5 comments about MCAD/MCSD Training Guide (70-306): Developing and Implementing Windows-Based Applications with Visual Basic.NET and Visual Studio.NET (Training Guide).

1. This book has quite a few examples. It's obvious that the author cut-and-pasted them, and no one checked 'em. I'd say 85% of the exercises work. Many are flawed by obvious typos, missing, or superflous code, such as declaring variables twice in different scopes. Overall, not a bad book, but not a great one. Ironically the 70-310 book by the same author and editor is much better, though it's a bit weak on ADO.Net.



2. It thought this book worked very well as both exam preparation and as a practical learning tool. I liked the way it walks you through a bunch of applications, then gets you to write something yourself to test your understanding. Also, reading the "Fast Facts" section the morning of the exam was a great memory-jogger.



3. this product is awesome,but ull need extra help to get cert.
   you can get more help in this link
   (getcert's POST)
   
   http://www.mcse.ms/message2132798.html
   
   thanks



4. Yes, the exam covers all the chapters described in the book. So, take your time, do not rush into the end, pay extra careful attention to the details and, certainly, it will be of great help during the test taking. This book really prepares you to suceed in the exam and also to improve your actual programming techniques. Good luck!



5. Although this book is 'ok' compared to other 70-306 books it fails at teaching at a level that is good for either beginners or for experienced programmers.
   
   For starters it was written back in 2003. In my experience most VB.Net code written for Visual Studio 2003 in these books are less than great in Visual Studio 2005. If there was a CD that contained the code at least you could tell whether it compiles or not. Since they didn't, you will have to spend the time entering the code and debugging it yourself. There are a ton of programming books out there where you have to worry about a typo, poor directions or code, or a single mistake will cause the program to never to work without alot of effort debugging and this is one of them.
   
   If you get this book get it only for skim reading on the objectives for 70-306 and for some idea on what is on the test. If you wish to find good sample code(included on a CD) and learn VB.Net, find another book that was written at least in 2005.
   
   In any case you will need other books to know enough to pass 70-306 and or learn VB.Net.

No comments about Visual Basic .NET Programs to Accompany Programming Logic and Design.

5 comments about Vb Com.

1. It was a fantastic resource that explains COM very well. It's targeted towards beginning programmers, assuming very little about a programmer's foreknowledge of VB. It even walks through wizard examples.

   I've had the book for about 2 years now and I still use it as a basic reference book whenever I have a spacey moment on a fundemental aspect of COM.

   Excellent starter book that I've recommended to many friends along the way.




2. Although this book was written over 3 years ago, it is still a good book for Visual Basic developers to learn COM. Microsoft wants you to think that everyone will be switching to Visual Basic.Net but the reality is there are a lot of Visual Baisc 6.0 shops out there and they have to support legacy COM components (ActiveX) for some time to come. Not all of those components are going to be converted to .Net. This book is a good starting point for any Visual Basic developers who want to learn COM including ActiveX DLLs and EXEs, ActiveX Controls, and Microsoft Transaction Server. The chapter on Microsoft Transaction Server could be a good step to COM+ on Windows 2000 and XP machines. Thomas Lewis takes you step-by-step from introduction to COM thru ActiveX components and finally thru Microsoft Transaction Server. He lays a good knowledge foundation and then with each succeeding chapter builds upon that knowledge. I would recommend that after you read this book that you follow it up the Peter Vogel's "Visual Basic Object and Component Handbook".



3. I was long searching for a book on COM from a VB programmers perspective, first reading 'Beginning visual basic objects' and putting it aside for a while i decided to purchase this book and was not disapointed, sometimes this book is a bit dry and at times the examples are quite abstract it nevertheless delivers! I built a COM object for an IIS Server to handle CDO/SMTP in 10 minutes!



4. The material seems a bit dated, but the basics are there. It was helpful in that I was looking to refresh some of the concepts. However, the ~n that appear in numerous places really started to drive me nuts. You would have thought that something so obvious as a "~n" would have been easily caught by an editor! They start to appear on page 26.
   
   And why does Wrox insist on putting the authors pictures on their books? Developers are not photogenic!



5. I'm making the transition from C++ COM to VB COM, and I have very little experience with VB. This book just kind of goes over what COM can do and sort of explains what COM is doing in the examples. The coverage of material is minimal at best, and you won't really understand what COM is doing from the explanations. What's worse is that you won't really learn how to apply his examples to other projects. This book assumes you are an experienced VB programmer and is explaining COM, which would be fine except then his instructions are way too low level for any VB programmer and his explanations are severely lacking.
   
   As an example for anyone who knows about COM, he covers connection points in 2 pages, whithout really explaining how you can use these in your own applications. For reference, all other COM books I've read devote at least 1 chapter to connections points, and it's often one of the largest/most challenging chapters.
   
