General Review MS Press Books 70-526, 70-528, 70-529, 70-536

bcairns

Today I got a call from the local book store, 3 more MCPD books that I had ordered came in....

So far my book collection is:
Exam 70-536 - Microsoft .Net Framework 2.0 - Application Development
ISBN: 0-73556-2277-9
Release Date: June 2006 (reading my copy now)

Exam 70-528 - Microsoft .Net Framework 2.0 Web-Based Client Development
ISBN: 0-7356-2334-1
Release Date: November 2006

Exam 70-526 - Microsoft .Net Framework 2.0 Windows-Based Client Development
ISBN: 0-7356-2333-3
Release Date: November 2006

Exam 70-529 - Microsoft .Net Framework 2.0 Distributed Application Development
ISBN: 0-7356-2332-5
Release Date: November 2006

I am still waiting on the release of the last book in the MCPD Enterprise path:
Exam 70-549 - Designing and Developing Enterprise Applications Using the Microsoft .net 2.0 Framework
ISBN: 0-7356-2338-4
Release Date: December2006

Thumbing through the books I have, I can finally give you a general overview of each book and my (humble) opinion.

The path recomended by MS is to take 70-536 first... which is ironic as it seems to be the hardest test (bear in mind I dont have the 70-549 book yet)

Exam 70-536 - Microsoft .Net Framework 2.0 - Application
This book is pretty well written and seems to focus mainly on the .Net Framework 2.0 without going into any language training, both C# and VB examples are given side by side.

There are a bunch of mistakes in the book (see other posts) but a seasoned programmer or someone using more then one source should spot them. This book covers a little bit of everything, thats why I said this seems to be the hardest one in the track so far.

Exam 70-528- Microsoft .Net Framework 2.0 Web-Based Client
This book starts off with the basics, even explains what a web server is and how it works....for those of us that have written our own web servers or created IIS extentions the first part of this book is really boring. But it picks up pretty quick and covers Web Forms, Code Behind and Server Controls.

The book seems to do a pretty good job of covering the entire development cycle from concept to deployment and even covers development for mobile devices. Any one with ASP.NET experiance should breeze through most of this book. And for beginners, I would have to recomend this book as a good starting point in web development.

Exam 70-526 - Microsoft .Net Framework 2.0 Windows-Based
This book was the one that I was most eager to read, but after thumbing through it I am sad to report it is very beginner in level. I understand this is the first book in the Desktop path but Drag and Drop is listed as an advanced topic and Async Methods seemed to be added as an after thought.

Anyone with Win32 programming experiance in .Net will probably find this book mostly review. But I would recomend you read it anyways as it builds on the material in 70-536. As for beginners, I would have to say this book is an good starting point.

Exam 70-529 - Microsoft .Net Framework 2.0 Distributed
This book was a total shock to me, I thought for sure it would be just some very basic examples of web services. But really it covers all of the distributed programming concepts fairly well. It even covers some fairly high level security concepts such as digital signatures and PKI. Anyone that has done some serious distributed development should get this book as it seems to go a little deeper then most of the other books I have read on the topic. Beginner programmers should NOT start with this book!!!

Exam 70-549 - Designing and Developing Enterprise Applications
As I said earlier, I do not have this book as it has not been released yet. But I am hoping that it covers a fair amount of integration between desktop and web programming.

All of the books came with a CDROM and a DVD.

The DVD contains a 90 trail version of Visual Studio 2005 Professional.

The CDROM contains practice tests, the complete PDF ebook, and source code from the books.

After getting these books I have to admit I am thinking of shoving MCSE aside for a while...70-290 is simply boring me to tears...my true passion has always been programming. These books (along with the MCPD certification) seem to excite me more and more as time goes on.

Well I am off to play with the practice tests before bed -

Webmaster

Thanks for sharing this bcairns.

mvastarelli

bcairns wrote:

The path recomended by MS is to take 70-536 first... which is ironic as it seems to be the hardest test (bear in mind I dont have the 70-549 book yet)

At least we can take comfort in knowing that once we pass the first test that it's downhill from there.

TigDragon

Exam 70-536 - Microsoft .Net Framework 2.0 - Application
This book is pretty well written and seems to focus mainly on the .Net Framework 2.0 without going into any language training, both C# and VB examples are given side by side.

I am thinking to take this exam too, but it wouldn't be any time soon. I have a couple of years of school projects experience in programming with C++, and with a little of experience in Visual C++ V6.0 (for completing school projects too). I just started to learn programming using Visual C++ 2005 myself.

So do you think if it will be hard for me to read go over this book since the examples are in both C# and VB? Should I start to learn Visual Basic 2005 so that it could be easier.

Thanks in advance!

JDMurray

C# is closer in structure, syntax, and semantics to C++ than is VB.NET, so if you are not married to C++ the you should give C# a try. But if you prefer C++, it's certainly one of the languages you can use to take 70-536. Also realize that the 70-536 exam tests you on the .NET Framework and not the features of the programming language used on the exam. Have a look at the Preparation Guide for Exam 70-536 for more details.

TigDragon

I happened to own the book Visual C# .net by John Sharp. So I will go over it quickly and then move on to Microsoft .Net Framework 2.0 - Application Development.

Also realize that the 70-536 exam tests you on the .NET Framework and not the features of the programming language used on the exam. Have a look at the Preparation Guide for Exam 70-536 for more details.

Good point! Thanks.