Exam 98-361:

Software Development Fundamentals

Published:	August 02, 2010
Language(s):	English
Audience(s):	Academic
Technology:	Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition
Type:	Proctored Exam

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Overview

Preparing for an Exam

The Microsoft Certification website and this preparation guide contain a variety of resources to help you prepare for an exam. Preparing for and Taking an Exam — FAQ provides answers to frequently asked questions about exam registration ,preparation ,scoring ,and policies , including:

The most effective way to prepare to take an exam.
The relationship between Microsoft training materials and exam content.
Microsoft policy concerning the incorporation of service pack and revision updates into exam content.
Exam question types and formats.
Exam time limits and number of questions asked.

We recommend that you review this preparation guide in its entirety and familiarize yourself with the FAQs and resources on the Microsoft Certification website before you schedule your exam.

Audience Profile

This exam is designed to provide candidates with an assessment of their knowledge of fundamental software development concepts. It can also serve as a stepping stone to the Microsoft Certified Technology Specialist exams.

Candidates for this exam are seeking to prove core software development skills. Before taking this exam, candidates should have a solid foundational knowledge of the topics outlined in this preparation guide. It is recommended that candidates be familiar with the concepts of and have hands-on experience with the technologies described here either by taking relevant training courses or by working with tutorials and samples available on MSDN and in Microsoft Visual Studio.

Note This preparation guide is subject to change at any time without prior notice and at the sole discretion of Microsoft. Microsoft exams might include adaptive testing technology and simulation items. Microsoft does not identify the format in which exams are presented. Please use this preparation guide to prepare for the exam, regardless of its format.

Skills Measured

Skills Being MeasuredThis exam measures your ability to accomplish the technical tasks listed below.The percentages indicate the relative weight of each major topic area on the exam.The higher the percentage, the more questions you are likely to see on that content area on the exam.

The information after “This objective may include but is not limited to” is intended to further define or scope the objective by describing the types of skills and topics that may be tested for the objective. However, it is not an exhaustive list of skills and topics that could be included on the exam for a given skill area. You may be tested on other skills and topics related to the objective that are not explicitly listed here.

Understanding Core Programming (18 percent)

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

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

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

Understand error handling.

This objective may include but is not limited to: structured exception handling

Understanding Object-Oriented Programming (19 percent)

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

Understand inheritance.

This objective may include but is not limited to: inheriting the functionality of a base class into a derived class

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

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

Understanding General Software Development (14 percent)

Understand application life cycle management.

This objective may include but is not limited to: phases of application life cycle management; software testing

Interpret application specifications.

Thiss objective may include but is not limited to: reading application specifications and translating them into prototypes, code, and components

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

Understanding Web Applications (20 percent)

Understand Web page development.

This objective may include but is not limited to: HTML, Cascading Style Sheets (CSS), JavaScript

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

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

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)

Understanding Desktop Applications (12 percent)

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 [and here] (SDI) applications

Understand console-based applications.

This objective may include but is not limited to: characteristics and capabilities of console-based applications

Understand Windows Services.

This objective may include but is not limited to: characteristics and capabilities of Windows Services

Understanding Databases (17 percent)

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

Understand database query methods.

This objective may include but is not limited to: structured query language (SQL), creating and accessing stored procedures, updating data and selecting data

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

Preparation Materials

Preparation Tools and ResourcesTo help you prepare for this exam, Microsoft Learning recommends that you have hands-on experience with the product and that you use the following training resources. These training resources do not necessarily cover all of the topics listed in the "Skills Measured" tab.

Learning Plans and Classroom Training