Q&A with William Penberthy, author of "Exam Ref 70-486: Developing ASP.NET MVC 4 Web Applications"
Q. Why is “Exam Ref 70-486: Developing ASP.NET MVC 4 Web Applications” an important book for people to read right now?
A. We are hitting a cycle where more and more applications, both web-based and traditional client-based, are being replaced as they hit the end of their lifespan. There is also an industry trend toward trying to provide users with a single, web-based application that supports many different viewing platforms; including desktop, tablet, and mobile. ASP.NET MVC 4 provides support for all of these different clients out of the box with a powerful, yet extremely easy-to-use, platform that allows for rapid development and easy testing. ASP.NET MVC 4 also supports client side-technologies such as jQuery and Knockout.js that help developers build rich and interactive user interfaces. This book is timely because it takes a higher-level look at implementing the technology in the context of common business problems. It is not a coding book, but more of a design and approach book that helps experienced developers predict and manage potential problems.
Q. What will readers walk away with after reading “Exam Ref 70-486: Developing ASP.NET MVC 4 Web Applications?”
A. The 70-486 is not a traditional Microsoft test, so this book is not a traditional exam prep guide. First and foremost, this book is designed to help experienced developers be successful when taking the test. After that, the most important information in the book revolves around the “when” and “how” various aspects of ASP.NET MVC 4 can be implemented. The book may not tell you how to do everything in ASP.NET MVC 4, it instead acts as a guide to what can be done and when a particular approach makes sense when looking at the bigger picture. ASP.NET is almost frighteningly flexible and customizable, if you can think of something that may need to be done; there is more than likely a way to do it.