No comments about LINQ Pocket Reference (Pocket Reference (O'Reilly)).

No comments about Programming in Visual Basic 2008.

2 comments about Mastering VBA for Microsoft Office 2007 (Mastering).

1. I am a certified expert on Word 2002, and had neglected to learn VBA at the time that I was studying for the test. I missed only one question about VBA, but felt bad that I didn't know it. Now that Office 2007 came out, I want to go back to learn VBA. This Mastering book is excellent! It begins with Macros, explains VBA in fantastic detail, and has a final chapter on XML, too.



2. I have been away from programming for about 10 years so I feel like a beginner in many respects. I had a need to automate the creation of some templates that I use frequently, but needed some help. This book was a good source for that help. I was able to find all the information that I needed, but it occasionally did require some searching. In a few cases, the information was not where I expected, but it was there. Like Microsoft's online help, each topic would benefit from a short example of the use of a particular command, but this might just be an indication of how much I have forgotten.

1 comments about Visual Basic 2008 Recipes: A Problem-Solution Approach (Recipes: a Problem-Solution Approach).

1. I was looking for a good summary of threading for a current project and this book provided the code I needed. It is one of the best books I have seen that explains the examples and concepts in well-tested fashion. Too many times I have bought books where the examples don't run on the latest software or they are written by C# programmers who don't know VB. Although some of the samples are trivial, the book is a great reference from anyone doing daily VB 2008 programming. My only complaint is that I wish the source code for the examples was available on a website or CD. You can cut-and-paste the code from the ebook, but it is a bit cumbersome.

5 comments about Visual Basic 2005 Cookbook: Solutions for VB 2005 Programmers (Cookbooks (O'Reilly)).

1. Very helpful for a casual programmer like myself. Just remember to download the "recipies" to avoid retyping.



2. If you're new to programming in Visual Basic .NET, but have programmed in some other langauge before, there is always this barrier that one faces when they know, to a certain degree, the task they want to accomplish, but often fall short trying to figure out the syntax or method to implement it here. That is what this book does. It's an essential cookbook, in the language of choice, that bridges that barrier.
   
   It's also a great side-companion for beginners, mainly because the intro books do a fair job of getting people started, but they also need to figure out specific tasks or methods of doing things that tutorial books won't cover. It does not overstate the obvious, and it serves up pretty clear impressions and explanations on what it delivers.



3. 'Visual Basic 2005 Cookbook: Solutions for VB 2005 Programmers' by Tim Patrick is a perfect reference and solution manual for any and all Visual Basic 2005 developers. Written in typical great O'Reilly cookbook fashion, this book is chock full of nuts with 700+ pages of goodness.
   
   Chapter Overview
   
   01. VB Basics
   02. Development Environment
   03. Application Organization
   04. Forms, Controls, Other Objects
   05. Strings
   06. Numbers And Math
   07. Dates & Times
   08. Arrays & Collections
   09. Graphics
   10. Multimedia
   11. Printing
   12. Files & File Systems
   13. Databases
   14. Programming Techniques
   15. Exceptions
   16. Cryptography & Compression
   17. Web Development
   
   This is simply a fabulous book that any and all VB programmers of today need to pick up. Not only will you save time, you'll enjoy doing it while reading this wonderful guide!!
   
   ***** HIGHLY RECOMMENDED



4. There are various sections in this book that are pretty basic and unnecessary to even an amateur programmer but there are also lots of other sections that are just chock full of great stuff and even advanced programmers would benefit from them. It also suffers from the common tendency to say very simple things using a lot of words in order to take up a lot of space. I think I even found a tip or two which show up twice in different sections. That being said, there's still a whole lot of worthwhile material in this book.



5. As with most O'Reilly books, the reader is treated to a very good overview of the topic at hand. I'd recommend this book to anyone who has some experience with pre-.NET versions of VB and who needs to make the move to the .NET version. I found the chapters on strings and files especially helpful.
   
