Rating: 
Summary: Recommended
Review: A good drill of the topics covered in the exam.
Rating: 
Summary: Essential but full of errors
Review: Any publisher of technical books worth their salt should endeavour to have a book reviewed by actual people before it is published. I don't know if that is Wrox's process, but most of the books I have read from them are far higher quality than this one from Microsoft Press. I'm only at Chapter 6, but if the examples in the last half of the book are typical of the ones I have run into so far, my timetable for learning this is in trouble. Even the examples off the CD have errors in some cases. Now some may say that that is the real way to learn .NET. Get your hands dirty. However, a few errors give me the impression that the author wrote this during prebeta and didn't go back and check assumptions. A C# class is a referenced variable right? Why would you need to go back and update the original class for classnew = Session["classoriginal"] after you changed classnew even if it is a Session variable. It IS the original variable by reference, right? I get suspicious when I disagree with an author on basics? You may wonder why I still give it 3 stars (given that I would expect a lot more from Microsoft Press). Despite it's example issues, it still is a comprehensive and well laid out book and right now it's really near the top of the heap when it comes to ASP.NET and obtaining your MCAD/MCSD. I would not make this your only book however. Check out what other people bought when they bought this one and check the reviews on them. For myself, I also have Wrox Professional ADO.NET, Building Web Solutions with ASP.NET and ADO.NET, SAMS ASP.NET Unleashed and Wrox ASP.NET Web Services (which I might review when I get through them). I am still looking for the ultimate book.
Rating:
Summary: inadequate to master Web Prog but a good start
Review: As true with Microsoft Products, later versions of book will improve. This book gives a feeling that it was rushed to Press. The examples either omit a few steps or assumes reader is already familiar with intricacies ( which doesn't make sense.If they were, they wont be reading this book). Dont expect that all the examples will run out of box. You will have to fiddle around to make them work. I guess that will make you proficient in Web Programming :) May be the second edition will address those issues. The chapters somehow appear to be inadequate for the topics they address.
All that said, The Book does give good introduction to various
facets of Web Programming. This book alone is definitely not sufficient to master Web Programming but a good start...
Rating:
Summary: Average Relevance. Complement w/Other Resouces
Review: Average in its coverage of all the topics required to pass the exam. Needs a stronger base on the User controls and Server controls topics. It is a bit above average on its coverage of ADO.NET and it is also lacking on topics that touch on security� it very much �skims� over all these topics but this is not enough to pass the test.I would recommend a nice book on ADO.NET such as Dave Sceppa's ADO.NET Core Reference in addition to this book as a resource to prepare for the exam. You HAVE to consult other sources to get in depth information on all that is required to pass the test. For the test, there is no substitute for experience, but MSDN online is an EXCELLENT resource that everyone should leverage, test or real life. If you are taking the test, good luck, otherwise happy .NETing!
Rating:
Summary: Average Relevance. Complement w/Other Resouces
Review: Average in its coverage of all the topics required to pass the exam. Needs a stronger base on the User controls and Server controls topics. It is a bit above average on its coverage of ADO.NET and it is also lacking on topics that touch on security' it very much 'skims' over all these topics but this is not enough to pass the test. I would recommend a nice book on ADO.NET such as Dave Sceppa's ADO.NET Core Reference in addition to this book as a resource to prepare for the exam. You HAVE to consult other sources to get in depth information on all that is required to pass the test. For the test, there is no substitute for experience, but MSDN online is an EXCELLENT resource that everyone should leverage, test or real life. If you are taking the test, good luck, otherwise happy .NETing!
Rating: 
Summary: WARNING: THIS DOES NOT PREP YOU FOR THE EXAM!
Review: Check out the table of contents for this book before you buy it! It arrived in the mail today. What a disappointment. The cover looks great and the title sounds great. This is "an intro to web development using ASP.NET" book. In fact, that's what its title should be. Take a look at the table of contents on mspress' site. Here are a few topics: * How Web Applications Work
* Parts of a Web Application
* The Start Page
* The Toolbox
* Editing Code
* Getting Help
* Using Frames
* Setting Up a Virtual Folder
* Playing Audio
* Displaying Video
* Using Cascading Style Sheets
* etc...the list goes on Ok, none of this [junk] is on the exam the cover claims to prepare you for! Better luck with a professional asp.net wrox press book. Unfortunately, this one is only for the absolute beginners...might be ok if this is your very first asp.net or web development book.
Rating:
Summary: Keeping it Real
Review: Definitely this book contains some useful material. The first chapters make a good impression, but as you go further you start to see that something is wrong. The author was facing an aggressive deadline and did not take into consideration anything.
The book will be thrilling to read for someone who already knows and have a hands on experience with .NET, because the book will make you think by making you try to resolve the unclear material. The author definitely knows his stuff and demonstrates that fact to you, but don't hope for any explanations they are beyond the scope of this book.
Also you will enjoy the wonderful late night "I WON" feeling, after succeeding actually to RUN the most of C# examples. I kinda regret reading this book, because I have to read now an other one to pass the test.
Rating:
Summary: Do Not Buy This Book
Review: Don't waste your time and money buying this book and preparing the exam using this book. Use Amit Kalani's book instead.
Rating:
Summary: Covers the basics well
Review: Good primer. The labs are good. You learn a lot more by getting your hands dirty rather than studying the theory.
Rating: 
Summary: 2 stars only because it's an official curriculum publication
Review: I agree with most of the readers here: the book is quite a shame.
I often had to figure out myself the code needed (i.e. they used classes but they didn't show how to define them first). I guess it shows what's expected to be known on the exam, but I'm helping my study with the good old MSDN and other books (Troelsen & c.).
Too much money for such poor contents...
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