Reviews (27)

Disappointing
I took the exam today....and....passed.Phew!This is one VERY tough exam to study for.I spent about 200 hours preparing for this exam.The exam is very broad and very deep.I bought this book and used the Transcender.
Acceptable Study Resource
I read this book twice. And I used the MS Press Training Kit Exam Prep application. I studied all 304 questions. I passed the test. So the study guide works. And this was the hardest exam I've taken (I've taken six).
I passed and that is the most important thing
Well I just took the exam today and passed (I didn't do exceptionally well but I have the certificate!). My only source was this book. By me passing I guess you can say it did the job for the task at hand. About 11 out of 16 of the chapters in the book are very easy to understand and very helpful and straightforward (minus the typos). However, some of the others, particularly those dealing with diagnostic and management configuration could use some work. My biggest issue with the book is not with how it is written, but the content. There were about 5 questions which I had no clue about and do not remember their content being directly mentioned (if at all) in the book. I am not pointing fingers at anyone, but there is a problem there with either the book's content or the access the authors had of what would be covered on the exam. All in all, I give it a 3 out 5 since I did pass. Although, I did study this book everyday, heavily, for three straight weeks. As for the practice questions, I thought they were ok as well. They helped me learn some things not covered in the book (oddly enough)and were useful to point out important points on specific topics. This isn't the greatest book in the world, but if you know it really well and do al of the examples and labs, you will probably pass. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Certification Guides - General    2. Computer Books: Languages    3. Computer Engineering    4. Computers    5. Computers - General Information    6. Digital Computer Design    7. General    8. Microcomputer Application Software    9. Programming - General    10. Computer Programming    11. Computers / General    12. Computing and Information Technology    13. Networking packages   

Reviews (24)

Complemento
Estos libros sin duda que sirven aun mas para reforzar el estudio para los exámenes.- ya que son oficiales trae unos tips que en otros libros del mismo estilo no lo mencionan.
Somewhat OK for Reference, Bad for Test Preparation
I bought these thinking that Microsoft would be in the best position to write a training kit to prepare for the certification tests, since they are, after all, Microsoft tests.Big mistake.If I hadn't used the Transcender practice tests also, I would have gotten a rude awakening at the test center.The MS books have some decent reference information, but they don't prepare you for the tests.

Excelentes
El conjunto de libros y el CD para los laboratorios han sido excelentes para la preparaci�n de la certificaci�n en .NET en la que me preparo. ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Certification Guides - General    2. Certification Guides - MCSD    3. Computer Books And Software    4. Computers    5. Computers - Certification    6. Database Management - General    7. Microcomputer Application Software    8. Programming - General    9. Programming Languages - General    10. Computer Communications & Networking    11. Computer Programming    12. Computers / Database Management / General    13. Home Computing   

Reviews (22)

Best handbook for programmers EVER!
The authors were very modest in choosing their title.Yes, indeed, they focus on the scenario of writing reusable libraries, and write from the perspective of two of the designers of the .NET Framework. However, the utility of this book goes far beyond what the title implies.
invaluable to developers of class libraries, components, and frameworks--whether .NET or not.

A book of do's and dont's
Just got this book. This is just a book of do's and dont's. Literally. Just about every page says...
Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: Languages    2. Computers    3. Computers - Communications / Networking    4. Microcomputer Application Software    5. Microsoft .NET Framework    6. Networking - General    7. Programming - General    8. Programming - Software Development    9. Computers / Networking / General    10. Programming languages    11. Software engineering   

Reviews (3)

Absolutely superb
I am a huge ADO.NET nut and David's first book was absolutely priceless. After his last book, he set a very high bar that was going to be hard to meet, yet that's exactly what he did.
Good, but not as good as his former book
I was just a tad bit disappointed because his former book was so helpful to me. Still a lot of users who develop windows form applications use Access, but I see the big push to make everything SQL server. Though I like SQL Server, but in most small apps for what I do it is highly unnecessary.
Accessing a Database from the .NET Environment
This book is intended for people writing data access code in a Microsoft .NET application.ADO (Active Data Object) .NET is a set of libraries within the Microsoft .NET framework that helps you to communicate with various data sources from .NET applications.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: Operating Systems    2. Computers    3. Computers - General Information    4. General    5. Microcomputer Application Software    6. Operating Systems - Windows    7. Programming - General    8. Computers / General   

Reviews (17)

Disappointed customer
You screwed me up. I ordered a book not a CD version of it.

Okay for absolute beginner
Not bad, but definitely for absolute beginners, and some materials not truly oop oriented.Very little coverage of database applications or web applications; out of step with current development.

