The approaches covered here include analyzing business needs and processes and designing component-based solutions so as to minimize programming time and errors. There's also some "softer" material, including information on assembling and managing teams, setting project milestones, tracking progress, and analyzing the opportunity and risk involved in a project. In point of fact, the final Analyzing Requirements exam places more emphasis on specific business situations and the specific capabilities of Microsoft products than on the general software engineering principles that MCSD: Analyzing Requirements covers.

The material included in this book is good, taken on its own. The prose is easy to read and comprehend and is supplemented with plenty of tables, sidebars, and exercises (mostly for pencil and paper) that drive key points home. Each chapter concludes with a quick summary of key points and 20 multiple-choice questions, the answers to which appear in an appendix with some commentary. There's also quiz software on the companion CD- ROM. --David Wall