5 comments about Visual Basic 6 Certification Exam Guide.

1. ... but not enough for the exam.

   This book is great for a relatively inexperienced programmer to quickly expand their knowledge with examples.

   Its biggest flaw is that it really is not sufficient, on its own, to prepare for the exam certification. The cover states "Everything you need to pass Microsoft's Visual Basic 6 Certification Exam". The "blurb" on the cover is, in my opinion, overly ambitious and the contents do not fully realise this ambition. If you are interested in the Microsoft Certification, then this book is a useful supplement only. You will need to have another serious reference with this "guide" serving as backup.

   If you are inexperienced and starting a new job as a VB programmer this is an excellent way to rapidly ramp up your knowledge and experience and a very useful reference. However, once you are up to speed and want to take your knowledge to the next level, even just for certification, you will then see the limitations of this "All in one" book.

   THE BOTTOM LINE - if you want it to rapidly expand your basic VB programming experience this performs well, however, if you do want a complete "VB Certification" book to prepare you for the MCP's, this is DEFINITELY NOT the book for you unless you want it to supplement your study of another book/course.




2. Covers a wide range of topics and not baby-sits reader with small and obvious details. Could have earn five stars if cover more on database access. I have to buy a separate book just for database.



3. covers a wide range of topics and not baby-sits reader with small and obvious details. Could have earn five stars if cover more on database access. I have to buy a separate book just for database.



4. This book ROCKS! And The Author ROCKS! A well presened, well written book on Dan Mezick's part. Its exercises and demonstrations laid a firm foundation in the fundamentals of Visual Basic. Never a dull moment, This book written by the most experienced, entertaining, captivating authors in the technology market. The only thing that comes even close to this book is seeing Mezick presenting live, but thats a scary proposition in it self!



5. Want to get certified. This can't be your only source and hope to pass. Mixing the 175&176 subjects is confusing for study but all in all it provides good coverage of most subject matter included on the test. Sample test is not a good reflection of the actual exam so WATCH OUT. If you want to pass the certs get this book (to start with), a certified practice exam and read ALOT of the MSDN information.

No comments about 32 Basic Programs for the TI 99/4a Computer: Programs for Either TI Basic or TI Extended Basic.

No comments about Building Interoperable Web Services using the WS-I Basic Profile 1.0 (Patterns & Practices).

1 comments about Graphics Programming With Visual Basic/Book and Disk.

1. Of the many books on Graphics with VB this actually has a great theme where you build a paint box with all the bells and whistles. It is also one of the best at showing how to use the Windows APIs.

   Unfortunately the book is poorely organized and confusing in terms of how to merge the pieces you want together. It also badly needs updating to cover using more of the later techniques available in VB 6, etc.

   After programming VB for almost 10 years I found it very helpful for an Active X plugin to create customized graphics for a client. I had to type the code rather than rely on the floppy slowing down my development because the code was not documented The variable name changes were hard to follow from app to app. Also way to much time was spent on Bezier curves.

   Rob Stewart its time for an updated version!

3 comments about Distributed .NET Programming in VB .NET.

1. I have been working with .Net Remoting for a couple months and this book has more detailed information in it, than I could find anywhere. Not only did it help reinforce the fundamentals of remoting, it explores many advanced topics and gives easy to follow examples. The approach is practical and direct even with difficult topics. This book saved me hours of time by explaining in depth delegates and remote callbacks. I highly suggest this book for anyone working with remoting, web services or other distributed programming topics.

   Also, the code used in the examples can be downloaded from the book's website in C# or VB.NET.




2. When I first started reading this book, I thought "Oh no - 3 chapters of intro and a large appendix". I naturally skipped over the intro and started reading what I thought was the first Real chapter. I kept finding interesting references back to an intro chapter "Introduction to .Net Remoting". I finally read this chapter and was pleasantly surprised to find a clear and comprehensive explanation of channels and contexts. The "This is .Net" intro chapter had a great explanation of versioning in .Net. So I'd recommend reading this book from the beginning - or at least start with chapter 2.

   The rest of the book allowed me to complete a moderately size distributed project in a lot less time that I thought it would. There is also a great chapter on using transactions under Component Services. I was also able the complete my last MCAD certification test (VB XML) based mainly on what I got out of this book.

   This book has no fluff and is packed with a lot of key concepts and practical code samples. The only downside was the brief coverage and dismissal of Web Services. The Appendix turned out to be coverage of ADO.Net written by Andrew Troelsen. I didn't read this chapter because I was already up to speed on ADO.Net. But having read a couple of Troelsen's other books, my guess is that it's pretty good.




3. Very detailed and well explained topics. Tom Barnaby shows MS distributed programing in a deeply manner.
   I think that an architecture chapter or advices about MS distributed architecture would be useful. Anyway, an excellent book.

1 comments about Modern Compiler Implementation in Java: Basic Techniques.

1. Covers the things that compiler writers really worry about (e.g. register allocation) as well as the things that have a well-developed theory (parsing); example code is well thought out, and beautifully designed, but the author's background in functional program shows through. For a fuller review, see the Sept '97 issue of "Doctor Dobbs Journal", or look on-line at: http://www.ercb.com/ddj/1997/ddj.9709.html

5 comments about Visual Studio .NET: The .NET Framework Black Book.

1. If you want to know how to use the .NET framework this is a great book for you - particularly if you are using VB.NET since the examples are all in VB.NET instead of C. The layout is great and make sure to look at the in-depth sections - that's where all the meat is. I had used 3 other books but threw them away after I got this one.



2. The comments about the VB.net bias and the fairly sparse IDE examples are correct (though you do get a modest share of C#, and a smidgen of managed C++). Fortunately, I approached this book as a newcomer to Windows programming who's just bought VB.Net Standard, installed the dotNet SDK, and wants to know what can be done with it. As such, this is a great resource. And as a proponent of actually knowing how to code as opposed to knowing how to use a GUI, the "notepad development" tendency was right up my alley. ... I found this book for a steep discount, but after reading it I would have paid full price--bearing in mind my situation/desires.



3. Having read (most of) Beginning VB.NET Second Edition from Wrox, I find myself having a good grounding in VB.NET (just so you know, I have been learning VB.NET for 3 weeks (with no prior vb experience whatsoever)). My first recommendation is go and buy that book, its worth every penny. Once you have read that book and trust me, you will have learnt more than you thought possible, then go and buy this one.

   What I like about this book is that is really in a way expands on everything I learnt in the first one. Now that I have some experience and know what I am looking for, I find myself thinking, 'how can I add this feature to my app, or how can I achieve this task'.

   This book has vast snippets of how to use the additional controls and features not discussed in the Wrox book. I wouldn't recommend starting with this book as the Wrox book is much better to start with.

   I find the writing style in this book quite good, but after only 3 weeks of programming I don't really need my hand to be held anymore, I just need a brief explanation of how do something - this book delivers.

   I particularly like the way the book is divided into Framework sections. I have found many snippets from other books that deliver a section of code, tell you how it works, but neglect to mention that you need to import a particular namespace...so the code just doesn't work...

   Enough said. If you have the Wrox one, then buy this one next.




4. I have little to no prior experience to vb.net so I didn't want to get a book that didn't go in to any details or did not explain why things work the way they do because the author may assume that you know what's going on. This is by far the best .Net book I've read so far and I'm only on Chapter 4. If you want to learn VB.net, order this book!



5. This is a 'must have' for any VB.Net or C# programmer. Extensive .net background and excellent examples.

No comments about Apple IIC User Guide.

No comments about Microsoft Gw-Basic: User's Guide and Reference (Microsoft Languages Library).

5 comments about An Introduction to Object-Oriented Programming with Visual Basic .NET.

1. To me "introduction" books are always an interesting venture. Some
   are great experiences, and others are nightmares. Overall this book
   was a pretty good experience, although there was a major bump in the
   road (and a couple of minor ones). In the chapter summary below I will
   go into a little more detail on the positive and negative points.

   Chapter Summary:

   Chapter 1: Overview of Object Oriented Programming
   This chapter starts with a very brief overview of the history of OOP.

   Brief is good. It also has brief definitions of OOP characteristics;
   Objects, Abstraction, Encapsulation, Polymorphism, Inheritance, and
   Aggregation. It ends with a blurb about the history of VB.

   Chapter 2: Designing OOP Solutions: Identifying the Class Structure &
   Chapter 3: Designing OOP Solutions: Modeling the Object Interaction
   These chapters go into UML and things like Use Cases, Class Diagrams,
   Sequence Diagrams, Collaboration Diagrams, and Activity diagrams. This
   seemed exciting to me because I never really get into anything like
   this on the job, and I wanted to know a little more about it. Well,
   while interesting this ended up being a bump in the road for me.

   The Author says to either do the exercises with a UML Modeler you can
   download from the net, or creating the diagram by hand. I wanted
   to try the tool he used in the examples so I downloaded it. At this
   point just let me say that you should be prepared to spend a lot of
   time figuring out the tool if you decide to try it. It is not easy.
   The directions for doing the exercises don't quite flow with actually
   using the tool either. The author does state that it is pretty tricky
   to use, but I really feel that the directions for these exercises
   should have been better. I managed to get through some of the examples
   in chapters 2 and 3 after a couple of hours.
   
   Chapter 4: Designing OOP Solutions: A Case Study
   This chapter talks about the process by which one would design an OOP
   solution with a case study. The Author goes into good detail about the
   actual steps needed, and does a good job explaining the methodology by
   which this is accomplished. He also gives some good advice on how to
   avoid some of the more common pitfalls of designing an OOP solution.

   Chapter 5: Introducing VB .NET
   This chapter gives an overview of VB.Net as well as the .Net
   Framework. After the overview it gives you a hands on tour of the
   Visual Studio .Net IDE. Of course, you will need to have the IDE to do
   the tour. This tour shows you many of the screens, option settings,
   and menus of Visual Studio .Net. The second exercise shows you the
   debugging features of VS .Net. At his point you will need files that
   you can download from the Apress web site. I may have missed it, but I
   never saw any mention that downloading files was needed for the
   exercises. It certainly was not at the beginning of this exercise, and I
   think their should be some kind of direction about it present.

   Chapter 6: Creating Classes
   This chapter is all about classes. How to restrict them, access to
   them, creating methods, overloading methods, using constructors to
   name some topics. This chapter too has exercises you complete with VS
   .Net. They all seemed to work fine for me, and were very easy to
   follow.

   Chapter 7: Creating Class Hierarchies &
   Chapter 8: Implementing Object Collaboration
   These chapters discuss things like inheritance, polymorphism,
   interfaces, delegation, error handling, shared properties and methods
   to new a few. These two chapters also have multiple hands-on
   activities so you can continue to learn how to operate VS .Net as well
   as learn more concepts of OOP. These activities are well documented,
   and I had no problems completing them all without incident.

   Chapter 9: OSO Application Revisited: Implementing the Business Logic
   This chapter helps bring together all the ideas you were introduced to
   in chapter 4. From there it goes into data access by talking about
   stored procedures, ADO.net, sqlclient namespace, and many other
   details. In order to do the examples you will have to have SQL Server.

   Chapter 10: Developing Windows Applications
   This is a fun chapter that talks about windows forms, event handlers,
   dialog boxes and different types of bound controls. This chapter is
   full of hands on activities that are well done.

   Chapter 11: Developing Web Applications
   This long chapter deals with web forms, server controls, server
   control inheritance, server-side event processing, ASP.net, state, and
   many other things. It is all about designing an application for the
   web. The activities are easy to follow, and work.

   Chapter 12: Wrapping Up and Reviewing
   A quick summation of what the book covers and some tips on where to
   focus next.

   Appendix A: Fundamental Programming Concepts
   This appendix is basically a primer for beginning programmers.

   Appendix B: Exception Handling in VB .NET
   A quick 4-page explanation of how exceptions are handled in VB.Net

   After finishing this book I had a hard time deciding what grade to
   give it. I ended up giving it a 7 out of 10. The many problems I had
   with the UML activities using the UML modeler were just too painful
   and frustrating to give it higher than a 7.

   I will admit that the rest of the book was great and would be very
   useful to a beginner trying to become more familiar with VB.Net and
   VS.net. The VS.net activities were flawless, and gave good hands-on
   experience that beginners would love. The UML material was actually
   good as well, but the problems with the modeling tool activities
   really influenced my final judging of the book.

   In summation, this book is without doubt a beginner's book. Do not buy
   this if you already basically familiar with VS .net or UML. If you are a
   beginner and do the UML activities with pen and paper I believe it will
   be a great learning experience.




2. This book is very well written. The material is organized well and the information is presented in easily digestable pieces.
   The book gives a nice overall background of OOP then shows how to implment it (on a very basic level) in VB.NET.

   I highly recommend this book for VB programmers who have never incorporated OOP in their programs.




3. I have several OOP books that I put aside because they became fustrating and/or clumsy. This book has made it possible to pickup those once forgotten books.

   A big plus for this book is that all the examples work and you can download the chapter examples from Apress! The user friendly analogies make it an easy read. The only resistance I experienced was the free personal UML modeler that was referenced in the first part of the book. The first pass through these chapters I followed along by creating the diagrams by hand. After reading the rest of the book, I spent half a day learning the software and completing the chapter examples.

   For me, this author paints a pretty good big picture of OOP! My other books are now helping with the details;)




4. If you are trying to learn the concept of OOP with VB.NET, this is a good book to start with. If you are trying to learn how to program OOP in VB.NET, I would look else where. I found the book to be full of errors. You can download a list of errata from Apress, but don't expect to be able to fix all of the errors with this. I spent more time trying to figure out why the code did not work than I did learning OOP. I know fixing errors will help you learn what the code does, but that is not why I bought this book. If I could do all over again, I wouldn't buy this book.



5. This book is excellent for beginners. If you've never programmed with OOP before, this will give you a good overview of the project, including planning, from start to finish. It was this book that gave me the basic overview i have today. I wish i know of something that went even more in depth. If you already know VB.NET, UML, and OOP this book is for the very beginner. But as a starter, it is excellent. I also liked Sams Teach Yourself Object Oriented Programming in 21 days. It is also great. It explains OOP concepts in more detail. This book teaches you how to do the programming, the Sams book teaches you the reason for OOP. If you are beginner these two books would be great to start with. Don't pay attention to the Java in the Sams book. It is not really a java book. It really is an OOP book.