   I would like to have seen more information on the Crystal Report control that comes included with VB, as that seems to be the only reasonable way to create integrated reports. I'm finding Bischof's "Crystal Reports .NET Programming" book very helpful in this regard.

1 comments about Access 2007 VBA Programming For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech)).

1. Some years ago Microsoft created a specialized programming language to allow extensions to be made to the normal modes of operation allowed in their Office suite. The language was fairly well thought out to be applicable to applications as different as word processing, spreadsheets or data bases. They called it Visual Basic for Applications shortened to VBA. It has worked remarkable well. Down theough the years there have been relatively few changes to VBA.
   
   This book is on VBA as specifically oriented to the Microsoft Access database program. But if you learn Access VBA, you are not far from knowing how to use VBA on any of the other Office components.
   
   While this is an Access book, it is specifically on VBA, it assumes that you already know about how to build a table, and about rows and columns. It also assumes that you have some familiarty with other Access features such as building queries.
   
   Access goes to a great deal of effort to avoid having to use the underlying SQL language. There are a couple of chapters on SQL for the total beginner. In the long run, you will probably want to know more.
   
   You can't design one book to do everything in about 400 pages. This "dummies" book concentrates on VBA. That's enough for one book. It does a good job on VBA. You may want to fill out your bookshelf with Access for Dummies and SQL for Dummies.

3 comments about Programming Excel with VBA and .NET (Programming).

1. When you attempt to get into a new area of coding, it is best to have an authoritative reference. Confidence in your source really helps in getting through the inevitable rough spots. "Excel with VBA & .NET" seems to fill the bill. It certainly does not hurt to know that the author was on the Microsoft OLE Automation team when VB was added to Excel.
   
   The "comprehensive" half of my review title comes with the packed 1100 pages. All the programming basics, all the programmable objects, all the usable features are covered. In addition, the book covers extending Excel with add-ins and dealing with security.
   
   My own interest in programming Excel objects is related to my job as a GUI interface developer for browser-based applications. As more information and functionality goes to the Web, the convenience of taking HTML data displays and exporting them to Excel is finding an expanding and demanding market. I was somewhat disappointed that the book did not approach more topics from the perspective of this modern trend.
   
   A friend preparing to teach Excel VBA next fall grabbed the book from my desk and had a look. She was certain "Excel with VBA & .NET" would be an excellent platform and reference for that class. That high recommendation certainly trumps my quibble about not having more material on browser implementations.



2. "Programming Excel with VBA & .NET" is certainly a very 'weighty' tome. At around 1100 pages you certainly get a lot of paper for your money! However, do you get value for your money? I have yet to read a book on this topic which is more comprehensive in its coverage in terms of the description of the Object Model and the properties and methods, in many cases complete with useful examples. So in that regard it is an excellent reference. The benefit of the author being part of the Microsoft OLE Automation team when VB was added to Excel is very clear. The book also covers VBA itself in good depth. However, I feel that much of this could have been usefully relegated to a reference Appendix. If you are buying this book to learn VBA as such then there are many other excellent choices. The value in this book is in the application of VBA to Excel. You should not consider this book unless you are already very comfortable with VBA. If you are only just learning VBA but try to go on to read the rest of the book, you might find it hard going.
   
   I have read other books that devote more space to and explain better the use of Ranges in VBA code; "pictures are worth a thousand words". If you cannot assimilate this aspect of VBA programming with Excel then you will struggle. Because of the recursive nature of Range references in Excel it can be a difficult concept to understand. I know personally that when I got the hang of that and how to use relative referencing with the R1C1 notation and to use the Cell object my productivity went up tremendously, and my frustration level dropped accordingly. Excel is probably the most difficult and complex application of the Office products when it comes to the Object Model and accordingly programming in VBA. On balance I would have no hesitation in recommending this book as part of your Excel VBA programming arsenal. Typically no one book can give you all of the insight that you need. Accordingly I feel comfortable in giving it 5 stars.
   
   Cheers
   Graham Jones



3. This is a fantastic book for learning VBA programming in Excel. The first 70 pages are devoted to programming basics (variables, conditional statements, objects, modules and procedures, etc.) Most of the rest of the book is devoted to glorious Excel tasks and objects. Really, this is quality material.
   
   A mere 30 pages is devoted to .NET. Most of this is simply how to fire up Visual Studio and create a project. Worthless, really. I'm betting that the publisher made the decision to add ".NET" to the title since that was a sexy buzzword back in '03. I'm subtracting a single star for this little piece of marketing deception. In summary, this book is terrific for learning Excel VBA (and general programming principles), but is no good for learning how to marry Excel to .NET.

1 comments about Pro WPF with VB 2008: Windows Presentation Foundation with .NET 3.5 (Pro).

1. At last, someone has published a WPF book aimed at those of us who prefer to use Visual Basic for the code behind.
   
   This is another well-written and comprehensive piece of work from a widely respected author.
   
   Unsurprisingly, large chunks of content have been ported directly from his earlier WPF book, which was based on .NET 3.0 and has C# as the code behind. This makes complete sense as it is only the code behind aspects that need the different approach.
   
   Because this is based on WPF 3.5 though, there are some additional items, such as binding to a LINQ expression in Chapter 16. There is also a completely new additional Chapter 26, which deals with the topics of Multithreading and Add-Ins.
   
   I don't think Apress have the full chapter listing on their site yet (or at least I couldn't see it if they did). However, rest assured that the whole gamut of WPF topics is covered in this book, from Layout to Dependency Properties, Routed Events to Navigation - in fact everything from Animation to Z-Index.
   
   The author has a very useful list of links that you can simply click on to save you (mis)typing them yourself from the book. They are available from his site at www.prosetech.com. Downloadable samples are available from there also.
   
   In my opinion, you should buy this book for two reasons.
   
   First, it is an excellent, wide ranging, clear description of what you will need to know in order to get fully to grips with this exciting (but not always intuitive) technology.
   
   Second, there have been at least five WPF books published in the past year that have C# as the code behind. Publishers are in the business of selling books and they couldn't care less about whether C# or VB are "better". So I guess it's obvious that their stats show that they will sell more C# books. If you want to keep VB as a viable language, fully supported by authors and publishers, then the only way to ensure this is to make it worth their while to publish VB based books.
   
   So for either or both these reasons, I rate this book as one of the most worthwhile investments you can make if you are a VB developer (or student) and you want to fully embrace all the tempting offerings available in Windows Presentation Foundation.

5 comments about VBA and Macros for Microsoft Excel (Business Solutions).

1. I found this book to be one of the best references for Excel VBA development. The book is easy to understand and follow. Contains a large amount of examples that can be easily understood. Addresses many critical aspects of excel VBA development. Not too much was spent on forms/GUI development so you will have to look elsewhere if you into that. Also addresses interfacing Excel to databases using ADO as well as API programming which is critical for superusers to extend the power of excel without the limitation of data storage. Overall, the authors have a superb job and I consider this book to be an essential of my Excel VBA library!



2. The book is useful. The worksheets downloaded from the Internet are also very clear.
   Sometimes you expect more explanations on statements which use new features not connected with the subject being reviewed.
   I think that I shall not need to purchase any other book on this subject.



3. I am very satisfied with the transaction. The shipment was on time and the product is in good quality



4. Bill Jelen is a brilliant self-promoter. His book is even more brilliant. His newsgroup, MrExcel Message Board Forum at www.mrexcel.com, is an invaluable resource.



5. If I could give 0 stars, I would.
   
   This book is poorly written and poorly edited...and I have the version "Reprinted with corrections." Flipping through it in the bookstore, it seemed promising - enough so that I actually bought it. After three chapters, however, I am ready to throw in the towel.
   
   This is a technical book. It's about programming. It contains examples of actual code. The examples have to be correct to have any credibility. Once you lose that, every line becomes suspect. Let me provide you just a few examples.
   
