No comments about Dan Appleman's Developing COM/ActiveX Components with VB6: A Guide to the Perplexed.

5 comments about Excel 97 Programming for Windows for Dummies.

1. This book gave me the ability to write a macro to streamline a task at work (about three pages of code). What once took 15 to 20 minutes to do, now takes about 5 minutes tops. And that was after only reading about two thirds of the book. I can't wait to read the last third! If you know nothing about VBA, this is the book to get. It is very easy to understand and grasp the basics. The only down side is that I would have liked to have seen more varied example "themes" instead of using the same theme over and over again. Case in point, how to get Excel to recognize which workbook is active, and then do a different task depending upon the workbook that is active. It took me several hours to figure that one out, and no real examples in the book. It short, give an example and then show several different things that can be done with it, instead of giving just one example and then building on that. All in all, however, a MUST READ book!



2. Despite the high recommendations of some other users, this book is not as helpful as I wanted. Yes, it gives a good overview of VBA programming in Excel, but it is short on detailed, technical information - the type of information you need in order to actually write workable code. It spends very little time talking about manipulating data within Excel. This book often refers the reader to the online help. If I wanted to use the online help I would not have bought a book. It also expects you to use the macro recorder as a crutch until you learn enough to write code on your own. A good book if you want a high level overview of VBA, but probably not if you need to write lines of code.



3. Very informative, as all of the books in the Dummy series are!
   A super companion to the Excel Bible. ;)



4. Ordinarily I don't think I'm enough of a dummy to want a for dummies book. However, with no programming experience and lots of fairly advanced knowledge of Excel, this book alone was enough to turn me loose on learning to program in VBA. I had previously figured out how to do some very minor editing on recorded macros, but that was pretty much it. On my very first project, the book gave me enough ideas and support to program a slick set of routines that ended up turning a 6-hours/day task into one that ran at the push of a button in 5 minutes. Maintainance of the reference lists I built to use with Do-Loops took another 10-15 minutes a day, mostly in communication with users of my output. When people at my company express an interest in learning to do the kind of thing I did, I point them to this title.

   Contrary to the reviewer who didn't want to use Excel's macro recorder as a crutch, I found this the fastest easiest way to discover the correct syntax for unfamiliar commands. This way I didn't have to tear my hair out figuring out the right way to say what I was trying to do - unlike the Access VBA utilities I later moved on to.




5. Excel 97 Programming for Windows for Dummies is an excellent book for the Excel programming Novice. The book does a great job giving you a starting point that most VBA manuals and references do not. After becomming somewhat proficient writting macros the book doese not wear out it's usefulness as it can also be used as a somewhat clumbsy reference. The only shortfall in this book is that it doesn't provide reference more more excel commands that a user needs to make really useful macros (naming sheets, working with formulas, find functions, etc...). However, after mastering the material in this book and purchasing a VBA reference book there isn't any Excel challenge you can't overcome.

5 comments about Microsoft Visual Basic Design Patterns (Microsoft Professional Series).

1. it's a good book, the author tries to explain how you can implement in VB 6.0 the patterns exposed in "Design Patterns" bible. He also explain the limits of VB, how a "workaround" can be done, the book has many examples, good explained code. I recommend this book to everybody that might need a design pattern solution with VB 6.0. What i wonder, will be there a 2nd edition of this book, updated with the new features of new coming VB 7.0 which (as Microsoft says) will be 100% obect oriented?



2. The author acknowledges Gamma et al for their brilliant `Design Patterns' book and recommends that we read it (there are 23 patterns described there). I could not agree more, as the introduction to patterns found there is far superior to the one in this book.

   To take advantage of most design patters in VB, one has to tweak them a bit so as to cater for the lack of some OO features in the language. It is exactly that that this book aims to fulfil. Chapter 2 (30 pages) provides an excellent description of VB's OO limitations and how to overcome them. The main points are further reiterated as necessary while describing the patterns in chapters 4-14.

   10 patterns are described, 7 taken/based on the Gamma (Adapter, Bridge, Proxy, Factory Method, Prototype, Singleton and State). The other 3 are: Object By Value (a serialisation pattern), Repository (persisting object state to a data store) and Event Service (alternative to the Event mechanism that is based on connectable objects). Although each pattern is described in detail, Stamatakis uses a derivative of OMT for class diagrams and his own notation for sequence diagrams; personally, I found his diagrams hard to follow and also inaccurate. In addition, his writing style proves his claim that he is a developer first and a writer second. On the upside, for each pattern he provides a mini application with code on CD, which is a great idea and very useful.