4/29/05 all disks in my copy
all disks in my copy
Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: Languages    2. Computers    3. Computers - Languages / Programming    4. Microcomputer Application Software    5. Programming - General    6. Programming Languages - Visual BASIC    7. Basic, Visual Basic & QBasic    8. Computers / General   

Reviews (2)

This is the 70-526 Training Kit
The 70-526 Training Kit is now available, but there are still reviews on this site for another book (the 70-536 Training Kit). Please be aware that this is a new title and has not yet been reviewed.

Amazon, please fix your problems!
This book is great! Unfortunately, the 'spotlight review' that is featured above, DOES NOT BELONG TO THIS BOOK! It belongs to the training kit for 70-536. For some reason, Amazon can't seem to get rid of this erroneous review. Please, please, please, fix this problem! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Certification Guides - General    2. Computer Books: Languages    3. Computers    4. Computers - General Information    5. Database Management - General    6. General    7. Programming - Software Development    8. Relational Databases    9. Software Design    10. Computers / General    11. Computing and Information Technology    12. Microsoft Windows   

Reviews (11)

Errors and omissions
The discussion on how to use the new SqlCacheDependency class is wrong. The book claimed (in page 623) that "with SQL Server 2005 no setup work is needed and no external objects must be added to the Database.". In reality, you need to setup several permissions in the database side. In addition, you have to make sure that the compatibility level of your database is set to 90.
Does what it says on the cover
This book is an excellent introduction to the facilitites available in ASP.NET 2.0. It covers simple topics such as HTML controls, WebControls, page lifecycle etc, and also goes a little deeper to discuss details of providers, personalisation & master pages to name but a few. There are also several chapters devoted to displaying data using ADO.Net which are useful. There's also a good chapter on ASP.NET security. Most if not all of this information is available on the web, however having a single book that covers these topics is well worthwhile - it's a great book to have by your side when you are writing ASP.NET sites.

Broad and deep coverage
The two books of this series (Core Reference & Advanced Topics) offer broad and deep coverage of ASP.NET.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer - Internet    2. Computer Books: Web Publishing    3. Computers    4. Internet - Web Site Design    5. Internet - World Wide Web    6. Microcomputer Application Software    7. Programming - General    8. Computers / General   

Reviews (6)

Broad and deep coverage
The two books of this series (Core Reference & Advanced Topics) offer broad and deep coverage of ASP.NET.
Written by somebody who knows what he is talking about
Basics of .net framework is presented in aclear and lucid style.This book is a joy to read and .by the way there is not much difference in content wise between applied .Net framework programming and this book. My only worry is the speed at which microsoft is pushing .net versions as if there is no tommorrow! [Subsequently the catch up I have to do on reading all this!]

FINALLY a book geared at the experienced developer...
If you need to do more than just write sample code for tutorials, then this is the book for you. It provides valuable coverage of the ASP.NET landscape. I learned things about web services I never knew I could do with .NET.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer - Internet    2. Computer Books: Languages    3. Computers    4. Design    5. Internet - Web Site Design    6. Internet programming    7. Microcomputer Application Software    8. Programming - General    9. Programming Languages - General    10. Web site development    11. Web sites    12. Computers / General   

Reviews (6)

The First VSTS Book You Should Read
This book is a terrific high to mid level introduction to Visual Studio Team System, Microsoft Solutions Framework, and the overall philosophies and strategies behind Microsoft's ambitious undertaking. It provides terrific VSTS coverage, but it's also one the best overviews of modern software development approaches available today.
Highly Recommended
Gives a nice peek into the "why" as opposed to the "how". I have read all the VSTS books that are out there right now and I appriciated this one very much. It was an easy read, but very informative.

Wealth of theory and practices
This book provides wealth of theory and practices for software development. It throughly explained the ideas behind Visual Studio Team Studio, just like the author said, it's not a how-to book, but will let you know why VSTS provides those functionalities, and what benefit would you get if you follow the practices.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Bks - Languages / Programming    2. Computer Books: Languages    3. Computers    4. Computers - Languages / Programming    5. Microsoft .NET Framework    6. Programming - Software Development    7. Software Engineering    8. Computers / Programming / Software Development   

Subjects:  1. Certification Guides - General    2. Computer Books: Languages    3. Computers    4. Computers - General Information    5. Database Management - General    6. General    7. Programming - Software Development    8. Relational Databases    9. Software Design    10. Computers / General    11. Computing and Information Technology    12. Microsoft Windows   

Reviews (15)

Great pump-primer for ASP.NET developers
For .NET developers new to test-driven-development who want a recipe for the process, an invaluable book. This is not a concept book, but rather a concrete example that gets a little loose towards the end. Those who have also adopted Model-View-Controller for their ASP.NET applications will be able to logically extend the first half of the book to test their web interfaces, something that is admittedly difficult using the "stock" ASP.NET design philosophy.
First exposure to test driven development
I attended a workshop on test driven development presented by James Newkirk. I was so intrigued with the concept that I had to go out and get his book to find out more. As a result our project now uses NUnit, TestDriven.net for test driven development and find that this has really boosted confidence in the developers and their code. The concept of test-driven development is a very useful agile method of writing code to the requirements based on tests (Red/Green/Refactor). This has certainly changed my perspective towards development and want to thank James Newkirk for purveying this concept.

