Experienced .NET developers know there are five different visibility levels. As a best practice, you should always specify the visibility levels for all custom types and their members. If you decide not to set it or forget, the visibility level will default to a value based on three factors - what it is, the .NET language you are using, and its location.

Java developers aren't allowed to be lazy about this; they must specify the visibility for all types and members. Java does not include default visibility levels, per se. By not using a visibility modifier, Java developers are (in effect) assigning default package level visibility - similar to .NET's internal or Friend visibility levels. The big difference is that this is the only way they can assign this visibility level - by not assigning it at all!

Do you think you know all the default visibility levels for your .NET language? Let's take a quiz! I recommend you take the quiz for both languages because the answers will be different for C# and VB.

The following code examples were created by lazy VB/C# developers. None of the visibility levels were specified; they were defined using default values. What are they?

Here is the C# example:

class Greet
{
    event EventHandler GreetCreated;

    class Inner
    {
        class InnerChild { }
    }

    enum Honorific
    {
        Miss,
        Mr,
        Mrs,
        Ms
    }

    string sName = string.Empty;

    string Hello(string fullname, Honorific hon)
    {
        sName = fullname;
        if (GreetCreated != null)
            GreetCreated(this, new EventArgs());
        return string.Format("Hello, {0}. {1}!", hon, sName);
    }
}

Pick from the following five answers for the following questions:
A. public
B. protected internal
C. protected
D. internal
E. private

CS1. What is the visibility of the Greet class?
CS2. What is the visibility of the GreetCreated event?
CS3. What is the visibility of the Inner class?
CS4. What is the visibility of the InnerChild class?
CS5. What is the visibility of the Honorific enum?
CS6. What is the visibility of the sName field?
CS7. What is the visibility of the Hello method?

Here is the VB example:

Class Greet
    Event GreetCreated()

    Class Inner
        Class InnerChild
        End Class
    End Class

    Enum Honorific
        Miss
        Mr
        Mrs
        Ms
    End Enum

    Dim sName As String = String.Empty

    Function Hello(ByVal fullname As String,
                   ByVal hon As Honorific) As String
        sName = fullname
        RaiseEvent GreetCreated()
        Return String.Format("Hello, {0}. {1}!", hon, sName)
    End Function
End Class

As always, Microsoft continues to improve their certification program to increase its legitimacy in the computer industry. They continue to offer new certification exams for the latest Microsoft technologies. They also retire older exams for unsupported products. An earned certification title may help a potential employee get a first interview. Microsoft's partners use their employees' certifications to prove their relevance to the partner program as well as to demonstrate their cutting edge skills to their customers.

Recently Microsoft has implemented some new changes, such as:
-    An updated certification transcript
-    Every certification title will have a serial number
-    Every certification title will have an "Inactive" date
-    Exam cost is increasing

The latest update you may have noticed while looking at your certification transcript (https://mcp.microsoft.com/mcp/) is that the page has been updated to now include color with a much nicer layout of the earned titles and passed exams. It it easier to read and is much more professional looking.

As well, Microsoft's latest step to increase the relevance of their certification program is by getting their certification program certified. Yes - Microsoft is working to make their certification program ISO/IEC 17024 compliant. Learn more about it here: http://www.iso.org/iso/pressrelease.htm?refid=Ref847

What does this mean to folks who are working on or have achieved Microsoft certifications? To be compliant with the ISO program, each earned designation must be assigned a certification number. This is fine; it seems to make the transcripts look more professional. However, it also requires each of the hard earned certifications to come with an "Inactive Date."

The Inactive date field is not a decertification date but rather a note to potential employers, partners, and customers that the certification title is still valid yet holds much less relevance in today's IT market. The Inactive date of a title is based on the Microsoft product life cycles and their support dates.

If two newer versions of a product (for example, Windows Server 2000, 2003, 2008) already exist, then it comes down to the mainstream and extended support ending dates. You can look up the support life cycle of any Microsoft product you may be certified in here: http://support.microsoft.com/lifecycle/

This new rule has become highly controversial amongst IT professionals. The word, Inactive, hardly seems to denote less significance but rather seems to indicate Decertification instead, which Microsoft promises that it certainly does not. Questions are raised such as, "Why study for hours and spend $125 to attempt and hopefully pass a Microsoft exam to only have that certification be marked as inactive in a few years?" As a certified professional myself, I'd like to see Microsoft pull out their thesaurus (Shift-F7 in Word) and come up with a better term. Interestingly, Microsoft will at least also allow us to decide which certification titles/exams to display on the transcript sharing site.

This brings us to the last update - the increased price. Starting July 1st, 2011, Microsoft is increasing their exam costs to $150.00 per attempt in the United States. In other countries, the increase will be higher or lower. I remember when Microsoft last increased the exam cost in the late '90s from $100 to $125 with their only reason being "All other companies are increasing their exam cost to $125 so I guess we will as well." Learn more here: http://www.microsoft.com/learning/cert-pricing/

So what do you think? Is Microsoft increasing the relevancy of their certifications by adding the Inactive date and by increasing exam costs? Would a potential employer read the term inactive as "a seasoned veteran" or someone who is "behind the times?" Will more or less people pursue certification? Please let us know what you think and thank you for reading. Good luck on your certifications goals.