   Finally, a good job was done at describing further insights on the effects of each pattern to COM components. There is good stuff in this book...if only the writing style and notation were friendlier...




3. This book is a rare find, especially by Microsoft Press. This is VB coding taken to the next level. Perhaps very useful for the .NET strategies coming up (we'll see what the final 'OO' implementation is like). This way of coding, shown by wonderful examples, is almost the exact opposite of every other way you've been taught to code in VB but it will make you think and understand why JAVA gets all the press these days.

   It's a great source for inspiration to pull you out of normal 'down & dirty' VB coding.




4. If you want to learn about design patters, read "Design Patterns Explained: A New Perspective on Object-Oriented Design by Alan Shalloway & James R. Trott" (ISBN: 0201715945 ).

   This book does very little to explain anything to a level useful for neophytes; instead, it's got a few examples of how to use VB to implement a few of the more common design patterns. The best thing I can say about this book is that it's an easy (although light) read.

   Also, I had hoped that the CD would contain the text of the book itself (like the great Balena book, which I read more from CD than from paper because it's so useful), but the CD simply contains some sample apps that are marginally useful at best. (yawn)




5. Well, the title of my review pretty much says it all. I read the whole thing in one sitting, and haven't looked at it again. I didn't really learn anything about visual basic that I didn't know before. Perhaps later, after I read a book that actually teachs you visual basic - I may go back to it for some pointers.

   This book can easily be overlooked with no ill-effect...

5 comments about Beginning Web Programming using VB.NET and Visual Studio .NET.

1. A word of caution here, this is not a beginners book. More like an advanced or an intermediate book. If this is a beginner's book, then I would hate to see an advanced book. The first 2 chapters were okay, but starting with Chapter 3 it is a real lu-lu! It goes on and on about web controls and custom controls and dynamic control and customized templates and cascading style sheets. I think it would have been best if some of that advanced material had been left out and kept more simple for chapter 3 and concentrated on developing an application that didn't have to rely on all kinds of custom controls and style sheets and all other kinds of stuff. Keep it simple stupid would have been more the order of the day when it came to writing this book.



2. First off, I was glad to read other reviews confirming what I had already been experiencing with this book and that Alzheimer's has not set in. This is no beginner's book, Senator. Title perhaps should have been: "Accelerated Web-Programming, Seatbelts Required." What's more is that the text begins to dissipate in consistency and accuracy as it progresses. Go to the book's errata page and it's got errata itself. (Every chapter is listed as 0.) Even code samples do not always work. Need a specific? Try to run the last exercise in Chapter 6 from Wrox's download. No way, Jose. I guess they forgot about the chapter called application testing. The front page has six different authors displayed on it. I think this is part of the book's problem. It's a hodge podge. It's got the how-many-many-geeks-does-it-take-to-screw-up-a-tutorial syndrome. In all fairness, I should say that the book did help me to keep my feet wet with dot Net coding using Visual Studio. Mighty slippery surface, though.



3. Truely this is not a beginner's book but rather a foundational book.
   I've been studying the .Net Framework for just over a year now. During my studies, I've learned many sophisticated techniques; however, I have not be able to show what I know because I did know how to put it all together. It was like having all the pieces to the puzzle and not having a picture to guide the construction. Consequently, I've been looking for the Picture and this book is it.... a step-by-step guidance on how to integrates all the technologies into one project. This is the "Glue"!

   If you're looking for guidance on how to implement the many .Net techniques in a Web Application than this is a Great book! If you are a real beginner please look else where and then come to this book. You will be glad that you did ---> I am!

   Bottom Line - The book should be titled Foundational instead of Beginning. If it were, I am sure it reviews would be much higher.




4. I have bought at least a dozen Web Development Books and this book has provided more practical development techniques than all the other books combined. As a previous evaluator has written, this book is the "Glue" the brings everything together. No book on this complex subject can do it all, but this book comes the closest of any I have read.



5. I can understand that a complete beginner to web design and programming in the .NET Framework would be a little upset with the title as some of the reviews have stated, but there's a light at the end of the tunnel! Those that are complaining now will be thankful later when they need to integrate all of these new technologies to create a finely woven site that impresses its users. I can honestly say that I've read a dozen books on ASP.NET (in VB and C#) and none do the justice to the topic that this book does. Many are rehashes of the same old thing - here's a datalist, here's a datagrid, here's one way to use ADO.NET, etc. It's just so hard to find it all in one place and this book does have most of it between two covers!
   Consider having a look at a book like ASP.NET Website Programming (problem - design -solution) which I have read from cover to cover. Now that is an advanced book that covers excellent ground but really doesn't do a good job of explaining the code - if this book was at my fingertips it would have been much, much easier to understand and implement.
   So those of you that have some experience with custom server controls, CSS, ADO.NET, and XML will not find the road that hard and will greatly enjoy this read.
   Those that want to learn how to implement security correctly using a variety of different techniques throughout the lifecycle or your project will be very excited indeed.