   If you want to know what COM is doing, buy a concept book from Microsoft presses, or a C++ book. Even if you don't know C++, it at least explains what COM does. (Because you can't see what COM is doing for you in VB, this book doesn't explain COM very well). If you need to learn COM in VB, try another book (if I knew which one, I would have bought that one instead).
   
   A word about the books age. This book is written for VB 6.0 which was based on COM. If you're now developing in VB 7.0 aka VB.NET, this book is not so useful. VB 7.0 is now based on .NET, so you can't actually make any COM objects from VS 2003 using VB. New VB objects to be used by COM objects or to function as COM objects must use wrappers which are another topic entirely. Maybe I'm mistaken, but I could not find a way to build unmanaged , native code from VB.NET and there don't appear to be any ActiveX (aka COM) wizards around.
   
   Also, online support for this book is non-existant. The Company that published this book was split into two and purchased by other publishers, and this book appears not to have been purchased by either, and so neither provides any support or references for it.
   
   I really recommend against purchasing this book.

No comments about Advanced Guide to Programming with Microsoft Visual Basic .NET.

No comments about Java BASICS.

3 comments about Creating and Consuming Web Services in Visual Basic.

1. I just got this book and more or less tore through it. The book does a great job explaining the ins and outs of creating Web services with VB.NET. I especially appreciated the great coverage of using attributes to shape the WSDL and data used in the Web service. The book really helped me out a lot. Highly recommended.



2. If you are like me, you may have thought that the only good Web service support for ASP.NET was offered through C#. The three guys who wrote this book show that this just isn't true.

   The book doesn't spend too much time on the protocols-- instead it explains how to use them from VB. If you need to understand the SOAP and WSDL real deeply, get a different book like Seely's SOAP book from PH-PTR. This book is about writing Web services, nothing more or less. The chapter on SOAP, WSDL, and UDDI is nothing other than an overview. Hey, you've been warned.




3. If you are a seasoned Visual Basic developer with no familiarity with .NET, C#, or Web services, this book will get you where you need to go with a minimum of theoretical explanations and examples that are straightforward and to the point. It provides a quick overview of key concepts and then plunges into practical instruction that brings VB 6 experts up to the latest rev. You don't have to learn a new language to take advantage of .NET services. I work with Deon and have worked with Eric, and they not only have the understanding but the technical chops to back up what they are saying here. Buy the book, don't wait for the movie.

2 comments about Visual Basic .NET All in One Desk Reference for Dummies.

1. hi
   well I have tons of "for dummies" books(from spiritual to graphics and programming and the like) and this is the first that isn't good.

   problems:
   just some i'll like to mention.
   -the author writes code for you to copy and doesnt include the "_" between the lines (other manuals/tutorials/books at least tell u to put "_" , since they dont have space to write the full code in one line), so if you go by his code format you will keep getting errors.
   -on one hand the author seems to write nothing about certain vb.net code and on the other hand he writes tons about the difference between vb6 and vb.net.
   he devotes tons of the book on stuff that is new to vb.net compared to vb6, while not actaully describing vb.net stuff in the first place.

   in conclusion:
   if your coming from vb6, this is a great guide/reference for u. if your not, using the help(references/tutorials/info that u can get on controls/commands) that actaully comes with vb2003.net is far more effective.




2. Please do not torture yourself by buying this book. The title of Visual Basic.Net for Dummies would indicate that this book is appropriate for somebody who wishes to learn this computer language. It is a horrible learning tool.
   
   Twenty-five years after engineering school, I wanted to refresh my computer programming skills which were very good. However much has changed and I needed a guide. The frustration that I encounter with this book is greater than I ever experienced in Engineering school. Remember, engineering school is designed to be very challenging. I told my wife that I thought that I was smart, but my brain must have degenerated since my high honor college days.
   
   Then, I read Murach's Beginning Visual Basic.Net. What was difficult was now clear. Buy Murach's book if you want to learn this subject. Thank goodness for Murach. He showed me that I still had a functioning brain. I was not stupid. Visual Basic.Net for Dummies is very stupid.

No comments about Java: Programming Basics for the Internet.

No comments about Programming in Visual Basic .Net: Visual Basic .Net 2003 Update Edition.

1 comments about Quickbasic in Plain English/Version 4.5 (Scott, Foresman IBM Computer Books).

1. If you can find the book I recommend it. Its easy to read and follow. It explains the commands and basic programming logic so you can begin to program immediately. QuickBasic and the free version QBasic are becoming outdated but excellent for starting programming. This lays a strong foundation for programming that leads to the next stage - Visual Basic 6.0.
   Visual Basic is based on Quick Basic.