Rating: 
Summary: .NET certification material from the horse's mouth...
Review: What's not to like? This voluminous certification guide for the web side of Microsoft's latest application development technology, .NET, is surprisingly geared toward beginners and even includes a brief primer on web programmming concepts for those who've never done web apps before. More advanced readers will skip the early sections and quickly sink their teeth into the more in-depth chapters, especially on the new features of ASP .NET.Despite the size, which is considerable, the writing style is brisk and easy to read, and there are plenty of diagrams and references to additional material. The presentation of most concepts is in a lesson plan form that is alternatively refreshing and tedious, depending on the familiarity of the material, probably no fault of the format itself. Readers hoping for an Exam Cram version that is stripped to bare essentials may be disappointed, Microsoft seems to want readers to fundamentally understand the concepts rather than absorb raw facts to pass a test. While this is probably good for those who really want to learn the technology, it will leave those looking for a no-frills Cliff Notes overview a little frustrated. Kudos on the .NET DVD and exam prep CD, although I haven't used the 2nd one yet. There seems to be adequate coverage of both VB .NET and C# but like most .NET material, there seems to be a subtle bias towards the VB language for ASP related material. All-in-all the package is worth the fairly steep price, although you are getting a comprehensive study guide including running versions of the products. Hopefully the rest of the .NET certification series will be as thorough.
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