   -All the best in your programming endeavors.

No comments about An Introduction to Programming with Visual Basic. NET - Textbook Only.

4 comments about Mastering AutoCAD VBA.

1. Clear, simple code and very basic operations make this a good primer for those just starting. In order to actually write the app you had in mind, you will need much more information( Joe Sutphin's book at least). Even on a beginners level much is left out --- filtering selection sets, DXF codes, classes, .DLL's, the API, just for starters. As a low end intermediate user the book is a disappointment, but I'll keep it anyway.



2. The book assumes the reader is a novice at both AutoCAD and VBA. This is good, since other books seem to assume a lot of prior knowledge. Certain topics which would seem to demand more explanation, such as a transformation matrix, are left without any. Still, I recommend this book for beginner.



3. Yes, this book is for beginners, but geared more toward AutoCAD (and perhaps programming) novices rather than toward those wishing to systematically learn and employ VBA in AutoCAD. This is in contradisctinction to its back cover description, which says "[this book] is written specifically for AutoCAD users." (And the book description in the editorial above is even more misleadling!) Topics and headings are arranged around AutoCAD, not around VBA, as though the subject is AutoCAD, not VBA. In addition, code may reference other code from two or three chapters back, but with needed intermediate changes found only one or two chapters back. Too many such 'goto' statements make this book tedious even for someone wanting to focus his new VBA skills on a particular aspect of AutoCAD. The reader is forced to delve into every chapter in order to gain just one or two necessary--but unlabeled--points about VBA buried within the pages. (And don't expect the accompanying CD to be of any help here. Instead of including the necessary VBA projects--.dvb files--it merely includes the listings in the chapters as text, sans the changes needed to make 'em work!) I'm still looking for the book that will lead one through VBA (with bold references to important steps) using AutoCAD as the teaching environment. If the author had paid more attention to the VBA side of the equation, I'm sure I would have given this book a much higher rating. It would appear that this book (written by a professor) was really designed to supplement a semester course in learning some basics of AutoCAD with reference to VBA. It needs major input from an instructor. It certainly can't do the job by itself.



4. This book is a disappointment in comparison to other Sybex "Mastering" series publications. Petroutsos' Mastering Visual Basic is a must if one is to take advantage of many examples shown in "Mastering AutoCAD VBA". The rudimentary AutoCAD examples left a lot to be desired.

5 comments about Seagate Crystal Reports 7 for Dummies.

1. My company purchased Crystal Reports as the main utility for pulling data from our large relational database. I had never seen Crystal before much less used it. I got my hands on this book today at 12:30 p.m. By 1:17, I was pulling data and manipulating reports like a pro. I would recommend this book to anybody who has to learn Crystal in a hurry.



2. The company i work for purchased Crystal Reports for a report conversion proyect and i had never used this software before and in couple of hours i was creating some basic to complicated reports. I recomend this book for anyne who need to get hands on fast.



3. This book was an excellent start for Crystal. I can actually read the huge technical Crystal Report books and understand what they are reffering to. It helped open the door to a whole new world.



4. The best on the market you will find. The book is very easy to follow and chapters are very nicely arranged. Good work.



5. This book was a welcome break from the manual that comes with version 7.0. Very easy to understand the basics and it also contains alot of other stuff. I needed to create some reports quickly and this book really helped.

5 comments about The .NET Languages: A Quick Translation Guide.

1. This book ignores major features of the .Net Architecture, and barely acknowledges ASP. It is as if the author has heard about the framework secondhand.



2. Anytime I enter into the world of a new technology, I tend to inundate myself with books. I purchased many books as I prepared myself for the transition into .NET, particularly to adopting the use of C#.

   While other books taught me about the ins and outs of the .NET framework, this one helped me to quickly grasp the language. It provides useful and practical examples for tasks I had long taken for granted in VB 6.0 and prior. In fact, the essense of the book is all about bridging one's understanding from the "old way" of coding to the "new way" and it does so quite well.

   Many times I need to quickly recall syntax. The book is well organized and I can almost always find what I'm looking for in a minute. Other books leave me searching or even wondering where that one nugget of truth that I learned last month (but can only vaguely recall this month) must be.

