MCTS - MCPD

MAC_Addy

Hello.

I'm new to this certification and to .NET

On the 70-528 exam is it all the languages (Visual Basic 2005, Visual C#, ADO.NET and ASP.NET) or is it just one of your choice?

Anyway, what is the easiest way to get into these languages...

any books that someone can recommend?

JDMurray

According to the Preparation Guide for Exam 70-528, you pick the language at the start of the exam. For more info: http://www.microsoft.com/learning/exams/70-528.asp

What books you use for learning C# or VB2K5 depends upon how skilled you already are at object-oriented programming, and what OO language(s) you are most familiar with using. If you are a skilled OO programmer who is interested in the MCTS/MCPD certs, then I suggest you try with the Microsoft Press Self-Paced Training Kit books. Here is the one specifically for 70-528: http://www.microsoft.com/MSPress/books/9982.asp.

If you are learning C# or VB2K5 as your first programming language, then I'd suggest O'Reilly's Learning C# 2005 ( http://press.oreilly.com/pub/pr/1541) or Programming Visual Basic 2005 (http://www.oreilly.com/catalog/progvb2005/index.html).

MAC_Addy

I am really interested in ASP.NET,

I would like to become more of a web based programmer other than a windows based programmer.

But, then again..... There's a lot more windows based programs out there. Which would you recommend?

I am a quick learner, if that matters. I picked up HTML quicker than anyone in my class (but to me HTML is REALLY easy)

I MIGHT look into C# or VB2k5.

JDMurray

Well, to work with Web forms or WinForms, you'll need to know either C# or VB2K5. ASP.NET is used to generate HTML and scripts, and Web services are commonly written using C#. I would suggest searching job descriptions on monster.com, dice.com, etc., to see if there are more .NET jobs for desktop (Winform) developers or ASP.NET (Web Form) developers. Also note what .NET language is asked for. C# tends to dominate the server-side and VB2K5 on the client-side.