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Whizlabs MCSD .NET 70-316 Certification Primer
The Internet F-WordFor the last several months I've been collecting and organizing links for the free Christian Resource .....
With .NET, Microsoft is also espousing a vision, this time about
how the Internet can make businesses more efficient and deliver
services to consumers. The present enterprise setup's need to
have n-tier architecture with diverse platforms and object
models communicating with each other. The present applications
are to be created such that those applications have to run in
any platform (like Windows, Linux, Mac, Unix etc.) and which
consist of components written in many programming languages and
object models.
Many language vendors have tried to upgrade their languages, but
there is a limit to which they have been successful since they
have to maintain backward capability and face many other
problems too. To solve the problem of the current programmers
Microsoft has come with a very promising solution "The .NET
Platform".
.NET provides a number of benefits that will make developers
more productive, reduce the number of bugs, speed application
development, and simplify deployment. IT managers are
understandably wary, since .NET is a new technology that
requires a moderately steep learning curve. For most
organizations, however, the benefits will far outweigh the
negatives; and with .NET, you'll see great productivity gains
for future development projects.
.NET certification is the premier credential for professionals
who design and develop leading-edge business solutions with
Microsoft .NET development tools, technologies and platforms.
You might want to consider taking the MCSD 70-316 exam to: Gain
valuable skills, knowledge and expertise Raise your income
Increase your job opportunities Earn more respect from your
peers Improve your job security
Earning a Microsoft certification acknowledges your expertise in
working with Microsoft products and technologies and sets you
apart from the crowd as a development professional. Microsoft
certification demonstrates that you have the ability to
successfully implement Microsoft business solutions for your
organization or client. This article will provide a basic
understanding of the scope of the certification and will also
give details about the certification along with the useful
resources to get started. What you need to know for MCSD 70-316?
As a competent developer, you should be proficient in creating
Windows applications that have a smooth look and feel.
In the Exam 70-316, Microsoft tests your skills on developing
Windows based applications with VS.NET/C# on seven objectives.
Exam Objectives Weightage of Questions
1) Creating User Services 15 % 2) Creating and Managing
Components and .NET Assemblies 18% 3) Consuming and Manipulating
Data 20% 4) Testing and Debugging 12% 5) Deploying a
Windows-based Application18% 6) Maintaining and Supporting a
Windows-based Application5% 7) Configuring and Securing a
Windows-based Application12%
For a detailed break up of topics covered in the MCSD .Net
70-316 exam, you can visit the Microsoft certification web page.
The above certification page will provide you with a bird's eye
view of the skills you should focus on. During the course of
this article I'll point you to resources where you can go and
read up on the skills listed on this page. The Skills being
measured section of the page has the break up of the seven
objectives as to which skills will be measured in the exam.
Microsoft's exam 70-316, "Developing and Implementing
Windows-based Applications with Microsoft Visual C# .NET and
Microsoft Visual Studio .NET", is a core requirement for the
MCSD (Microsoft Certified Solution Developer) for Microsoft .NET
certification and is a core or elective requirement for the MCAD
(Microsoft Certified Application Developer) for Microsoft .NET
certification. It is designed for candidates who "work on a team
in a medium or large development environment that uses Microsoft
Visual Studio .NET, Enterprise Developer Edition."
The MCSD 70-316 exam measures your ability to develop and
implement Windows-based applications by using Windows Forms and
the Microsoft .NET Framework. Candidates have at least one year
of experience developing Windows-based applications. Candidates
should have a working knowledge of Microsoft Visual C# .NET.
MCSD 70-316 Exam Specifics
All the questions are Multiple Choice Questions and the total
number of questions in the exam ranges from 55 to 60. The time
allotted is 150-175 minutes. This exam is moderately difficult
and costs 125 USD. It may be taken from Pearson Vue or Thomson
Prometric. Previously, Microsoft used to provide only Pass/Fail
status for the MCSD 70-316 exam, but now 700 is the minimum
score required. Microsoft has also incorporated a new style of
question where you get a split-screen. The question is at the
very top, drag-and-drop items on the bottom left and
configuration screens on the bottom right. You will have plenty
of time to answer the exam questions, so there is no need to
rush. If you have spare time available, you can double check the
questions and ensure that you have read them correctly and
actually answered the question as intended.
