5 comments about ASP 3 Instant Reference.

1. I had bought several of the Wrox books on ASP earlier. All of them were pretty good but it took a while to look up the information I was looking for. I also was having trouble finding much information about transactions in the Wrox books and most of the other books about ASP, while this book does contain information about transactions. This little book is a great compact and quick reference book. It also has some nice code examples. I wouldn't recommend this for a beginner since it doesn't provide enough guidance or examples. I would recommend it as a great reference for someone who already knows some ASP, and wants to have a quick reference to all the properties and methods of the objects in ASP. Well Organized.



2. This book is certainly one of the better ASP reference books. It dispenses with clutter. It is written in a short, narrative and informative style. I could have saved a fortune on other ASP books, if I had purchased this book first.



3. Dont bother with this book if you are a Current web developer looking for a desktop reference book.

   Yes, this book is informative, but it is geared more towards VB programmers who are changing over to the web. It is also emphasisizes in designing components and not toward ASP in general. (I wish I would have read further before I bought this book.)

   O'Reilly makes a great PHP Pocket Reference book that I found great and informative and most of all QUICK! The layout was simple and much more geared for a web developer. I was hoping this book would accomplish that but I was wrong.

   Overall, this book is most likely a great read for a programmer that already has a good grasp of VB and wants to know what can be done with ASP and how to make components for ASP driven sites. The layout of the book is oriented much toward an experienced programmer instead of a Web Developer that is stumped on a section of code and wants a quick reference to fix it.

   David Gregory (davidg@v7s.com)




4. This book makes ASP commands and strings easy to look up and use.
   Very well written.



5. This was one of my first ASP/VBScript reference books, and usually the one I still fall back on. While this won't *teach* you ASP, it acts as more of a complete reference for VBscript - the language that ASP developers use to make their pages dynamic.
   
   For the beginner; it's complimentary to books like "ASP For Dummies" without being unwieldy and confusing like those other, 600+ page, reference books that are out there. It provides everything you won't be able to retain immediately, like enums and the many built-in functions that can make your life a whole lot easier, but are too detailed to remember when you're trying to wrap your head around everything else.
   
   For the expert; it's very well indexed and, with a little use, can often prove to be a faster reference source than digging up a pertinent web result. It's not a heavy book, either. This makes a big difference if you're going to carry it with you to and from work.

4 comments about Visual Basic.NET: A Beginner's Guide (Beginner's Guide).

1. This book offers instruction on how to organize your code and explains when you need to use which loop structure etc. Good book to build a foundation. If your looking for something that offers fancy displays you can be disappointed but then you missed the intended message. Book helps you understand what is going on in the code and more.



2. If you are just getting into programming, or VB.NET programming, this is a great book to pick up.

   This book starts with the absolute basics in programming and builds on it. It hits all of the fundamentals of programming, such as variables, their scope, if..then...else statements, loops, arrays, variable comparisons, etc.

   This book doesn't get too advanced, though I did wish it would have touched on object oriented programming a little bit more. The earlier a beginner gets into OOP the better.

   If you have programming experience, or experience with VB in general, pass this book up. You probably won't get so much (or anything) out of this book and there are better books to go to. As the title says, this is a beginner's guide.




3. I have been programming in Visual Basic .Net (for Windows) now for about 2 years. I began with this book and I recommend that others do the same. It is an excellent primer on the language and will get you up and going in a very short time.
   
   The book begins with an explanation of what Visual Basic .Net is and an introduction to "object oriented programming." This simply refers to the visual objects you create, like buttons, check boxes, etc, that you often see in Windows applications or on the web. Each chapter provides a project for you to work on, allowing you to build your knowledge from chapter to chapter in this hands-on manner. At the end of each chapter is a "Mastery Check" which lists all of the things you should have learned in the chapter.
   
