Rating: 
Summary: The title of this book is misleading
Review: After buying this book and reviewing it's contents, I found that a lot of the book's content would be a great beginner book or a reference book. However, it's way too broad to help you study for the tests. Sure, if you memorized the entire book, you would probably pass the tests, but that is overkill. For the tests, I would stick to study guides/Transcender practice tests to help you focus your studying efforts, and check out other books such as the Microsoft books previously recommended. Good Luck!In short, the book contains too much information to help you efficiently spend your time studying for the test. However, it's a good reference/beginner book.
Rating:
Summary: This book is good to know the sylabus for the MCAD/MCSD exam
Review: Author has tried to bundle lots of data into a single book. Its a good effort but this book is not enough to pass the exams. This book is good for beginners to get an overview of the .NET technology before going to advanced concepts.
Rating: 
Summary: Basic Introduction - Riddled with Errors
Review: Errors Errors Everywhere... The book is a descent high level introduction to the material, but thats where it stops. As many have stated before and I will state again, the book is riddled with mistakes and it seems that McGraw Hill gave up on the errata sheet after only 14 pages (about 50 pages short). If your just looking for an intro to this material, and this book is cheap enough, I suppose it'll do. I would be remiss however if I did not say that there is NO WAY this book alone could get you throught the exams. It just doesn't have anywhere near the necessary depth of information needed for the MS Certs.
Rating:
Summary: Basic Introduction - Riddled with Errors
Review: Errors Errors Everywhere... The book is a descent high level introduction to the material, but thats where it stops. As many have stated before and I will state again, the book is riddled with mistakes and it seems that McGraw Hill gave up on the errata sheet after only 14 pages (about 50 pages short). If your just looking for an intro to this material, and this book is cheap enough, I suppose it'll do. I would be remiss however if I did not say that there is NO WAY this book alone could get you throught the exams. It just doesn't have anywhere near the necessary depth of information needed for the MS Certs.
Rating: 
Summary: Don't waste your money
Review: I felt compelled to write a review even though I'm only on page 80. As many reviewers have pointed out, there are many errors but fortunately, many of them are in the errata section in osborne.com website and most are fairly small typographical errors. Anyone preparing for the exams should practice as they read so in most cases, they'll catch these errors. But...the first paragraph in page 80 has something more than a trival typographical error. It stated that a protected member of a class can only be accessed by other classes within the same namespace. Actually, "protected" means the same thing in C# as it does in C++ or Java, it limits accessibility to only the class itself or any class inherited from it. What's worse is that this error has yet to make it in the errata section--I just reported it (8/3/03) so let's see how long it takes them to update it. I'm giving it a 3 star rating so far seeing the other stuff is fairly easy to understand even with the errors. It's relatively cheap considering it covers 3 exam but there are some potential pitfalls. It also is relatively compact--if you read 3 separate books, I'm sure there will be a lot of redudant information you must read through--it may save some time. But considering that reading exam preparation book is typically only a small fraction of exam preparation process (practicing writing code and taking sample exams will probably take much longer), the fact that exams costs $100 each, and lots of expensive hardware and software must be acquired to prepare for the exam, it may be wise to spend the little bit of extra time and money to get a more favorably reviewed book.
Rating:
Summary: Lot's of errors most aren't major
Review: I felt compelled to write a review even though I'm only on page 80. As many reviewers have pointed out, there are many errors but fortunately, many of them are in the errata section in osborne.com website and most are fairly small typographical errors. Anyone preparing for the exams should practice as they read so in most cases, they'll catch these errors. But...the first paragraph in page 80 has something more than a trival typographical error. It stated that a protected member of a class can only be accessed by other classes within the same namespace. Actually, "protected" means the same thing in C# as it does in C++ or Java, it limits accessibility to only the class itself or any class inherited from it. What's worse is that this error has yet to make it in the errata section--I just reported it (8/3/03) so let's see how long it takes them to update it. I'm giving it a 3 star rating so far seeing the other stuff is fairly easy to understand even with the errors. It's relatively cheap considering it covers 3 exam but there are some potential pitfalls. It also is relatively compact--if you read 3 separate books, I'm sure there will be a lot of redudant information you must read through--it may save some time. But considering that reading exam preparation book is typically only a small fraction of exam preparation process (practicing writing code and taking sample exams will probably take much longer), the fact that exams costs $100 each, and lots of expensive hardware and software must be acquired to prepare for the exam, it may be wise to spend the little bit of extra time and money to get a more favorably reviewed book.
Rating: 
Summary: Great Learning Aid
Review: I found this book to be an excellent tool for those programmers wishing to further their career opportunities by obtaining MCAD/ MCSD Visual C#. NET certification. The book is very well laid out and starts off with a quick overview of Object-Orientated concepts and how they relate to C#. From there on it leads the reader into the various aspects of C# programming with an eye towards helping them prepare for .NET certification. Each section is broken up with various notes, tips, code and visual aids to help the reader understand the material presented. I find this works well for me. I tend to nod off when reading those books that have straight text. There are test questions with the answers at the end of each chapter. This was nice, saves you from having to flip to the back of the book each time you want to check if you're right or wrong. I liked the way the book explains what the objectives of each of the exams are (in the appendices). There is a handy section that lists the exam objectives and the related chapters. The book also gives the reader tips on how to prepare for the Microsoft exams and what to expect during exam day. The accompanying CD is great. It has several practice exams and simulations to work through along with online tests and training. The book combined with the CD is a great aid in helping to study for the exams. All in all, a great book!
Rating:
Summary: Helped me in preparation for passing exam 70-315
Review: I have only read chapters 1 through 17 (i.e. the common chapters and the chapters for test 70-315). I bought this book because I'm aiming for the MCAD certification, so it's a great buy for preparing for 3 different tests. What I like about this book is that the first chapters have common concepts that you need to know for three different tests (i.e. ADO .NET, XML, localization, assemblies, security, error handling, etc.). I also liked the exam tips that are included throughout the different chapters. Also at the end of each chapter there are ~15 review questions which are useful for testing your knowledge of some of the concepts covered in each chapter. What I didn't like about this test is that since it covers all three tests, you'll find some test objectives are vaguely covered. Also there are a lot of typos in this book which is always annoying. For instance in page 254 dr("EmployeeId") should read dr["EmployeeId"] which is the right syntax for C#, the first is VB .NET syntax. Page 306 makes reference to a Global.aspx file, but they meant the global.asax file. In page 346, they make reference to the AutomaticPostBack property, which is really AutoPostBack. The CD of this book contains a sample test, which is ok, not great. For some reason they like to emphasize that you need to know SQL, so they included a lot of SQL syntax questions. The electronic version of the book (a PDF file for each chapter) is also handy. If you're considering taking at least two of the .NET track tests, this book may be a great buy for you, although I think this book is not enough resource for each test by itself. I recommend looking at other books, such as the Self paced kits from Microsoft Press.
Rating: 
Summary: Not too bad
Review: I have used the book for 2 out of the 3 exams and passed. Although there are typos and errors (mostly in the answers to the questions at the end of the chapters) the book is not bad at all. I felt prepared. If you double check the answers with the chapter you will be fine.
Rating:
Summary: Too many errors
Review: I recently completed 2 Microsoft courses on C# and was hoping to use this book for review and to fill in gaps. As I read thru the first 2 chapters I came across a number of errors in the book's text, examples and sample test answers. I pulled down the book's errata from the publisher's web site and it didn't address the errors I'd seen. If I am finding undocumented and obvious errors in the introductory material then I can't rely on the information for the more complex subjects. The book simply doesn't serve its stated purpose.
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