Rating: 
Summary: Good enough to pass but...
Review: The practice exam on the cd was terrible and some sections are a bit patchy. If you buy the equivalent book for 70-175 you'll find that about 60% of this book is duplicated in that book. However, this book was my only resource and I passed the exam with just over 780. I think I could have done much better had I bought transcender.
Rating:
Summary: Huggable, Loveable, Predictable Microsoft
Review: There is some great stuff in this book. Good coverage of MTS, COM/DCOM, ADO... typical "bullet-point" style makes it good for highlighting and converting into flash-card material. There was very little on ASP and ActiveX Documents (little coverage in the appendix at the back), and the end-of-chapter reviews won't map very closely to the exam. The material will be somewhat helpful in preparing you for general concepts on the exam, but if you're looking for exam-style questions and specifics, use the exam cram series.
Rating:
Summary: Huggable, Loveable, Predictable Microsoft
Review: There is some great stuff in this book. Good coverage of MTS, COM/DCOM, ADO... typical "bullet-point" style makes it good for highlighting and converting into flash-card material. There was very little on ASP and ActiveX Documents (little coverage in the appendix at the back), and the end-of-chapter reviews won't map very closely to the exam. The material will be somewhat helpful in preparing you for general concepts on the exam, but if you're looking for exam-style questions and specifics, use the exam cram series.
Rating: 
Summary: decent material for exam preparation
Review: This book definitely covers almost everything that's on the exam.
However, I must agree with most reviewers that you need more than this book to pass the exam. With practice exams, (I purchased ones from Transcender) if you read this book thoroughly, and understand the core concepts that this book tries to touch, then you won't have any problem passing this exam. (and this exam isn't that hard anyway!)Good luck,
Rating:
Summary: Clear, concise, teaching book
Review: This book explains stored procedures, MTS Programming, ADO, COM, ActiveX controls clearly and briefly without the overhead, which makes you effectively RETAIN knowledge after reading the book. CONS: insufficient coverage of deployment and internet dev't. Nevertheless, I still loved the book! The book has been a worthwhile companion. And since my copy of the book is company property, I plan to buy a copy for myself soon.
Rating: 
Summary: A book you should keep it after the exam.
Review: This book helps those who want to pass the exam and also makes you ready for real world programming. With clarity and brevity the book guides you through the complex concept of classes in visual basic. Equiped with the understanding of classes the book takes you further to activeX components and tells more information in the labs and examples. ADO and how it is used in connection with SQL server is well covered with the two chapters of Advanced Database Topics and Stored procedures. Best of all, the Microsoft Transaction server is demystified with a good explanations and an associated lab. If you are looking for a book that is readable, interactive and direct to what matters in the exam with an eye to real world scenarios then this book is for you.
Rating:
Summary: Good resource, but you'll need more.
Review: This book is an excellent resource for the MCSD exam. But it was written a few years ago, and it shows. If you are on a Windows 2000 system, the MTS section of the book is confusing. Windows 2000 uses the Component Services, which is basically MTS by another name. While you can still study most of the items, you'll find it confusing to do the exercises and labs dealing with MTS on a Windows 2000 system unless you know about this. It's not a difficult jump of reason to do the MTS items in Component Services, but the terminology needs translated. This book assumes a thurough understanding of developing with VB. It is a book on Distributed Applications...using VB as the example. You are often referred to the Desktop VB 6.0 book for the 70-176 exam. You'll need to suplement this book with something else. I suggest the Exam Cram books from Coriolis for the same exam. PROS: Great resource for distributed VB. Excellent Sample exam, take it until you're getting 100% CONS: This book presumes you have read the Desktop VB 6.0 book. It often referrs the user to that book for design issues. The MTS examples need to be translated for use on a Windows 2000 system. TIPS: Take the sample exam! Read the MTS section thuroughly and memorize key issues like security, and how to use components in MTS. Is you're using Windows 2000, You'll need to memorize it because doing the exercises and labs is not very friendly on Windows 2000. Also, know the ADO and data access inside and out.
Rating:
Summary: Don't make this your only study aid
Review: This book lacks depth on the following Exam topics: RDO, IIS, DHTML and Active X Documents. It does a pretty good job on MTS. The labs are good. The sample test is not good. Use this book in conjunction with another study guide, such as the Exam Cram book.
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