MTA 98-361 Course Overview

Microsoft Technology Associate
MTA 98-361 Software Development Fundamentals

Candidates for this exam are in the process of expanding their knowledge and skills in the following areas:

o Core programming concepts
o Object-oriented design and programming
o General software development strategies and practices
o Understanding Web applications
o Understanding Windows Forms and console-based applications
o Understanding relational database systems


Exam Review Kit Objective Domain

This Exam Review Kit provides lessons that reinforce previous learning in the following objectives:

1. Understanding Core Programming

    1.1. Understand computer storage and data types.
           This objective may include but is not limited to: how a computer stores programs
          and the instructions in computer memory; memory stacks and heaps; memory size
          requirements for the various data storage types; numeric data and textual data.
     1.2. Understand computer decision structures.
          This objective may include but is not limited to: various decision structures used in
          all computer programming languages; If decision structures; multiple decision
          structures such as If…Else and switch/Select Case; reading flowcharts; decision
          tables; evaluating expressions.
     1.3. Identify the appropriate method for handling repetition.
          This objective may include but is not limited to: For loops, While loops, Do…While
          loops, and recursion.
     1.4. Understand error handling.
          This objective may include but is not limited to: structured exception handling.

2. Understanding Object-Oriented Programming

      2.1. Understand the fundamentals of classes.
          This objective may include but is not limited to: properties, methods, events, and
          constructors; how to create a class; how to use classes in code.
      2.2. Understand inheritance.
          This objective may include but is not limited to: inheriting the functionality of a base
          class into a derived class.
     2.3. Understand polymorphism.
          This objective may include but is not limited to: extending the functionality in a class
          after inheriting from a base class; overriding methods in the derived class.
     2.4. Understand encapsulation.
          This objective may include but is not limited to: creating classes that hide their
          implementation details while still allowing access to the required functionality through
          the interface; access modifiers.

3. Understanding General Software Development

    3.1. Understand application life cycle management.
          This objective may include but is not limited to: phases of application life cycle
          management; software testing.
    3.2. Interpret application specifications.
          This objective may include but is not limited to: reading and translating application
          specifications into prototypes, code, and components.
   3.3. Understand algorithms and data structures.
          This objective may include but is not limited to: arrays, stacks, queues, linked lists, and
          sorting algorithms; performance implications of various data structures; choosing the
          right data structure.
          NOT: algorithm analysis.

4. Understanding Web Applications

    4.1. Understand Web page development.
          This objective may include but is not limited to: HTML, Cascading Style Sheets
           (CSS), JavaScript.
    4.2. Understand Microsoft ASP.NET Web application development.
          This objective may include but is not limited to: page life cycle; event model; state
          management; client-side vs. server-side programming.
    4.3. Understand Web hosting.
          This objective may include but is not limited to: creating virtual directories and Web
          sites; deploying Web applications; understanding the role of Internet Information
          Services.
    4.4. Understand Web services.
          This objective may include but is not limited to: Web services that will be consumed
          by client applications; accessing Web services from a client application; SOAP and
          Web Service Definition Language (WSDL).

5. Understanding Desktop Applications

    5.1. Understand Windows Forms applications.
          This objective may include but is not limited to: Windows Forms event model; visual
          inheritance; UI design; use of Multiple Document Interface (MDI) and Single
          Document Interface (SDI) applications.
    5.2. Understand console-based applications.
          This objective may include but is not limited to: characteristics and capabilities of
          console-based applications.
    5.3. Understand Windows Services.
          This objective may include but is not limited to: characteristics and capabilities of
          Windows Service.

6. Understanding Databases

    6.1. Understand relational database management systems.
          This objective may include but is not limited to: characteristics and capabilities of
          database products; database design; Entity Relationship Diagrams (ERDs);
          normalization concepts.
    6.2. Understand database query methods.
          This objective may include but is not limited to: structured query language (SQL),
          creating and accessing stored procedures, updating data, selecting data.
    6.3. Understand database connection methods.
          This objective may include but is not limited to: connecting to various types of data
          stores such as flat file; XML file; in-memory object; resource optimization.


Authors(Pat Yongpradit, Peggy Fisher, Patricia Philips)

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