   This book is perfect for the person who wants to learn the language syntax (VB or C#) from practical patterns and examples.




3. I use this book a LOT. The reason I love it is because it does exactly what it was meant to do: take a starting point that I can relate to, Visual Basic 6, and cross-reference my previous knowledge to VB.NET and C#. I have not found any other book that cross-references all three languages the way this one does. For instance, if I know what command I would use in VB 6, but I'm new to C# then it's a 15 minute search to find something equivalent in MSDN. But if I pull out my trusty Translation Guide there it is in a few seconds! From there if I need more in-depth detail I can go straight to the correct article in MSDN, however in most cases it tells me everything I need to know because I already understand the concepts, I just need to know how to do the same type of task in another language. This book is absolutely invaluable to me as a reformed VB6 programmer!



4. Having coded in C#, and having to pick up a project all in VB.NET, which, btw, was ported from VB6, was not familiar with the synthax and conventions of the visualbasicers. My problem was mostly about the lack of knowledge on language synthax and idiom expression. Knew "how to do this and that", but didn't have the synthax on my fingertips. This book pretty much summarizes all my desires at this point: it has side by side examples in VB6, VB.NET, and C#, with a commentary on features that may be offered in one language or another, why they were offered, and within the same programming language, sometimes mentioned an alternate way of achieving the same result. For my particular situation, already knowing the .NET framework and have had some experience in it, this book proved to be extremely useful to jump into another .NET language. I think I found one incorrect statement: the book states that in .NET, Boolean and Integer are not interchangeable, which I found to be true in C#, but not in VB.NET. Also, the difference between static and shared is still confusing. Great book for those that just need a code example in front of their eyes when coding something new. And btw, nice insight on how C# picked up from VB6 the style on read-only property, while paradoxically, VB.NET did not. Also useful in the context covered by this book, are two other books, "Maximizing .NET Performance" and "Effective C#", which lists some traps that are specific to a programming language used in .NET.



5. I bought this book because I had taken on a new job and had 2 weeks to learn VB.Net the way I know C#.Net. This book was and still is a great asset to have for anyone looking for a quick concise guide to translate between VB.Net and C#.Net It's not a learning guide for .Net (as it states in the intro) and does not get to specifics about winforms and webforms. What it does is very effectively explain syntax differences and other caveats to be aware of between the .Net languages (I skipped over all the VB6 stuff so I can't speak to that). The charts at the beginning of every chapter are an invaluable quick reference.
   If you are new to .Net, get another book to learn it effectively...if you know a .Net language and need translate your knowledge to another, then this book is a great tool to have.

1 comments about How to Program Microsoft Visual Basic: Scripting Edition.

1. This is a basic-level book for beginners without ANY programming experience according to its introduction. However, its section on introducing programming contains examples in Perl and C++. These languages are casually referred to and used as examples, which is unhelpful and confusing to the beginner just starting with VBScript as their first programming language. Also, the actual VBScript code presented does not work -- a major flaw. If you're a beginner, get VBScript for Dummies or Active Server Pages for Dummies and start with something that will actually make sense.

2 comments about Beginning .NET Web Services with VB.NET.

1. XML and XML Web Services are hot subjects, I should know having technically reviewed many books on them and also this book. So a book that tells the XML & Web services stories from a VB.NET perspective has got to be hot property - and this book is just that!

   Content varies from using VB.NET to enumerate an XML document to developing Binary & SOAP Serialisation class's - there is no "kiddie" dialog; it is full of real information & succinct step-by-step real-world examples to try out.

   It's a small & convenient sized book and that requires it to be fast-paced, progressive & well written: there is no getting bogged down in 70 page chapters of pure rocket science that send you into orbit. Best of all are the authors: they are down-to-earth, working along side you & sharing value - which makes for a very friendly & quick learning experience.

   The authors use XML Validator to define XML documents, which is cool, however Microsoft have a free download of Microsoft XML Notepad ... which I found much quicker to use to develop schemas structures, however.




2. I have the c# version of this book too as I am
   learning vb.net and c#
   The vb version of this book has a corrupted database file
   and other 2 missing database files.
   That makes 3 chapters which you wonder if the code is going to
   ever work in this beginner book
   For a book from Karli Watson after his brilliant book
   'begining c#', his reputation for quality is not going to
   hold water for people making his purchase. Certainly
   after anyone spending money on this vb.net or c# version

   of this book finds out that they are trying
   to sell you a book with questions with no answers
   I see other people can give the book 5 stars without
   testing the downloadables. Don't make any sense.