   For those with any programming experience (even old guys like me with FORTRAN programming experience), picking up Visual Basic .Net will be relatively easy and very rewarding. I have programmed games for my 5th grade Sunday School class that the kids love to play, and I have programmed applications that allow me to work with large data files and generate output that I can manipulate further in Microsoft Excel. I have only scratched the surface; the possible applications are endless.
   
   For me, the hardest part of learning to program in a .Net language was getting used to the "object oriented" part of the programming. The abundance of examples in this book helped me tremendously. Step-by-step examples and sample code are provided for each project. Even now, I often go back to this book as a refernece on how to do stuff right.
   
   Finally, as the book's title implies, the material in this book is not exhaustive; however, it gets you started in the right direction. I strongly recommend that starting programmers and those new to Visual Basic .Net start with this book. In addition, I recommend that you get one of the books in the Deitel series for more intense learning and the Visual Basic .Net Language Reference published by Microsoft. Together, these 3 books will get you going and keep you going. As far as the programming language itself, look for an academic version instead of buying directly from Microsoft, and you can save a fair amount of money. Good luck!



4. If you are new to programming, I would definitely recommend this book. I thought Chapters 1-9 were great and easy to understand. There were some errors in the later chapters in the practice code.
   
   If you are a programmer I would recommend picking something else...

5 comments about Visual Basic .NET Programming.

1. I bought Harold Davis's "Visual Basic 6: Visual QuickStart Guide" because I've always wanted to learn to program. And I did! Now that VB .NET is here, I've been at a loss as to how to proceed. Thank goodness, Mr. Davis has written a book about this latest (and greatest!) version of VB. This book has everything I've been needing to get going with tips on migrating my programs and what's new or just changed from the previous version. I really don't understand the one star review from "The Geek" down below. He's comparing this book which is for novices and intermediate programmers with books for experts. Sounds like apples and oranges to me. If you're looking for a great book to get you started with VB .NET, then buy this book!



2. This book is both a waste of time and a waste of money. Why?

   1. The book tries to be too many things to too many people, and fails miserably on all accounts. If you're new to programming, "nondeterministic finalizers" are introduced on page 6. If you're an experienced object-oriented programmer, OOP isn't introduced until Chapter 15. If you're a VB6 programmer, I couldn't find a clear attempt by the author to demonstrate the differences between 6 and .NET.

   2. In my understanding, the most important update to VB.NET is its uptake of object-oriented programming principles. The back cover of the book says that the author also wrote "Visual Basic 6 Visual Quickstart." I have not read that book, but would not be surprised if its contents were similar to this new book. The author has basically ignored all of the important updates to VB.NET, and has provided a tutorial for VB6. If you're a new programmer, this book will teach you the wrong things right from the start. If you're an experienced programmer, you'll be frustrated by the mickey-mouse approach which doesn't make use of your prior knowledge.

   3. Chapters 16-20 (the last 5 in the book), which "introduce" ADO.NET and working with XML, among other things, are pretty obvious page-fillers. If you're looking for pages 90% filled with screenshots, this is your place to find them. Appendices A - E are also page-fillers. Appendix A tells you how to use the VB Help System. If you need help using help, what are you doing programming?

   4. The author expressly states that his favorite update in VB.NET is the ability to use windows of any shape. That about sums this book up.

   Let me restate - this book misses just about every target audience I can think of.




3. First and foremost, let me say that this is a **GREAT** book! I don't know who that guy (or gal) is that blasted this book on November 24th, but I'd bet that s/he hasn't even read it and obviously doesn't understand the target audience--people like me who want to learn how to program using VB.Net. This book is one of the clearest books about VB.Net that I have found. I own 3 other VB.Net books and I wish I had found this one first.



4. I have been programming since IBM produced the 7090/7094, with the first symbolic assembler/compiler. I have not completely adapted to object oriented programming yet (but am commited to modular, well-documented code that avoids arbitrary assumptions that prevent smooth future growth).