You need this book in your Agile Library!!!
Test-Driven Development in Microsoft.NET rises head and shoulders above the other books on the subject. While I know that is a very strong statement to make, the authors have made the focus of the book a very practical one.Don't get me wrong, there are several other great books on this subject, but they all seem to fall down when it comes to real-world situations.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: Internet General    2. Computer Programs Testing    3. Computer software    4. Computers    5. Computers - Languages / Programming    6. Development    7. Microcomputer Application Software    8. Microsoft .NET    9. Programming - General    10. Programming - Software Development    11. Programming - Systems Analysis & Design    12. Testing    13. Computer Programming    14. Computers / Programming / Software Development   

Reviews (7)

Excellent resource for Dev's only
Bob's book is written for the passionate Microsoft developer. DBA's and IT Pro's will find this book useful to have on the shelf, as there are number of features that touch the life of the Admin. Additionally, AW press has released another book, SQL Server 2005 Distilled, if you are looking for something less deep, I would try that book too.
A great book for Database Developers
This is a very good book for Database Developers. It covers most topics thoroughly. Some topics like SQLCLR and XQuery are covered too much in detail for my taste, but who knows one day I might need it! (there is a 17 page WSDL in chapter 12 .. I don't know who decided to put this in :-) Initially the minutiae kind of put me off, but over time I have started to like this book.

The New Testament
I feel cheated by the publishers of this book, because it was described as a "Bible" for SQL Server 2005: a "definitive hands-on guide" with "virtually every key concept" explained. It does not fit such a description, unless one's idea of a "Bible" can leave out Genesis, Exodus and the rest of the Old Testament.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Client/server computing    2. Computer Books: Database    3. Computers    4. Computers - Data Base Management    5. Database Engineering    6. Database Management - General    7. Database Management - SQL Server    8. Programming Languages - SQL    9. Relational databases    10. Sql (Programming Language)    11. Computers / Database Management / General    12. SQL   

Reviews (16)

Try getting useful information out of this thing
Organization? Perhaps in a Faulkner stream-of-consciousness sense. "Applications" is _chapter 14_. The topic emphasis has little to do w/ the needs of most developers. You get two entire chapters on "Design Time Integration", whereas you get a small (two page) subsection on "Keyboard Handling" and likewise "Scrolling". Gee, how about if I want to handle the _arrow keys_!? Maybe you could explain scrolling in more than a paragraph of English text? How about an example? To top it off, it's in a narrative & chummy style. Yuck.

The Things You Need to Know to Write a Great Windows Forms Application
The basics of Windows forms programming are fairly obvious.You drag controls from the toolbox onto the design surface, set the properties as necessary, and wire code to the events.For simple apps this is all you need to know and you typically don't need to bother with the documentation.
Try MSDN Instead...
What a disappointment. I went in to this book knowing almost nothing about Windows Forms. After reading it, I think I know less now than when I started.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: Operating Systems    2. Computer software    3. Computers    4. Computers - Languages / Programming    5. Development    6. Microcomputer Operating Environments    7. Microsoft .NET Framework    8. Operating Systems - General    9. Operating Systems - Windows    10. Programming - Software Development    11. Programming Languages - General    12. C & Visual C    13. Computers / Programming Languages / General   

Reviews (11)

Not for beginners!
Actually, this book a great book for beginners.
Complex Patterns simply explained
If you have been programming for a few years, you would have used a few patterns without even knowing it. Encapsulating rules into a class is a classic one - also called the command pattern. But, describing the concept in a common way is what makes communication easier among the community. Patterns are documented approaches to solving common problems in software design. Microsoft's Enterprise Solution patterns Using Microsoft .Net: Version 2.0 comes off with a great deal of success in explaining the various patterns in a simple and lucid way.
If you're interested how design patterns are implemented
I bought this book since I wanted to know not only what design patterns are feasible on the .NET framework, but how to implement it.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: General    2. Computers    3. Computers - Languages / Programming    4. Cybernetics    5. Programming Languages - General    6. Computer Programming    7. Computers / General    8. Networking packages   

Reviews (14)

