Rating: 
Summary: Good but not enough
Review: Hi, I bought the 1st edition last June. It's a good reference but not enough for passing!
I think MSDN palys a great role (90%) if you really want to pass the exam.
You need at lease 1 year experience with VS.NET and .NET.Good Luck
Rating: 
Summary: Absolutely horrid texbook: RUN AWAY!!!!
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely horrid texbook: RUN AWAY!!!!
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Necessary but not sufficient
Review: I was amazed by the number of mistakes and typos in almost every chapter. I hope an "Errata and Updates" will be published to correct them. (I can provide a list on request).
Anyway, I got the impression that this book was published in a rush and might have not been thoroughly revised and tested.
As for the exam, knowing the content of this book inside out will help but not 100% sufficient to pass. (Sample questions are far away from reality).
The .NET DVD that comes with it is very helpful if you don't have the full version. It might be worth buying the book just for the sake of the .NET Software.
Marcellin N'G.
England (UK)
Rating:
Summary: Necessary but not sufficient
Review: I was amazed by the number of mistakes and typos in almost every chapter. I hope an "Errata and Updates" will be published to correct them. (I can provide a list on request).
Anyway, I got the impression that this book was published in a rush and might have not been thoroughly revised and tested.
As for the exam, knowing the content of this book inside out will help but not 100% sufficient to pass. (Sample questions are far away from reality).
The .NET DVD that comes with it is very helpful if you don't have the full version. It might be worth buying the book just for the sake of the .NET Software.
Marcellin N'G.
England (UK)
Rating:
Summary: As BAD as it possibly can be!
Review: 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...
Rating: 
Summary: Prepares you for using ASP.NET but not for passing the cert
Review: 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.
Rating:
Summary: Mediocre and incomplete
Review: My "formula" for passing the exams is to read a longer, more comprehensive book cover to cover first and then read the exam cram book as review and final prep. I found this book OK for step 1 of my formula but I do not feel it will be a very good non-exam prep resource for doing real-world work in the future. This book omits or is incomplete in several areas
Rating:
Summary: Mediocre and incomplete
Review: My "formula" for passing the exams is to read a longer, more comprehensive book cover to cover first and then read the exam cram book as review and final prep. I found this book OK for step 1 of my formula but I do not feel it will be a very good non-exam prep resource for doing real-world work in the future. This book omits or is incomplete in several areas
Rating:
Summary: Okay, but a little incomplete
Review: Please note that these review books are not for learning the material from scratch or only learning "just enough to pass" the test. I think that you would be better served by getting a full book on the topic.
I learn the material from daily work and from MSDN walkthroughs and subject material from full books on the topic. Then I have used the MS Press books to review, backing them up with MSDN. I like the MS Press books better at that point because they are more like an elaborated outline. I can get all of the material and then hit MSDN as needed. Then I use Measureup.com over the last six weeks before the test to evaluate myself (I don't use the included tests in either book). If you are looking for practice tests, they are almost always inferior.
Now about this book. It was good, but not as good as the MS Press MCAD review book for Windows. The section on saving state was very incomplete - contained info heavy on client side state such as query strings. Virtually nothing on different settings for maintaining session state(inproc, state server, sql server). I had to hit MSDN for alot more of the background knowledge for my review.
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