   The first time I got one of Harold Davis' books, I was impressed: "Finally, a book for programmers that is really accessible!" I was tired of voluminous books of "how to"s that did not provide a good conceptual structure. (Some of us need that to help the memory, and sense of mastery.)

   He writes in an easy-to understand style in which the basic concepts are included along with the clear and straightforward "how to"s. It is clearly a book suitable for beginners and for experienced, moderately advanced, programmers at the same time. (Something I formerly did not believe was possible.) As one reads and occassionally rereads the material, it becomes evident that the content is really quite dense. One can read simply, follow the instructions - that are clear and easy to follow - and, if a deeper understanding is desired, then go back and re-read the material, more slowly. It is all there.

   In this latest book, he has brought this style to a very fine level. I was intending to "retire" with Visual Studio 6. After, reading the first few chapters of this book, I am eager to take his "journey" into VB .net.




5. I have finished reading this book for a long time, but I still use it with the task at my office. Now I design my database application using VB.NET as the interface. Whether this book guide in overall concept but the explaination style is very good and easy to uderstand. I recommend this book for the other people who want to learn VB.NET from the beginner should try to use this book.

1 comments about A Brief Course in QBASIC with An Introduction to Visual BASIC (2nd Edition).

1. Visual Basic is an extraordinary combination of power and ease. Vis-Ba is the choice of all up and coming programmers. It is so well written, even microsoft has made it the official program for it's newest software of the future. Dave has done it again

4 comments about The Basics of S and S-Plus (Statistics and Computing).

1. The book does a good job of explaining all of the techniques and applications of S-Plus, but doesn't give adequate examples. You're left trying to figure out what commands to type in. This book may be better as a reference guide for a more experienced user.



2. The Amazon synopsis accurately describes the content and function of this book. Each chapter includes multiple examples of the structure of the syntax and use of Splus functions, and concludes with exploratory exercises (with solutions) to further the chapter theme. I am a graduate student with a modest understanding of statistics and virtually no programming experience. This book enabled me to construct custom bootstrap functions for exploratory data analysis within two days of beginning to learn Splus. This book is more easily read than any other Splus guide I have found, and I would recommend it to anyone using Splus, beginners and experienced users alike.



3. The book provides a very good working introduction to Splus and programming in S. It is geared towards those who will be using the command line interface. There were enough examples to help me to begin to do fairly complex statistical analysis in just a few hours of starting work with a large database. After 2 years, I still find the examples and tables about graphics helpful.



4. This is an excellent text for first time exposure to S plus. As a graduate student in statistics, I found this text to be appropriate and helpful. I found this text to be very readable. I would encourage professors to consider this book as an introductory text. It lacks coverage of old and new style classes but does a nice job covering the graphic capabilities of S plus.

5 comments about Writing Add-ins for Visual Studio .NET.

1. This book clearly teaches and demonstrates, with real-world examples, how to develop powerfull add-ins for Visual Studio.NET.
   This book is a great resource for .NET starters - in regards to Add-ins - and a fantasic reference for experts.
   Serious .NET developers should definatelly add this book to their library.



2. I found that it is largely full of code listings, and short on background information. The coding style seems very much stuck in the VB6 world, and the author needs to acquaint himself with the guidelines for coding in .NET (e.g., naming, etc.).

   At the time I bought this book, it was the only book around for VS.NET add-in development. I did get some value out of it, but now that I've done more development of add-ins and VSIP packages for Visual Studio .NET, I find this book very thin on information, and full of sloppy errors.

   It might be useful if you are writing VS.NET add ins (but take it with a grain of salt). If you want to develop add-ins, and learn about Visual Studio .NET in general, "Inside Microsoft Visual Studio .NET" is a far better choice.




3. I keep stressing the fact that I have not seen a single intelligently written Visual Basic (.NET) source code. This book is not an exception. The code segments are plain sloppy and don't cover enough features of Visual Studio .NET 2003
   Better luck with C# in the next edition.



