Customer Reviews
Programming with Visual C 
2007-09-06
I have no experience with Visual Basic but I have taken a few classes in C. Overall the book is a good read, finished it in a week and the exercises are very productive. I would have like for there to be a 2nd part just on labs alone.
Very satisfied 2006-03-03
I bought this new book which I got it for $4 less than any other place including internet and book stores. I received the book on time and as I expected. Started reading and enjoying it...
Use this book along with additional resources 2005-11-26
The book is well structured to cover the exam topics. It does, however, omit certain details in some topics which would be unclear from just the book alone if I didn't already know them or didn't find some better explanations elsewhere online. You'll need some additional resource, including .NET class library online reference and online tutorials to fully understand certain topics.
Pretty decent 2005-10-17
I've not finished reading this book yet, nor have I completed all exercises. Already having a fair bit of experience with .NET and ASP.NET I can see that this book covers only the basics, though it seems to cover them quite well. I have, however, found a few code errors in the examples, which I feel detracts a fair bit from the overall quality of the book.
A decent book if you FULLY utilize and understand it 
2005-07-26
I just passed the exam with a pretty nice score 1.5 hours ago, and relied solely on this book for preparing for the exam for 10 days. I have solid background in Web development and use of C#. That said, here is my very personal comment:
- The quality of this book is beyond my doubt. The book might have two errors that I think I saw when I read it the 2nd time, though I wasn't 100% sure. Other than that, I didn't find any errors/typos/mistakes in it. Many subtle issues are explained in the book in a way very easy to understand.
- looking back, I believe that if one wants to pass the exam with ease by using this book, one'd be much better off by doing and studying all the questions that come with the CD. I'm a bit regretful that I didn't finish up most of the electronic practice questions.
- I don't know any other book on the same subject. But looking back, I feel the book (including all the materials included with it) was perfect to help me pass the exam. I have no doubt that without the help of this book (or similar), I wouldn't have been able to pass the exam.
Overall: the paper book alone may or may not be enough for anyone to rely on for passing the cert exam, but if you have taken advantage of all the materials that come with the book and if you have *FULLY* understood what is covered in the book, you'll be almost quaranteed to pass the exam on your very first try. I may be wrong on this because different people have different backgrounds, but that's what I believe while looking back.
Provides solid understanding for ASP.Net programming. 2005-02-04
Get self-paced, from-the-source exam preparation and self-assessment for the skills measured by MCP Exams 70-305 and 70-315—core requirements for MCAD and MCSD certification. Features an enhanced testing tool and more labs and code examples.
A good guide to ASP.NET 2005-01-27
Read book, passed test, got job, can't complain.
This book does focus more on teaching ASP.NET than passing the test. I think that's a good thing, but I realize there are different opinions on that subject.
As BAD as it possibly can be! 
2004-11-15
it assumes you dont know anything, and it does not teach you anything. Many times it tells you how, but not why, so you end up following instructions and you hardly know what you are doing.
In many respects I find this book very offensive and would not recommend it to ANYONE. Some of the reasons:
* I think it is enough to say once that you need to import a namespace into you code in order to use it. Jeff repeats the following code so many times that it becomes annoying:
Visual Basic.NET
Imports System...
Visual C#
using System...
* Jeff repeats the same code even when it is identical in VB.NET and C#. Excellent way to have many pages - who cares whats in.
* Jeff lacks rigour in every respect. Not only does he not teach you the whys, but anyone who knows C# would see that his code is very inefficient and frankly, ppl in my company would be fired for such stuff.
very poor work and I regret for buying this stuff...
Absolutely horrid texbook: RUN AWAY!!!! 2004-06-01
I like to learn by getting my "hands dirty" through doing the examples in the text without using the CD-ROM, and have been using this book to attempt to learn C#.NET (not VB.NET). This book is totally terrible: In many cases the code does not work, or you have to scrutinize screen shots to see what steps have been left out of the step-by-step instructions to attempt to figure out what to do. Subject headings do not match the step-by-step content. The screen shots have a lot of added features that are not described in the step-by-step instructions. A lot of the C# code was obviously translated line-by-line from VB code, but never tested or even executed, as over one-third of the examples simply do not work. One "solution" had the steps totally mixed up, but the step numbers were in the correct order. It is obvious that nobody proofread this book, or even attempted to execute the steps on getting examples to work-- because a good number of examples simply do not work. As I delve into modestly complex examples, there are no instructions telling me *why* I'm modifying certain object properties, or even *what* my actions are doing. I spend most of my time trying to figure out how to fix the author's errors and omissions rather than learning how to develop applications in C#. This book, in two words, Totally Sucks. Do not buy under any cirmcumstance. Save yourself.
Prepares you for using ASP.NET but not for passing the cert 
2004-05-23
Microsoft approaches certification exams the same way that the Educational Testing Service approaches SAT, GMAT and GRE college entrance exams.
ETS discourages people from using SAT preparation classes and books and, rather, encourages people to just work on their verbal and quantitative skills. They suggest that doing so is enough to do well on the exams. We all know better.
Microsoft takes the approach that, if you have a good mastery of the subject being tested then that is all you need to pass the certs. The Microsoft Self-Paced Training Kits (known as the "redbooks") do a reasonable job of teaching you the concepts of ASP.NET (and WinForms and the VB.NET/C# language and other tested topics), but they do a poor job of preparing you for the certs.
It's true that, if you review vocabulary words a lot and practice intermediate algebra and 10th grade geometry problems in the weeks preceding your SATs you may improve your score by 3 or 4%. But if you use that time to review sample test questions and analyze the structure and logic behind SAT questions using Princeton Review or Kaplan etc., then you will improve your score by considerably more than a few percentage points. The same goes for Microsoft certs. If you master the topic being tested (in this case, Web apps, ASP.NET), you may still pass the exam or, at least, slightly increase your score. But knowing the topic is not enough. You must know the exam, as well. This thinking goes against Microsoft's view of their own certification exams. Microsoft's thinking and point-of-view is reflected in their "redbooks."
Therefore, if all you want is to learn ASP.NET using either of the dialects of the VB.NET/C# language, then this book is OK (if a bit pricey compared to other "cert prep" books). But if you are looking for certification preparation (as opposed to just learning the topic), then a combination of one of the cert prep products such as TestKing or Transcender along with a book like Kalani (ISBN: 0789728222) is a much better approach. These tools will help you pass the exam. Kalani, in particualr, will help you master the topic AS WELL AS prepare you for the exam. TestKing and/or Transcender will give you practice with close-to-actual exam questions. No, they don't repeat real questions but they do give you examples of the TYPES of question to expect and give you practice with the nuances, languages and tricks that are part of the cert exam questions.
You can't pass the certs without understanding the topics (and I would never hire anyone who passed the exam by memorizing questions -- believe me, I can tell). But knowing the topics alone is usually not enough. The "redbooks" teach the concepts and prepare you for using the ASP.NET tools, but the "redbooks" do not prepare you for the exams.
If the books were cheaper (or if you can share with 2 or 3 friends), and your goal was just to learn how to program (but not necessarily pass a cert) then I would recommend this book for learning the topic. For cert preparation, however, use something else.
