COBOL to MCSD?

Hi all. Any help for an "old" COBOL programmer going for
his MCSD certification? I have just started and actually
have MSVS .NET installed and attached to a SQL Server 2K
database. I am just finding myself struggling
tremendously with the newer technologies. Not only the
terminology, but applying concepts too? Has anyone out
gone through what I am attempting to go through? Any
pointers for me? All I know to do is to study my .....
off! Any comments are greatly appreciated!

Thanks,
Karl

Karl Kuhrt

Are you new to Windows development in general? If so, then you may want
to postpone working toward a certification until you have at least 2 years
of expereince learning the basics. The MCSD certification track is not
intended to be a training program.
While there probably are a lot of companies wanting to port their legacy
COBOL applications to dotnet, you will want to focus your learning on
ASP.NET and C#. You can learn a lot by studying articles and sample projects
from websites like www.msdn.com and www.gotdotnet.com.


"Karl Kuhrt" <> wrote in message
news:078a01c39937$d1a52d20$...
> Hi all. Any help for an "old" COBOL programmer going for
> his MCSD certification? I have just started and actually
> have MSVS .NET installed and attached to a SQL Server 2K
> database. I am just finding myself struggling
> tremendously with the newer technologies. Not only the
> terminology, but applying concepts too? Has anyone out
> gone through what I am attempting to go through? Any
> pointers for me? All I know to do is to study my .....
> off! Any comments are greatly appreciated!
>
> Thanks,
> Karl

A business partner of mine was in the same boat. He's been a hardcore COBOL
programmer from who knows when...

Check out the APress site (http://www.apress.com), they have a great book he
worked through. I reviewed it for him to make sure the content was
applicable. It covers a lot of important material including things like
COM+. The nice thing is, is that it uses COBOL as a reference point in
teaching VB.NET and .NET.

Here's the apress link:
http://apress.com/book/bookDisplay.html?bID=112

The link to Amazon (ignore the bad review...):
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...stomer-reviews

HTH,

--
Leigh Kendall MCSD, MCDBA


"Karl Kuhrt" <> wrote in message
news:078a01c39937$d1a52d20$...
> Hi all. Any help for an "old" COBOL programmer going for
> his MCSD certification? I have just started and actually
> have MSVS .NET installed and attached to a SQL Server 2K
> database. I am just finding myself struggling
> tremendously with the newer technologies. Not only the
> terminology, but applying concepts too? Has anyone out
> gone through what I am attempting to go through? Any
> pointers for me? All I know to do is to study my .....
> off! Any comments are greatly appreciated!
>
> Thanks,
> Karl

Leigh Kendall

I think if you do a lot of reading and play with the program everyday you
can do it, I don't believe that you have to know a certain amount first, at
one point none of us knew anything, everyone has to start somewhere, go for
it.
"Karl Kuhrt" <> wrote in message
news:078a01c39937$d1a52d20$...
> Hi all. Any help for an "old" COBOL programmer going for
> his MCSD certification? I have just started and actually
> have MSVS .NET installed and attached to a SQL Server 2K
> database. I am just finding myself struggling
> tremendously with the newer technologies. Not only the
> terminology, but applying concepts too? Has anyone out
> gone through what I am attempting to go through? Any
> pointers for me? All I know to do is to study my .....
> off! Any comments are greatly appreciated!
>
> Thanks,
> Karl

Jaime

Hey Karl . . .

I've made the transition you're attempting - - you will probably want to
ask more than a question or two - - you can email me directly at the
following address if you remove the string 'cobol' and the internal blank
spaces from the address.

cobolemg nospam@com cast.net

emg

"Karl Kuhrt" <> wrote in message
news:078a01c39937$d1a52d20$...
> Hi all. Any help for an "old" COBOL programmer going for
> his MCSD certification? I have just started and actually
> have MSVS .NET installed and attached to a SQL Server 2K
> database. I am just finding myself struggling
> tremendously with the newer technologies. Not only the
> terminology, but applying concepts too? Has anyone out
> gone through what I am attempting to go through? Any
> pointers for me? All I know to do is to study my .....
> off! Any comments are greatly appreciated!
>
> Thanks,
> Karl

emg

>The MCSD certification track is not
>intended to be a training program.

Very true - no experience required.

Kline Sphere

Before such an understating, ensure you get good understanding of
object oriented software development process.

Being a cobol bob, I'm sure you have a good idea of 'traditional'
software development processes. Well, an object oriented approach
simplifies the whole development process when conducted correctly.

Although you don't need to understand anything about oo in order to
pass these exams, you will if you want to take it to the next level
and earn a good living in a dot net environment.


>Hi all. Any help for an "old" COBOL programmer going for
>his MCSD certification? I have just started and actually
>have MSVS .NET installed and attached to a SQL Server 2K
>database. I am just finding myself struggling
>tremendously with the newer technologies. Not only the
>terminology, but applying concepts too? Has anyone out
>gone through what I am attempting to go through? Any
>pointers for me? All I know to do is to study my .....
>off! Any comments are greatly appreciated!
>
> Thanks,
> Karl

Kline Sphere

lol
"Kline Sphere" <-> wrote in message
news:...
> >The MCSD certification track is not
> >intended to be a training program.
>
> Very true - no experience required.

Jaime

Get the videos from this site:
www.learnvisualstudio.net

They are for your PC - you get to see the desktop as the instructor
walks you thru various menus and shows you how to build applications.

Eric

Eric Engler

Hi,
Thanks for the reply. I will definitely be emailing
you. I am just starting this process, so we will see
where we go. I was just happy to get the software
installed and attached a SQL Server db to the VS
application.
Thanks again,
Karl
>-----Original Message-----
>Hey Karl . . .
>
>I've made the transition you're attempting - - you will
probably want to
>ask more than a question or two - - you can email me
directly at the
>following address if you remove the string 'cobol' and
the internal blank
>spaces from the address.
>
>cobolemg nospam@com cast.net
>
>emg
>
>"Karl Kuhrt" <> wrote in message
>news:078a01c39937$d1a52d20$...
>> Hi all. Any help for an "old" COBOL programmer going
for
>> his MCSD certification? I have just started and
actually
>> have MSVS .NET installed and attached to a SQL Server
2K
>> database. I am just finding myself struggling
>> tremendously with the newer technologies. Not only the
>> terminology, but applying concepts too? Has anyone out
>> gone through what I am attempting to go through? Any
>> pointers for me? All I know to do is to study my .....
>> off! Any comments are greatly appreciated!
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Karl
>
>
>.
>

karl