| MCTS Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-536): Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Application Development Foundation | 
| Authors: Tony Northrup, Shawn Wildermuth, Bill Ryan
Publisher: Microsoft Press
Category: Book
List Price: $69.99
Buy New: $39.94
You Save: $30.05 (43%)
Buy New/Used from $37.47
Avg. Customer Rating:   (78 reviews)
Sales Rank: 14730
Languages: English (Original Language), English (Unknown), English (Published)
Media: Hardcover
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 1088
Shipping Weight (lbs): 4
Dimensions (in): 9.1 x 7.5 x 2.1
ISBN: 0735622779
Dewey Decimal Number: 005
EAN: 9780735622777
ASIN: 0735622779
Publication Date: June 5, 2006
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Customer Reviews:
 Great book, easy to work through May 2, 2008
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This books structure makes it very easy to get a chapter a night done and prepare you for the exam. The labs are good and the accompanying DVD contains both practice exams and a trial version of Visual Studio 2005, so you have everything you need in one book.
This exam is only half of an MCTS qualification, so you'll need either the Web Development or Windows Development to go with it if you want an actual qualification.
I only had issue with one or two of the answers given to questions, but I found it quite encouraging that I was able to think 'hey, that's not the best way to achieve that'.
A Good Start March 11, 2008
This book is a good start, but you won't pass the test by just reading it. Experience and practice test will go a long way to help.
 I consider this book my .net programming bible... February 15, 2008
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Comming from the 1.0 and 1.1 framework, this book really helped me get up to speed with 2.0. It covers many new capabilies and enhancements of the new framework (isolated storage, generics, etc...). This is my "MAIN" reference book now... its almost like my programming bible. :)
Hundreds! If not thousands! February 15, 2008
9 out of 11 found this review helpful
OK, this book is a little dated, but I got a really good chuckle from an anecdote relayed by one of the authors that is still funny. Early in the book, on page 68, Mr. Wildermuth attempts to assert his expertise to the reader by declaring that he has "written hundreds, if not thousands, of lines of code". I have shown this little blurb around to many of my colleagues and clients. It has turned into somewhat of a euphemism for a n00b. For instance:
Dev1: "How did the interview go with Ted?"
Dev2: "Not great. He's got a good personality, but his skill set is a little weak."
Dev1: "What kind of stuff has he worked on?"
Dev2: "I would say that he has probably written hundreds, if not thousands, of lines of code."
Both: "ROFL!"
or
Dev1: "Holy cow! Come over here and look at this mudball of code that I have to support now."
Dev2: "Wow! You're not kidding. Who wrote this?"
Dev1: "Who do you think? Joe."
Dev2: "Oh man, he's written hundreds ..."
Dev1: "If not thousands!"
Dev2: "... of lines of code."
All that said, this book does the job. It helped me pass the test. I have taken quite a few Microsoft exams and I have usually turned to the Microsoft Press Self-Paced Training Kit books as a first resource. This book lives up to the good name the series has earned for itself.
I see from many of the reviews here that readers are disappointed if the book doesn't spoon feed them all the way through the exam. I would say that, for myself, preparing for an exam includes a multi-pronged approach. It starts with these books and continues to MSDN and Transcender. But most importantly, I think you have to definitely open up Visual Studio and practice. Write some code! Maybe even hundreds, if not thousands, of lines. ;)
Helped me pass the first time...BUT January 25, 2008
7 out of 8 found this review helpful
Do not expect to pass test 70-536 using this book as the only resource. You will not do it. Do not think this book is for beginner's, it's not. You must have a firm grasp of object oriented programming to understand .NET. Also, don't trust the Practice Exam CD that comes with the book. I've found more than a few questions that have incorrect answers (according to MSDN). Even with all this said, I'm 100% positive I would NOT have passed this test the first take if I did not use this book in my studying.
This book formed a great foundation for .NET 2.0. There is a lot of content in the book and I think they put it in a format that is easy to understand. Some of the content such as Code Access Security, WMI, and COM Interopability are a bit thin, but you can make that difference up with MSDN.
My recommendation is to buy this book. Read it from cover to cover. DO ALL THE QUESTIONS, EXAMPLES, LABS, AND PRACTICE TESTING!!! Once you're done with all of this, if you have money to spend, perform the Microsoft learning online content. If you can't afford that, go to online practice test sites, such as MeasureUp and do those. Once this is all done, you should have a grasp of your weak spots. Hit those again and then take the test.
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