ASP.NET MVC is great, but one thing I’ve had trouble with is finding information. I’ve wasted many hours searching for documentation or solutions to specific problems. It’s much easier to find good documentation on ASP.NET Web Forms and JavaScript. This difficulty is compounded by the fact that I’m currently preparing to take Exam 70-486. I have found a number of useful resources to help other get up to speed on ASP.NET MVC.

Video:

Developing ASP.NET MVC4 Web Applications Jump Start

This is an eight part course that’s great for learning the basics of ASP.NET MVC. It’s high level, but I found it useful. The class is done by the Microsoft Virtual Academy, which has free videos on a large number of subjects.

Web:

Born To Learn: 486 Wiki

This site has a ton of information about MVC and the exam.

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/asp.net-mvc

When I was primarily working in Web Forms, my first stop for development information was MSDN. For MVC, I find myself getting most of my information from Stack Overflow.

Books:

Programming ASP.NET MVC 4: Developing Real-World Web Applications with ASP.NET MVC

This is an excellent book that covers almost all practical aspects of building ASP.NET MVC applications. In addition to the basics, it includes information on architecture, optimization, build automation, and deployment. I reference this book often at work. I highly recommend it.

Exam Ref 70-486: Developing ASP.NET MVC 4 Web Applications

This book has proven to be less useful than the O’Reilly book above. This book covers all of the exam objectives, but some of the chapters are filler and reading this book alone will not give you enough information to pass the exam or build ASP.NET MVC applications. The previous book is a much better source of information.  I wouldn’t recommend it for anything other than prepping for the exam.

Written by Dustin Ewers who lives and works in Southern Wisconsin. GitHub | Twitter | LinkedIn