Well Worth the Money
This book lived up to and surpassed my expectations.
A solid book on data-binding
Before this book, I had very little Windows Forms 1.0/1.1 experience. So, I can't speak to how well it works for people who are moving from the 1.0/1.1 world into 2.0. But for those starting with Windows Forms 2.0, this covers data binding to a depth I doubt will be surpassed by any other source. Ever.
As long as you only want to bind to a data base.
This book (as the title suggests) is strongly geared towards data binding in the context of "Smart Clients."From this book, I take "Smart Client" to mean that you are only showing tabular data directly from databases.He spends 80% of the book talking about binding to data bases with the DataGridView control.Because of this, other aspects of data binding are neglected.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Books: Languages    2. Computer software    3. Computers    4. Computers - Communications / Networking    5. Development    6. Microcomputer Operating Environments    7. Microsoft .NET    8. Networking - General    9. Operating Systems - Windows    10. Programming - Software Development    11. Software Development    12. User interfaces (Computer systems)    13. Computers / Programming / Software Development    14. Programming languages   

Reviews (7)

Good not Great...
Glenn Johnson has a very good book here on ADO.NET 2.0.Unfortunately, it just good not great.Here are my pros and cons:
Not quite what I was expecting.
This book does delve deep into the plumbing of ADO.Net 2.0, but I must admit that when I read the "Advanced Topics" part of the title, I thought that it would actually cover more complicated versions of some scenarios that might be found in "beginners" ADO.Net books such as handling many-to-many data relationships with bound controls and possibly designing and building a data access layer. While data access layers were covered to some degree, the described methods involved intensive interaction with SQL Server system tables - something I don't tend to make a practice of.
Great book, missing practical use.
Great book for ado.net. I wish this book has covered "how to use new features of ado.net with business layer. There should be some more chapter(s) for data acesss layer utilizing ado.net.
Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Animation    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computers    4. Computers - Data Base Management    5. Database Management - General    6. Internet - General    7. Microcomputer Application Software    8. Programming - General    9. Programming - Object Oriented Programming    10. Computers / General   

Reviews (3)

a developer's best friend for c#
"Essential C#" does for C# what Deitel did for Java.It's great book to learn C# from the ground up or for experienced developers.I was a bit skeptical of the claim that the book is for everyone - beginners, experienced developers, structured programmers, C/C++/Java developers and C# professionals.However, through a combination of sidebars and text that makes sense on different levels, the author managed to achieve this lofty goal.
easy migration from Java coding
Michaelis presents a straightforward rendition of the most important ideas in C#. Readily understandable to anyone who has already programmed in C++ or Java. It will be a little harder if you have never coded in an object oriented language.
Sets a lofty goal, and then proceeds to deliver...
If and when I ever get around to learning C# (after Ruby and Ajax and ...), this book would appeal to me on many different levels...Essential C# 2.0 by Mark Michaelis.It sets out to do a lot, and it actually delivers...
Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer Bks - Languages / Programming    2. Computer Books: Languages    3. Computers    4. Computers - Languages / Programming    5. Programming Languages - C#    6. C & Visual C    7. Computers / Programming Languages / C#    8. Programming languages   

Reviews (12)

The first and definitely one of the best books on the Compact Framework
As the first Compact Framework book on the market, it helped light the way for all that followed.As a mobile developer, this book has helped me tremendously and I refer to it all the time.This book belongs in the collection of anyone who has to tackle the nuances of embedded development on the Windows Mobile platform.

Great book!
I have learned a lot about the .NET compact framework. It has been a great first-book to begin my understanding of this topic.The examples in the book really help to advance my understanding.I highly recommend it for anyone looking to begin a project on the .NET compact framework.

If this book's so great, why won't the code run?
Chapter 17, UsingSQLCESample. First, the buttonAdd_Click() event wasn't added to the button, so you click away and nothing happens, until you figure it out yourself & fix it. Then, the section in the book dealing with parameters is missing from the sample code, and the DataGrid never does fill with data. This job is difficult enough without having to spend time debugging some "expert's" sample code! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Application software    2. Computer Books: General    3. Computers    4. Computers - Communications / Networking    5. Development    6. Hardware - Personal Computers - General    7. Microcomputer Application Software    8. Microsoft .NET Framework    9. Mobile computing    10. Networking - General    11. Pocket computers    12. Programming - General    13. Computer Communications & Networking    14. Computer Programming    15. Computers / General   

Reviews (17)

good introduction to ASP.NET
I found this book to be an excellent introduction to ASP.NET. Some reviewers have stated that the chapters at the beginning of the book are too complex. This material is, however, fundamental to developing the ability to program ASP.NET pages effectively.
This book is great!!!
The book contains many descriptions about the new ASP.NET 2.0 and compares to older versions of asp.net and asp. It describes everything step by step so that it is easy to follow examples and learn ASP.NET 2.0 framework. It is great for begginers and intermediate users.

Somewhat experienced and curious?
This is a very good book to get the overview of ASP.NET 2.0. Start here and stop at the horizon! ... Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer - Internet    2. Computer Books: Web Programming    3. Computers    4. Computers - General Information    5. Design    6. General    7. Internet - Web Site Design    8. Microcomputer Application Software    9. Microsoft .NET    10. Programming - General    11. Web sites    12. Computers / General