4. I am flabbergasted that this book has been published in the state it is in. I can only assume no one reviewed it.
   
   It is teeming with badly written and largely irrelevant code samples. For the most part, only four or five lines of a four or five *page* code sample are relevant to the topic at hand. And they are poorly - if at all - explained. The obvious is stated and the subject quickly changed.
   
   The writing style is boring and uninformative. I have learnt close to nothing from this book and am outraged by the blatant mistakes with regards to .NET. Take, for example, page 313 (the grammatical mistake is as printed):
   
   Microsoft has intimated that there will be other languages from Microsoft as well as other languages from . . . This is possible because of the set of unified classes provided by .NET Framework.
   
   Um, no. It is actually possible thanks to the CLR. The author obviously has very little understanding of .NET. It's as if he wrote the book while trying to teach himself the fundamentals.
   
   As a final note, do not expect C# code. The book title does not allude to the fact that most code is written (badly) in VB.



5. After reading this book, I not only find it helpful, but I also took note of several things. First, the release date of the book was just three months after the first release of .NET. Assuming that it takes over six months to write and publish a book, the author had to have started writing the book using a Beta release of Visual Studio .NET and probably finished it using the Release Candidate if it was available to him. Anyone who knows Microsoft Beta releases, knows that the last thing to get any attention is the Help files. They are always spotty and many times non-existant, at least until the release version.
   
   Secondly, the author tells you up front that he is a VB developer and will not use much C# code.
   
   I did find that there are some sections with too much code, and sometimes not enough explanation. However, the code does work; I have tried it, and I will take working code over innocous verbage any day. I often times have purchased a book that costs more that this one, just to get help with one problem and this book helped me in several areas.
   
   Obviously, any buyer has a right to their own opinion, but sometimes, self-proclaimed gurus ought to take into consideration the time at which a book was written, and the subject material, upon which research for the book was done, was available at the time the book was started and completed prior to release to the publisher. Apress is noted for having good books and they don't let bad ones out.
   
   I hope Mr. Smith will write a second edition and cover some of the subjects that he and others have still not yet touched on.

No comments about Spanish All Talk Complete Language Course (16 Hour/16 Cds): Learn to Understand and Speak Spanish with Linguaphone Language Programs (All Talk) (All Talk).

3 comments about Access VBA Programming.

1. The 1st half gives you a quick and sparce overview of what you can do without VBA. It spends lots of time interducing the reader to database design, queries, forms, and tables. If you have any idea what any of these are, you will get nothing out of the 1st half of the book.
   
   The 2nd half introduces the reader to not just VBA but primarily to the concept of programming. I would say it is about 40% general programming (procedures, variables, scope, etc.), 30% idle banter, 20% useless graphics, and 10% Access specific code.
   
   If you have any programming experience, you'll be wasting your time searching for the hidden nuggets in this book. If you are new to Access and to programming, this book is a good into.



2. My programming skills are minor and predate Windows as the main operating system in use. I know a few basic principles but have never been a "programmer". This book will not make me one but it goes a long way towards giving me the skills to reacquire some basic competency.
   
   The text sets out some basic ideas about data structures and ways to manipulate them. These are general principles and have little to do with programming Microsoft Access but they are needed skills. Then the real lessons begin as the principles are used to learn how to manipulate Access objects and the Access environment. It is done is a thoughtful and logical manner which makes sense and which is easy to understand. It is a good introduction.
   
   The code examples a fairly easy to follow and do a good job of making their points even when they are only read instead of tried. Actually trying the examples makes the learning process more complete. If I had one major gripe about this book it is that it did not ship with a disc. The examples are available by download over the net but are not included in the purchase. This make work fine for some but I got started in out of the way motel rooms without highspeed access. I would have rather paid a few dollars more and gotten what I need.
   
   Still, as I said before, it is a good introduction.