   On page 32, the colorindex for "yellow" is given as "6"; on page 33 it is "30".
   On page 41, "Selection is actually a property and not an object." When I reach page 50, "Selection" has become an object again.
   On page 62, in the third example within Table 3.1, the delimiting comma is inside the quotes.
   On 67, " Notice that that the offset..."
   Also on that page, the resizing example at the bottom is wrong. If I have a column and add two more to it, I end up with three. Maybe Mr. Excel is using a higher level of math when he says "Range("Produce").Resize(,2) and says "Remember, the number you resize by is the TOTAL number of rows and/or columns you want to include."
   
   What really rolled my eyes back in my head was on page 63, when I encountered .range(.range, range) with insufficient introduction. A relatively simple statement with a single range reference suddenly morphed into a triple range reference with an indecipherable comment about "an extra range at the beginning of the code line." This makes absolutely no sense, and coupled with the authoring or editing miscues mentioned earlier, it is not even possible to determine if this is a typo or simply a badly written passage.
   
   Whether I ultimately can gain any value from this book remains to be seen - assuming I am able to actually make sense of the content. For me, it was a total waste of the purchase price.

5 comments about Programming ASP.NET, 3rd Edition (Programming).

1. [...]This edition has no VB.NET code and assumes knowledge of C#. All the examples are in that language.
   
   I bought it because of positive reviews and publishers description that stated the book had all examples in both languages,[...].
   
   It may be a fine book for those who know C#



2. This book is a C# book. The reviews here, along with Amazon's own review, are referring to one of the previous editions where VB.NET code samples were included.
   
   When deciding to buy this book, or not, be wary of the reviews that were posted before the publication date. I can see that this situation has already caused others some grief.



3. I am a big fan of Jesse Liberty books and rate him as one of the best and more experienced tech writers around, but this book is definitely not up to his excellent standard. To be more precise, the book starts out very well, with and introduction to the basic control of ASP.NET illustrated by many clear examples, and the only complaint I have about the first part of the book is that I would have loved to see the two chapters that he devote to webapp structure and configuration right at the start of the book. I think it would have given a clear picture of what one is doing with all those pages and controls and why things are the way they are. The second part of the book is where I was expecting to find more complete and advanced examples on how to build and configure a "real - life " web application, but here is where the book fails miserably. The chapters on ADO can be defined as confusing at best, and the remaining chapters are either a sequence of instructions fitter more to a "build a website visually for dummies" title, or missing crucial information. I have been also very annoyed by the organization of the example code. Every, and I say every example is in the format of a single website, and to make things worse these websites are not organized by chapter number but just by name.
   It really looks like the kind of book a smart and experienced tech author could write after studying the documentation throughly but having no real experience with the subject in practice. I think I understand why.. even I find myself more interested in the foundations of a technology on language structure and on general CS subjects than in the structure of the Nth API or Framwork, but still I don't go about writing books on them!
   So, a somewhat decent book, especially considering the low general quality standard of ASP books, but nothing to be enthusiastic about.



4. Just as any good large technical book should do, this gives a pretty good reference of all the basic controls and how to perform basic operations. This is also it's only fault, as it spends a lot of time on the simple controls, and not enough time on the more complex concepts.
   
   It's good for reference though, as it does contain a good amount of content to do most anything in ASP. This title is good for the beginner ASP as it covers simple to complex tasks fairly thoroughly. After you've absorbed most of this book, you might find yourself looking for more, and I've mostly found Google useful to add-in the pieces missing from this book. Overall I recommend this for any ASP guru who needs a refresher every now and then.



5. Good Content, 3rd Edition lacks Example Source Code on his website (Only 2nd Edition and new ASP.NET 3.5 is available).
   
   If you want to learn ASP.NET 2.0 using this book seriously you probably need to do lots of typing.
   
   Illustrations and pictures are not that straightforward, you need to imagine a lot before getting your hands dirty in VS 2005.