What you need to do to pass MCSD 70-316 exam? First, you should
get involved in overview of .NET framework and also identify the
tools and services provided by .NET framework. After getting
familiar with the tool and services available, you need to get
well versed with the windows forms. To get started on Windows
forms you can read the article available on MSDN. It'll give you
a good introduction to Windows Forms.
.NET is completely object oriented. It is likely that you will
see a question or two on OOP concepts. You need to get a through
understanding of OOP Concepts like Encapsulation, Polymorphism,
Exceptional Handling etc. Interoperability is an important area
to focus on while preparing for MCSD 70-316 exam. Active X
controls of the pre .NET age are not directly supported by
Winforms but they are completely re-usable using wrapper
classes. You will be asked a question or two on the
accessibility features of Windows for the physically challenged
users.
After getting familiar with user services, you should get
familiar with how to create and manage components. This involves
dealing with how to create and manipulate .NET assemblies. In
this regard satellite assemblies seem to be one of the favorites
of Microsoft for MCSD 70-316 Exam. So you may get some questions
related to satellite assemblies and not to mention, resource
assemblies also.
When it comes to manipulating data in .NET, there are two
sources of data you would widely be dealing with - XML &
Relational Databases. You will be using ADO.NET to interact with
relational databases. A good grasp on ADO.NET is very essential
for clearing this paper. MSDN provides you an article that gives
you a good overview of ADO.NET.
I will also recommend Professional ADO.NET from Wrox
Publications as a good resource. Professional C# also has a very
good section on ADO.NET.
Another objective checked in the 70-316 exam mainly concentrates
on your familiarity with the Visual Studio .NET debugger. You
need to have a clear understanding of the tools provided by
Visual Studio .NET for debugging the application. Apart from
Visual Studio .NET this section largely stresses upon Tracing.
Tracing is a feature by which you can write logs to a particular
location (could be a text file). You can change the level of
tracing you want to perform in a live production environment.
One of the advantages of using Visual Studio .NET is the ease of
deploying an application. There are many deployment options
available in .NET and you must have a clear understanding of
using these deployment options. You will get many scenario-based
questions in which your understanding of deployment options will
be checked.
There will be a few questions that stress more on optimizing
code/deployment to increase performance.
Configuring a Windows application is also one of the areas that
will be tested and you need to have an understanding about the
configuration options available. MSDN provides an article that
gives useful information about the configuration options.
Security is one of the key considerations of any application.
Microsoft has taken a great initiative to give many options to
secure the .NET application. You must ensure that you have a
thorough understanding about the security policy and also about
the tools available in .NET to secure the application.
Tips and Pitfalls for MCSD 70-316 Exam Roadmaps to the skills
development and career opportunities that the Microsoft .NET
platform provides for developers and recommended learning
pathways through Official Microsoft Learning Products and
Microsoft Press books are available now. In addition to your
hands-on experience working with the product, you may want to
take advantage of the tools and training on the Get Started with
Microsoft Visual Studio .NET Development page to help you
prepare.
Dos and Don'ts during the exam and while preparing for it
Dynamic control creation is important to know. Microsoft is
focusing more on user-driven content than static content with
.NET. Make sure you understand how to create .NET satellite
assemblies and localized components. A portion of this has to do
with what operating system name and version you have, but there
are specific steps you can take to package and deploy your
application properly. Focus your data studies on what works
optimally with SQL Server.
Brush up on stored procedures if you're a little rusty.
Understand the different types of SQL Server authentication as
well as the different types of authentication offered by Windows
operating systems. Sure you can pick out code errors when given
examples. Specifically, know how to resolve looping errors,
import errors, and general syntax errors.
Make sure you understand Windows Installer technology and how it
relates to applications written in Visual Studio .NET. If you're
not a developer who's focused on enterprise-based applications,
you may not have a lot of exposure to localization and
globalization of software. This is one area where Microsoft
believes a certified developer should have a significant
background.
Make sure you understand how security works in .NET. Understand
which accounts have privileges to run which sections of code.
Although it may be a little bit of work, study the .NET policy
extensions and how they fit into the operating systems your
company is running. We must not forget legacy environments.
Make sure you brush up on ActiveX controls from Visual Studio
6.0. Know how to instantiate the control and work with it in the
new environment. It is especially important to understand how
legacy components interact with the .NET development
environment.
Learn how to use the DataSet object to generate XML and vice
versa. You should know how to create schemas and validate the
data, as well as create strongly typed datasets. Overall, you
are expected to have a thorough understanding of XML as in .NET
to succeed in MCSD 70-316 exam. Conclusion With Microsoft
targeting all its future applications on .NET and companies
adopting the Microsoft new initiative, it is quite obvious that
.NET is going to pave its way for the future and will be
Microsoft's weapon for its future vision. .NET is a major leap
of Microsoft with intranet in mind. Getting knowledge of .NET
and eventually the MCSD .NET certification will certainly help
you in maintaining consistency with the future releases of
Microsoft. Useful Resources Books
Following good books are available at the time of writing this
document, which are written specifically from MCP exam point of
view.
MCAD/MCSD Self-Paced Training Kit: Developing Windows-Based
Applications with Microsoft Visual Basic.NET and Microsoft
Visual C#.NET, Second Edition by Matthew A. Stoecker/Microsoft
MCAD/MCSD Training Guide (70-316): Developing and Implementing
Windows-Based Applications with Visual C# and Visual Studio .NET
by Amit Kalani MCAD/MCSD EXAM (70-316) QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS,
WITH HANDS ON LABS, Developping WINDOWS APPLICATIONS WITH Visual
C# [eBook: Adobe Reader] by Mike Wright
Other than these, following are some good books on the subject:
Programming C#, Third Edition by Jesse Liberty
Windows Forms Programming in C# by Chris Sells Professional
C#, Second Edition by Simon Robinson, K. Scott Allen, Ollie
Cornes, Jay Glynn, Zach Greenvoss, Burton Harvey, Christian
Nagel, Morgan Skinner, Karli Watson Microsoft Visual C# .NET
Language Reference by Microsoft Corporation Inside C#, Second
Edition by Tom Archer, Andrew Whitechapel
C# and the .NET Platform, Second Edition by Andrew Troelsen
When you are ready to prepare for MCSD 70-316 exam, here's where
you should start.
Instructor-led Courses for this exam include:
Course 2389: Programming with Microsoft ADO .NET Course 2555:
Developing Microsoft .NET Applications for Windows (Visual C#
.NET) Microsoft Online Resources
TechNet: Designed for IT professionals, this site includes
How-to's, best practices, downloads, technical chats, and much
more. MSDN: The Microsoft Developer Network (MSDN) is a
reference for developers, featuring code samples, technical
articles, newsgroups, chats, and more. Training & Certification
Newsgroups: A newsgroup exists for every Microsoft
certification. By participating in the ongoing dialogue, you
take advantage of a unique opportunity to exchange ideas with
and ask questions of others, including more than 750 Microsoft
Most Valuable Professionals (MVPs) worldwide.
Apart from that, there are other useful sites as follows:
www.Gotdotnmet.com www.codeproject.com www.csharpcorner.com
www.developer.com www.mcpmag.com
Exam Simulators Whizlabs, the market leader in IT Certification
Exam Preparation, provides MCSD .NET 70-316 Exam Simulator. The
simulator is quite useful and effective in fine-tuning your
preparation within a limited timeframe. Certification Forums
Certification forums are a very good resource to align you
preparation with your peers. Whizlabs MCSD .NET Certification
Forum facilitates such a platform for you to succeed in the
70-316 exam and enhance your learning experience.
About the author:
Whizlabs (www.whizlabs.com), an ISO Certified company, is a
leading provider of IT skill assessment and certification exam
preparation tools. Whizlabs offerings have fuelled the career
growth of IT professionals working in 321 Fortune 500 companies
spread in 118 countries across the globe. The author can be
contacted at authors@whizlabs.com
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