3. Breadth of coverage was great, but I felt it lacked enough good lengthier program examples. A case study (small application example) or 2 would have been nice. Book is terse and well-written and organized.

5 comments about Enterprise Application Architecture with VB, ASP and MTS.

1. In a nutshell Moniz puts forth a great concept, but plan on using your own implementation. Read on for the details. When I first read this book I couldn't turn the pages fast enough. I was elated that someone had an architecture that supported just about everything my users were asking for. Then we implemented, or tried to anyway. The code generated by his 'Object Factory' was poorly commented and dismally formated. It uses older ODBC, and improperly uses CreateObject() when the components are supposed to be built to take advantage of MTS. (You must use CreateInstance() to keep your components in the same context) He is also passing whole user-defined objects across process boundaries instead of serializing the data. Incredible performance hit! Still enamored with the concept I converted it to ADO and fixed the MTS errors, thinking that I would just copy this cleaned-up project over and over and edit it to support new objects. Man, was that ever complicated! So, now I'm in my third iteration (and last) of trying to implement this architecture by partitioning the functionality into separate components. In theory, this redisign should work better, and be much simpler than his implementation. (Maybe I'll write a book with my version.) ;^)>



2. Even as a non-VB programmer I got some great ideas from this book, such as the implicit pattern for implementing auditable entities and dynamic property lists in SQL Server. The (perhaps too long) introductory material on "farms" (distribution and components) had me yelling "Yes!" out loud. But, I found the organization of the book befuddling at times, and thought some of the methods and advice weren't as universal as they sounded. Look at this as one man's well-refined method for delivering a broad, but not universal, class of applications on the VB/MTS/ASP/SQL Server platform. Was worth my time. Thanks Mr. Moniz!



3. This book is mainly impressive but also, as some other reviewers mentionned, lacking some content.

   The great thing is that it does go over some quite good VB code example for reusable applications. I would say that about 40-45% of this book is to "learn and understand" how to THINK about reusable component while most of the rest is for the actual VB code that does it (and some leftovers for win32 & web interfaces).

   Indeed, it takes, at the least, an interesting position on Business Logic where he is mainly putting this logic on the data tier but I could agree that in some cases, it could be beneficial.

   As a .NET reviewer, I have to take special care about books that I'm now reading on VB6 code. This book can easily be migrated to the VB.NET syntax mainly because it's the thinking of the book rather than the actual code. Most or all of the ideas are available with VB.NET but the code will obviously needs some changes in order to accomodate ADO.NET, COM+ Application (somewhat really different than what we are used to with VB6), and some syntax modifications that came along with VB.NET.

   Even though there is this "issue" about Business Rules, this book remains an impressive reading about Enterprise Application ARCHITECTURE.




4. This book covers comprehensively how to create a system that allows you to add, edit, retrieve, undo changes on a distributed system.
   You will need to tread carefully in adopting this systems because nothing is offered to effectively analyse the system. How to do you effectively form queries against the large number of tables generated? OLAP has been fleetingly mentioned as a new book but to date I have not seen any hint of it coming out.
   What also is left out is the source code to the code generator the author has created. It would even be worthwhile buying, but you cannot. Therefore you are stuck with what is offered unless you are prepared to spend hours creating your own.
   In summary, interesting concepts but you might drown in the complexity of the system



5. There is so much muck covering the gems that the proposed architecture never becomes clear. Too much, "Okay, now I'm going to tell you..." "Next chapter I'm going to tell you..." If this book had a good rewritting and an editor, it could have been a worthwhile effort. Also, the focus is split between how to set the physical architecture (how many computers, etc) and how to write general purpose business objects that in theory could be used by many unrelated departments, and split again into how what essentially is making objects suitable for automatic code generation. This book needs to be split into maybe three refocused books, and needs a chainsaw to chop out the wordiness.

No comments about Your Apple II Needs You: 30 Programming Projects for the Apple II.