Publisher:	Murach Press
Author:	Anne Boehm
Paperback:	707 pages
Level:	Beginner through Advanced
Readability:	Layout:	Examples:

Murach ADO.NET 3.5 , LINQ, and the Entity Framework with VB 2008 is an excellent book for anyone developing Visual Basic database applications for .NET. The book assumes that the reader has a basic understanding of VB.NET. In keeping with the books from Murach Press, the book is very readable and loaded with good examples. Throughout the book, the author develops a Payables application.

As Microsoft adds more ways to access the database, it becomes harder to know which approach you should use. I haven’t seen any other book that covers ADO.NET 3.5, LINQ, and Entity framework as thoroughly as this book does.

While the book starts with the basics of relational databases, using SQL Server, and ADO.NET 3.5, it goes beyond the typical ADO.NET /databinding examples The initial examples show this simplistic client server approach done purely with the VS designer and the later chapters expand the concepts to show how to take advantage of the designer tools while creating a 3 tier application. Even more advanced concepts such as transactions and managing concurrency problems are covered.

The section on LINQ covers:

• Introduction to LINQ
• LINQ to Datasets
• LINQ to SQL
• LINQ to XML

The section on the Entity Framework explains how to create an Entity Data Model, how to use the Mapping Details window, and alternative approaches to working with the Entity Data Model such as LINQ to Entities and Entity SQL.

In summary, I would highly recommend this book. It is easy to read and has lots of real life practical examples with code showing how these 3 different technologies can be used in database application development.

Publisher:	Murach Press
Author:	Anne Boehm
Paperback:	764 pages
Level:	Beginner through Intermediate
Readability:	Layout:	Examples:

Publisher:	Microsoft Press
Author:	Matthew Stoecker and Steven Stein
Hardcover:	765 pages
Level:	Beginner through Advanced
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This is an excellent way to prepare for the 70-526 exam. This training kit had all of the things that I expect from a training kit. It includes a 765 page book and a CD with the text of the book in pdf format, the code samples, and test preparation software.

The book thoroughly covers developing client applications with .NET 2.0. Each chapter starts with an overview and exam objectives being covered in the chapter. To tie together the theoretical with the practical, the authors made liberal use of screenshots, code, and practice labs describing the concepts and showing the reader how to complete the task that is associated with the concept. Chapters are broken up into lessons and each lesson concludes with questions to answer.  The answers are in the back of the book.

The end of most chapters provide a good overview of the material and are a good way to determine if you have learned the material. They have the following:

• Chapter Summary - an overview of the main concepts covered
• Terms - New terms introduced in the chapter that the reader should be able to define
• Case scenarios - for the reader to complete
• Suggested Practices - tasks for the reader to complete

The CD included in the kit contains exam prep software with 300 questions. The software can be configured to simulate a certification exam or can be configured for study. In the study mode, numerous test parameters can be configured such as number of questions, lessons covered, and time allotted. Click on read more for a more detailed description of what is covered in the book.

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Author:	Scott Mitchell
Paperback:	641 pages
Level:	Beginner
Readability:	Layout:	Examples:

This book is aimed at the entry level ASP.NET developer. It does a decent job of covering the technology and discussing the various components required from the server, IIS, and browser perspective. The emphasis of the book is on the How-To and not on the why or theory behind the how. If you are a hard core .NET developer, this book is not for you. However, if you are new to ASP.NET you might find this approach useful.

The book is broken up into 24 one hour chapters. Each hour includes the text of the chapter, a summary, a Q&A, and a workshop which has quizzes with answers and exercises. This is an excellent format for the active learner.

Author:	Joel Murach and Anne Boehm
Paperback:	841 pages
Level:	Beginner to intermediate
Readability:	Layout:	Examples:

This is an excellent book for entry to mid level ASP.NET developers. It is a well written book with good examples including the development of an online store. I was extremely impressed by the previous Murach book I had read, "Murach’s Beginning Visual Basic.NET", so I was slightly disappointed when I read this one. Note that my disappointment was based on my extremely high expectations and not because the book was bad. Quite the contrary, it was a good book to get someone up to speed quickly on ASP.NET. I just wish they had included the objectives and exercises which I found so useful in the other book. I guess I can't be too harsh about this because very few books include these.

Author:	Anne Prince
Paperback:	724 pages
Level:	Beginner
Readability:	Layout:	Examples:

This book is designed for the entry level developer.  It is well laid out and follows a logical progression that gives a quick overview of VB.NET. It covers the important concepts, but avoids including so much detail that would confuse an entry level developer. In my opinion, this is one of the best VB.NET books when it comes to getting an entry level developer up and running quickly with VB.NET 1.0 or 1.1.