Prerequisites

SewerRat · Guest

I'm looking into MCSD.NET certification and wondering what
an appropriate course of study for someone of my
background might be. I have a Bachelor of computer
science that I completed in the early 90's with virtually
no OOP coursework. I'm an NT MCSE and a CCNA employed as
a Network Administrator. I'm ready for a change.

I just bought the MS Core Training kit for .NET and it
seems to assume I know quite a bit of C# or Visual Basic.
Can someone reccommend a decent text that would serve me
well as a primer for the Training Kit and also be a good
C# reference down the line. Also, if you feel there are
other prerequisite studies I should do, let me know what
those might be. Thanks in advance for your replies.

Brad · Guest

Actually if you start with the Windows Applications book from the kit it
covers most of the major elements of C# or VB programming for a beginner,
just give it a chance. But I'm not saying its entirely thorough, and if
you're weak on OO then you may want to start with a regular text that goes
over OOP in some detail. Petzold (you know, the Win32 guru) writes
introductory-style texts for C#. If you're rusty on programming that's
probably you're best route. There are also a little bit better books with
more substance targeted toward more experienced persons, like "Inside C#,
Second Ed." or "C#.NET, Second Ed." and others. For VB I don't know, I try
not to do VB unless I have to. Also use the VS.NET documentation and read
MSDN. You also need to learn some SQL and even a little about Microsoft's
SQL Server and IIS 5.0/6.0 products. Some XML knowledge won't hurt either.
For general SQL you might try the "SQL Bible", or for more Transact-SQL
oriented the "SQL Server 2000 Bible" from the same series, or you could just
read from the SQL Server Books Online, or any number of other SQL or SQL
Server books. There's not much to IIS from a pure development standpoint,
but you need to understand virtual directories a little when you get into
ASP.NET and web services. You can used the evaluation versions of Visual
Studio.NET 2003 and SQL Server 2000 Enterprise Edition, but that only gives
you 90 days. If you enroll in a college course you can get academic pricing
on VS.NET Professional for only $100. The individual products (C#.NET,
VB.NET) can be purchased academically for $60, or $100 off-the-shelf.
There's also SQL Server 2000 Developer Edition, same features as Enterprise
Edition, costs only $50 I think.

Hope some of this helps.

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Hermit Dave · Guest

yeap right on most counts.
Inside C# is a fairly decent book to start with.. got mine with beta 2 from
MS and it did the job.. 2nd edition has easier language (readablity) and
examples that work (the examples in 1st ed were beta 2 centric and a few
things had changed)

use MSDN for reference. it has save me a lot of nights. plus its handy.. and
ofcourse nothing compares to books onlie on SQL Server.
I have used Inside SQL but i think it has a lot of arch overview so you
might not find enough details on Data Definition / Manipulation language ie
TSQL
Get your hands on VS.NET 2003 and SQL Server 2000 to begin with. How and
which version you get is your choice.

I would say if you can manage it go for C# - its cleaner code. it has
beautify of C / C++ and ease of VB (without the ugliness)

VB.NET reminds me of VB and i keep a safe distance using a code converter to
help other people smile

C++.net again reminds me of C++ but more extensions bolted on.

and if you have any queries just give us a shout.
--

Regards,

Hermit Dave
(http://hdave.blogspot.com)
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SewerRat · Guest

Thanks much for taking the time to reply. Glad this forum
is alive. I am sure it will come in as handy as it has
already. I am currently working on SQL 2000 and IIS here,
so I've got some experience with those. I'll probably
pick up a copy of Inside c#, 2nd Ed for a primer on C#
since both of you mentioned it. I get academic pricing on
all my software here so I can avoid college coursework
(kind of like I did for the 7 years I was in college) and
still get the discounts. Thanks again!

Brad · Guest

Here's another little something you might find useful, if you have broadband
access of some sort. About as good as any CBT out there I imagine, and its
totally free. If you attend live, and there are several coming up, you can
even ask questions. Great for you, or any beginners around here. They'll
even get into some advanced stuff.

http://blogs.msdn.com/msdnwebcasts/archive/2004/09/07/226144.aspx

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Brad · Guest

And for anyone else reading this, in case you didn't know, I forgot to
mention, as far as academic pricing, more and more colleges are joining
MSDNAA. If you take a single semester technology course (generally computer
science topic) at an MSDNAA participating school or university, you
generally receive access to their MSDNAA library, which will almost
certainly include downloadable academic copies of VS.NET, SQL Server,
Windows Server 2003, WinXP, Win2000 and dozens of other MS products. Its a
great deal!

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bb · Guest

SewerRat wrote: