No comments about XHTML/CSS Basics for Web Writers.

1 comments about Quickbasic and Qbasic Using Modular Structure Alternate Edition With Visual Basic.

1. The price is not cheaper elsewhere. unfortunately, the reviewer who made this claim was neglegent in making sure it was correct. i have checked the other two "biggie" online bookstores, ..., and the price is the same. ...P>I thought this needed clearing up. Amazon.com provides a needed service and is very good at what they do.

   Thank You

No comments about Advanced Programming with Microsoft Visual Basic .NET: A Case-Based Approach.

1 comments about Novells Nds Basics (Novell Press).

1. This is a small and handy book about NDS the Novell Directory Service. It is fun, fast and easy to read. I found it trustworthy and helpful.

No comments about Reading Improvement : Improve Your Job : Basic Reading Skills for the Working Adult (Fifty-Minute Series Book) (Fifty-Minute Series Book).

5 comments about Visual Basic .NET Class Design Handbook.

1. As an experienced developer, I thought this book was not bad. I was looking for a book to strengthen up my class building skillset, but most of this material is just a presentation of fundamentals that I already know. Unfortunately, this book failed to clarify on topics where I lack a strong understanding because they don't really go very deep. Writing is repetitive and sometimes hard to decipher.



2. Silly, naive me. I purchased a book with the title "Visual Basic .NET Class Design Handbook" in order to learn more about effective class design, and particularly the expectations of previous Wrox books having wonderful practical examples. But you know you've made a mistake when you receive your book and on page 2 read "This isn't a book about object-oriented analysis and design." It seems as though someone asked the authors "What time is it?" and they wrote a book on how to build a watch and the space/time continuum. I found the single chapter devoted to classes in Sybex's Visual Basic .NET Programming far more valuable than this book. Perhaps it's one of the cases where the title just does not match the intended content -- I'm willing to give the benefit of the doubt and give two stars instead of one. But I'd also hesitate to ask the authors for directions to the restroom, afraid that I would receive a lecture on the digestive process and the history of plumbing.



3. Ever been looking for a book but you were not sure what you were looking for because you were not sure what you don't know.
   
   That was me before I finally found it. I am a self taught VB programmer who was REALLY struggling with the OOP concepts. Before buying this book I had purchased 4 or 5 other VB.NET books that didn't cut the mustard at getting me over the OOP hump. And then I found this book.
   
   This book takes nothing for granted and explains so much in such great detail. What is garbage collection? What happens when you call a Reference Type by Value? By Reference? What is constructor chaining? What is an interface? What is inheritance? (And on and on it goes knocking out one question as a time to the tune of HUNDREDS of questions. I have now red this book four times. (Scanned twice, read once, and now am doing a slow thorough read.) It is TRUE that this book is NOT on Object Modeling/Object Oriented Design (now if I could just get my brain wrapped around that). But that is not a great starting point for learning .NET. What I didn't know that I needed to know was that the CLASS is at the heart of OOP fundamentals. Now I would not say I am an expert, but I can pretty accurately conceptualize OOP principles and how .NET works.
   
   If you are in a similar situation, this book is THE book for you.
   
   SBS



4. This book is pretty good. It could use a little more 'big picture' information. It does a very good job of differentiating protected, sealed, shared... class modifiers and how they work on a technical level, but not necisarially why you would do it.
   
   I think the book has a good bit of value for somebody who is going to architect a small system or build classes. I think this book combined with the sam's "the object oriented thought process" book are a very good match to introduce intelligent people to modern class construction and use. The book really isn't for slow learners. If you need 'for dummies' books, stay away from this one. If you have a reasonable IQ, then its a very concise lesson without much garbage.



5. I was kinda disappointed with this book. I relied on the hight reviews that's why I bought it, thinking I'll be learning more on how to design good classes from problem analysis, but didn't get what I was hoping for. The topics discussed in the book can be found in most of VB.net books around, and this book emphasized that it is not an object-oriented type of learning material, so for those beginner OOP programmers like me searching for a good book from problem analysis to class design, look anywhere else and please recommend if you found one.

4 comments about Visual Basic.NET Database Programming.

1. For an experienced programmer. This book provided what I needed to understand using databases in a WinForms environment (I had used ADO.NET for ASP.NET applications). The first 7 chapters cover database basics and an overview of the data bound controls (moderately valuable for an experienced programmer). I found the real substance (in my case) in Chapters 8, 10, and 11.

   Chapter 8 covers a data entry form, how to bind data, navigate, and save changes. The first example is covered in detail the form is then enhanced with record selection options (a listbox, a treeview, and a filtered list box) only key items are discussed in the text (you need to review the downloadable code to fully understand, I like that the little things are not repeated).

   Chapter 10 works with an order entry form with multiple DB data tables being maintained and navigating through the twists. Again, several approaches are presented so that you can choose the one with the look & feel you like. Chapter 11 discusses the mult-user situation.

   I feel that these examples and clear writing allowed me to make the leap into data bound forms (I came from mostly Access programming where that is well handled). 4 stars because I would like to have seen some discussion/examples of an application with multiple screens and suggestions on how to address a slightly bigger application, but the book delivers on its stated goals.




2. This is a great book for breaking into ADO.net, if:
   
   (1) You are familiar with VB.NET and RDBMS concepts and have programmed production database applications with VB6 or other older technologies.
   
   (2) You are not familiar with ADO.net or at least not enough to put an actual application together.
   
   This book will provide a quick, yet thorough, path to fluency using WINFORMs with SQL Server using ADO.net. You have to read the necessary text and code samples thoroughly, and probably repeatedly.
   
   ADO.net is the most powerful and elegant database technology from Microsoft so far. It is very productive if you understand and apply it fully.
   
   The entire book is useful and well written, but the following chapters, in my opinion, are the salient ones for an experienced programmer trying to understand ADO.net:
   
   Chapter 5 - Datasets. ADO.net represents an application's view of RDBMS data as an "in memory database" called a Dataset, complete with various mechanisms for tracking all aspects of transaction processing. Understand this new model completely.
   
   Chapter 6 - Database Connections. The DataAdapter is the new class used for carrying out the actual transactions. Understand it and its associated classes thoroughly. Each DataAdapter contains and carries out commands for Retrieving (Filling), Inserting, Updating, and Deleting sets of rows for a specific DataTable of a Dataset. These commands are most conveniently built by the CommandBuilder. Once you understand this last sentence, you are in good shape.
   
   Chapter 8 - Bound Controls are largely the same as old ADO, but be aware of how a Datagrid bound to a Datatable, when used properly, automates implementation of line items such as order lines.
   
   Chapter 10 is the first chapter that pulls it all together into an operating Windows Form application. Once you understand how the Dataset and DataAdapter families of classes are used here, you are well on your way. You might even start with this chapter for HOW it works and then refer back to the earlier chapters for WHY it works.
   
   Chapters 11 and 12 expand to a robust application of production quality, introducing the necessary multiuser hooks and better UI for queries.



3. Let's start with the (little) negative part, and that's the way this book is organized. In my opinion the first 4 chapters and the appendix A/B should be presented in a different way. I'll see many people starting with chapter 5, or even with the appendix if you need to refresh your knowledge about SQL.
   During the past years, i have been working on database apps. with VB6 and SQL Server, and since a while, i had been experimenting a little with data in the .NET environment. In my case, this was the book I needed, because the author does not waste too much time on explaining how to create your first stored proc or how VB works.
   Also, he doesn't compare the old ADO with the new ADO .NET which you will see in many other books. No, in chapter 5 you'll get everything to know what you need about the Dataset, maybe some stuff you knew before, but with the details you need, and things start to become more interesting in chapter 8 until the end of the book.
   If you are looking for a way to create a quick, nice user interface
   by using a datagrid for example this is not the book for you, because these are hardly mentioned.
   Instead of this, you'll get to know how to work with xml data, master/detail rel., data binding, images, multi user, query by example,etc. in other words, the data itself.
   Excellent book, in case you know the basics about VB .NET and if you've been playing a little bit with ADO .NET, and need to go a step further. However, have a look at the content before you buy.

   Gunther




4. I was truly excited when I acquired this book. However, after spending much time painstakingly following code that promised much but produced nothing; I can with all honesty say use your resources more prudently.

5 comments about Excel 2000 VBA: Programmers Reference (Programmer's Reference).

1. This book had potential, but it is so full of errors that it is practically useless. It needs a good editor with lots of patience and time to make the corrections.



2. I've owned this book since it has been published and I still keep it at my desk. This reference is a handy size and is packed full of information that applies even today. Amazing!



3. I think that John Green outdid himself on this book, the people who gave it a bad review oviously have no experence with Exel, the book is the best refrence that I have ever seen. All the codes are easy to get to function, really John, you couldn't have done a better Job!
   Great job Dad!!



4. I have been programming with VBA for approximately 6-7 years now. This book is probably not for the beginning programmer. It does a very good job at describing the object model (at least it did for me). I have found it to be a wonder resource book and have learned several new things as I have read through it. The only reason I have given the book 4 stars instead of 5 is because I don't feel the index does an adequate job. There are things I know I have seen in the book, but have difficulting locating it again. I have yet to find a VBA book that explains everything, so I would certainly recommend adding this book to your VBA library.



5. I it gives you the right information to start, for learning is great because you don't need a lot you just need the right basics and then you can construct from there.

2 comments about Mastering Microsoft Visual Basic 2005, Express Edition.

1. This book was very helpful. I was able to quickly learn and program classes, file streams, collections and graphics. The chapters on database programming were not as helpful as I was not able to get a database up and running. All in all, I'm very happy with the book. I'm a casual programmer and I used a pre-dot-NET version of Visual Basic, so I needed a book that I could read in bits and pieces to quickly get up to speed on object oriented programming and dot-NET. I had a difficult time catching on using Microsoft's impossible help facility and the training materials that Microsoft put out.



2. I've enjoyed reading this book as it is aimed at beginner to intermediate programmers with details that will instill in a person's mind. The topics are well covered without boring the reader, and a lot of interesting and important topics are well discussed. Highly recommended and looking forward to the 2008 version using VStudio.

1 comments about Basic Letter and Memo Writing.

1. please help me the guidelines to feedback the memos. and get me some free samples of memos]