Rating: 
Summary: what a good book
Review: This book is simply the best among the currently available MCAD/MCSD books. Not only it prepares you for the certification but also it will let you know the detils of C# in VS.NET. So you can actually use it to learn C#(assuming you already know Java). I specially found the "step by step"s very helpful.
Rating: 
Summary: A Good Deal
Review: This book is very efficint. It dosn't cover the basic elemnts of the c# language. And some of the chapters are not part of the 70-316 exam. The biggest prablom of this book that it donsn't cover well enough the security issue. But all other subjects excellent.
Rating:
Summary: Good book but needs familiarity with C#
Review: This is a good Exam cram book. However it's not for beginners. It assumes knowledge of C#. For example in Chapter1 itself it talks about delegates with only few lines of code explaining it. However great book to pass the exam, provided if you have other C# books by Oberg's or Jesse Liberty's.
Rating: 
Summary: Average, Route Memorization Book
Review: This is an average tutorial book. While this book is very comprehensive, and all of the appropriate topics are covered, the text is dull, at times overly meticulous, and uninspiring. There are many step-by-step exercises, 10-30 per chapter, with each using a simplest-case scenario for learning a component or procedure. This methodology has its pros and cons; it's great for reference or if you want to learn a particular thing, and it's good for route memorization by performing the same acts repeatedly (for example, creating a new project, or changing the start-up object), but after a while it becomes tedious and, well, repetitive. There are too few "big picture" examples or case studies. The use of these would have made the entire learning process far more efficient. For example, starting with the goal of creating a data analysis application and learning how to make buttons in parallel with ADO is both more interesting and time-saving. But, this is not the approach of this book. The book appears to be written for a C (or other structural-based) programmer who is not familiar with concepts such as objects, event delegation, exception handling, SQL, or Visual Studio. There are few, if any, references to anything being "like Java" or "like C++" or "(un)like MFC", nor are there appropriate warnings that say "skip this if you already have a basic understanding of " -- you are left to skim for yourself. This makes the book more helpful for the novice programmer, but tedious for the more experienced.That said, if you read this book and do the exercies then you will certainly learn the material. I would recommend reading a few of the pages, from multiple chapters if possible, before purchasing this book.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book. Not excellent enough to pass the exam
Review: This is an excellent book however it falls short of adequately preparing you for the exam. The books structure is logical and well thought out. The problem is the practice exam in the back of this book is well below the standard required to pass the exam.
Also I think Amit is doing himself a disservice by including the PrepLogic exam with his book. It is full of inaccuracies and once again fails to reach the standard of the actual exam. For example the exam claims that the file produced when you enable tracing is a Trace.asx file??
Rating:
Summary: Nearly perfect
Review: With a strong ASP.NET background but weak Windows Forms background, I read this book, merely reading though the labs and not studying in any other way, and passed the test readily. If you are new to .NET, it's better to start with the appropriate chapters of "Programming .NET" by Prosise. But with the basics of .NET under your belt, Kalani's book is great. I would say 95% of what was on my test was well covered by this book. Kalani makes it all seem straightforward -- which is a nice change from some other authors who would have you believe that all this new stuff is tricky. His examples are really awesome: simple enough to follow quickly, yet teach the new point decisively. I do not think a seasoned programmer can learn this stuff in a faster or clearer way. The screen shots are nice and small, so that you aren't flipping through page after page of them. The "Apply Your Knowledge" sections at the end of each chapter are very good at stamping what you just read into your brain a little better, and to highlight some important facts that were understated or even left out of the chapter proper. (For this last reason, these sections are required reading.) The "Exam Questions" in these sections are easier than most real test questions, but that is good because their purpose is not to frustrate you but to help you lock in your knowledge. (However, I didn't even try the practice tests at the end of the book or on the CD's.) There are maybe 100 or 200 grammatical errors, almost always dropping a word such as "the" or "a". But this is not a big deal in a book of this size, and it does not cause the reader any grief.
Even after the test, I'm glad I have this book because the excellent samples will be very handy for reference at work. Now the one and only area where the book is weak relative to the test is on security and authentication, the last chapter. Although it is clear and very well written (other authors can make this stuff seem like Greek) there are things missing -- such as a discussion of the GenericIdentity class -- which are covered by the exam. So I recommend getting this book (I do not think you will find a better book for passing the exam), but further augment your knowledge of security and authentication with the Microsoft documentation.
Rating:
Summary: Nearly perfect
Review: With a strong ASP.NET background but weak Windows Forms background, I read this book, merely reading though the labs and not studying in any other way, and passed the test readily. If you are new to .NET, it's better to start with the appropriate chapters of "Programming .NET" by Prosise. But with the basics of .NET under your belt, Kalani's book is great. I would say 95% of what was on my test was well covered by this book. Kalani makes it all seem straightforward -- which is a nice change from some other authors who would have you believe that all this new stuff is tricky. His examples are really awesome: simple enough to follow quickly, yet teach the new point decisively. I do not think a seasoned programmer can learn this stuff in a faster or clearer way. The screen shots are nice and small, so that you aren't flipping through page after page of them. The "Apply Your Knowledge" sections at the end of each chapter are very good at stamping what you just read into your brain a little better, and to highlight some important facts that were understated or even left out of the chapter proper. (For this last reason, these sections are required reading.) The "Exam Questions" in these sections are easier than most real test questions, but that is good because their purpose is not to frustrate you but to help you lock in your knowledge. (However, I didn't even try the practice tests at the end of the book or on the CD's.) There are maybe 100 or 200 grammatical errors, almost always dropping a word such as "the" or "a". But this is not a big deal in a book of this size, and it does not cause the reader any grief.
Even after the test, I'm glad I have this book because the excellent samples will be very handy for reference at work. Now the one and only area where the book is weak relative to the test is on security and authentication, the last chapter. Although it is clear and very well written (other authors can make this stuff seem like Greek) there are things missing -- such as a discussion of the GenericIdentity class -- which are covered by the exam. So I recommend getting this book (I do not think you will find a better book for passing the exam), but further augment your knowledge of security and authentication with the Microsoft documentation.
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