on ADO in this book is very thorough and for purposes of the test, rates better than other dedicated resources that I have turned to. There are 35 hands on excercises just in this chapter and I am one of those folks who needs to do the hands on stuff. While a good understanding of ADO.NET goes pretty deep, doing these excercises made me feel like I had at least touched upon many of the things that can be done with ADO.NET. The book is sufficiently comprehensive and well organized that I will keep it around as a reference source. The other major area that always gets looked at is typos and mistakes. I am more than halfway through this book and can count the problems on less than five fingers. Last night I encountered a problem with an ADO excercise, emailed the author and he was back to me same day with an explanation!

If it sounds like I am a fan of this book .. I am! I have the author's book on the 70-305 Web Applications exam and have his book on VB.NET XML Web Services on advance order and, going on my experience with this book, my opinion is that most if not all of the material necessary to pass the exam is right here and is presented in a manner that will make you actually enjoy working with it.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I used this book to successfully pass the exam, April 20, 2004

By	John Smiley (Philadelphia, PA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

I used this book to prepare for the VB.Net (70-306) Certification exam and I think it's a good one.

The book gives you a great roadmap to Certification--showing you (with almost perfect accuracy) what's on the exam and giving you just enough information to properly prepare.

Don't use this book to learn VB.Net--that's not what it's for. But use it, in conjunction with a good study group (such as one of mine) and an exam simulator such as Transcender, to understand the breadth of knowledge required to pass the exam.

The book breaks the major objectives of the exam into sections that it then deals with chapter by chapter. The author's knowledge is obvious--and what I really liked about the book is that he doesn't waste a lot of time trying to impress you with hard to follow code examples.

The code examples, for the most part, are short and sweet---and he follows these up with multiple Step-By-Step exercises interspersed throughout the chapter, and several follow up exercises to complete on your own. In addition, each chapter has a Self Test section that has some excellent exam type questions to further test your knowledge.

As I indicated, I used this book to successfully prepare for the exam---it's the best one on the market that I've seen.

Of course, every book has some minor glitches--I've compiled a list of errata and posted it on my website here

http://www.johnsmiley.com/mybooks/0789728192/errata.htm

John Smiley

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best VB.NET study guide, March 4, 2003

By	Aaron Engel (Columbus, OH USA) - See all my reviews

This is by far the best VB.NET study guide on the market. It's thorough, has great excercises and sample questions, and is sufficiently detailed to help you pass the exam.

I did find a couple typos and wrong answers in the book, but everytime I emailed the author for clarification I got a response back within 24 hours. This is one of the best study guides I've seen, not just on the subject of VB.NET, but in general.