I just wanted to open up a discussion on it so here it is . I'll be posting updates/corrections/everything else there and if anyone is interested in posting, the floor is open.
Please use the link above (here it is) to post. For some reason there have been problems with the blog engine and this post. I'm looking into it now but posts w/ the article above should work.
UPDATE: 10/15/2006
I've been getting asked a lot of questions about updates. Here's the deal. I have a ticket in with the publisher about the actual delivery date of the updated version but I think it's already out. It should be out already but let me confirm - I'll post back tomorrow or as soon as I hear from them.
Some have asked me about getting the PDF of the updated book if you've already purchased the book. Please contact me privately using the contact link (or use William ryan at gmail dotcom) and we can discuss it there. I also have some new demos and examples available. Chapter 9 is the main place I have changes. unfortunately, 9 was my first chapter and we had a lot of editing changes, shuffled a lot of stuff around and it was just problematic. there's an official verison that was sent back to the publisher but i also have an updated version that was just the way i'd like to have written it. It doesn't follow all of the specific format and placement that was used for the series, but i think it's a lot more concise. You see, if we have 30 items in the objective list, then all 30 need touched upon. However specifically with configuration, you need to basically understand the ConfigurationManager and the WebConfigurationManager first and foremost (this is my personal opinion - and i'm not giving advice on how to take the test - I'm just saying this from a pragmatic point of view). You need to understand how these two objects work respectively. from there a lot of other common configuration features come into play but if you start out with these, I think everything else falls into place. One of the objectives was the IconfigurationsectionHandler interface. I think this was obsolete b/c there's not much reason to use it in the 2.0 framework other than personal taste. But since it was part of the objectives, it had to be covered. Personally, I think there's more important issues worthy of coverage so when I say I have my 'own' version of it, that's the sort of thing I'm referring to. If you want a copy of it, please note the following:
1- It's from Bill Ryan the goofball blogger and his pet cuckoo. This is not from William Ryan the author and is not condoned by Microsoft or anyone else other than me.
2- I think it's a very good way to prepare for the configuration portion of the test. However I'm not qualified to tell people how to study for the exam. Microsoft put a lot of time and money developing the objectives, i didn't. I put a lot of time into learning about the stuff and writing about it but that's it. You only have so much time available to study for the test and pass it. So you can use the book, you can use something else, or you can use my chapter in this case. This 'new' chapter is just something I wrote b/c i wanted to do it differently and with hindsight being different, I thought I could approach it differently. But if you use just this chapter and nothing else, you should reconsider. Keep in mind that while I think this coverage of configuration is optimal, it's optimal for me. I'm someone who's been programming in .NET since 2001. i've been a configuration buff the whole time. i may learn differently then you and I almost assuredly find different things interesting and relevant. If anything, I'd recommend using it as a supplement - not as a substitute.
The truth is that Chapter 9 was one of the ones we had a lot of trouble with. We moved around a lot of things. It was the first chapter I wrote so I was learning the series style guide and the overall process. We had the objectives change in some cases so some things were removed that changed the overall flow. we had things added that had the same effect. In no way am I blaming anyone else- I take full responsiblity. however I know that 9 had some problems. The reprint of the book should have them fixed. But I wanted to address configuration from a pragmatic perspective instead of a technical one. I wanted to show some ways to really take advantage of the new features. I can't tell you if it will help you with the exam, but i can tell you it will help you write more flexible software. I'm taking 53 October 24 so after that, i'll be better poised to discuss if my freestyle version is well suited for test prep or not.
but if you bought a copy of the book and are interested in seeing the new chapter, lemme know and I'll probably be able to get you a copy. i'm finding out the official word on PDFs of the reprint for those of you that bought the book already. In the meantime, if I can help you with something or answer a question, please go ahead and ask. Remember I only wrote 4 of the chapters but I may be able to answer your question and i can certainlyh forward them on. i want everyone to pass this exam and if I can help you, I will. Just use the Contact link above!
