4 comments about The Minimum You Need to Know to Be an OpenVMS Application Developer.

1. OpenVMS (Open Virtual Memory System) is a high-end computer server operating system. As a multi-user, multiprocessing virtual memory-based operating system (OS), it is designed for use in time-sharing, batch processing, real time, and transaction processing. It offers high system availability through clustering and distributes the system over many machines. The ability to distribute both the application and a single transaction across multiple nodes is the heart of clustering; otherwise, it is just networking.
   
   Roland Hughes' book, The Minimum You Need to know to be an OpenVMS Application Developer, offers Computer Applications Developers, Consultants, Systems Analysts, and developers switching to OpenVMS, a detailed and informative companion guide to understanding and implementing the applications and modules needed to operate and maintain OpenVMS.
   
   From logging into OpenVMS, each chapter charts a systematic guide to operating and sustaining the application coding and programming of essential modules running on OpenVMS. Such languages, tools, and databases as DCL, DEC BASIC, FMS, COBOL, CDD, FORTRAN, C/C++, MySQL, and RDB cover the heart of what you need to know as a maintenance programmer. Using a created lottery tracking system, Hughes generates a single application and develops it in each of the following: DEC BASIC, FORTRAN, COBOL, and C/C++. As well, Hughes shows readers how to use CDD, CMS, and MMS with these languages. By repeatedly applying the same method in different languages, Hughes demonstrates in a clearly written and easy to follow guide, how a programmer knowledgeable with one language can become skilled in others. The CD-ROM that comes with it contains the source code developed in the book allowing readers to learn the advantages and disadvantages of each language.
   
   Well-illustrated examples with detailed analysis, descriptions, and definitions, allow the reader to follow the book while working with the server, thereby learning the "nuts and bolts" of creating, understanding, and managing command files. Each chapter details troubleshooting tips, error handling tips, reducing debugging time, as well as the Do's, and Don'ts of writing applications. Following each chapter, there are exercises to enhance comprehension of the modules and applications in OpenVMS.
   
   With a wealth of experience, Roland Hughes provides thoughtful and knowledgeable observations about the IT field. One important bit of knowledge he conveys: "IT is a way of life, not a job." With easy to follow instructions and detailed examples, I highly recommend this informative and well-mapped book as an asset to those in the IT industry, as well to students entering the computer-programming field.
   
   Tracy Roberts, Write Field Services



2. Do you want to be an OpenVMS Application Developer? If you don't know what that is, then you probably don't need this book, but if you do, you've found the seemingly most comprehensive and readable guide to doing so. Roland Hughes' offering, "The Minimum You Need to know to be an OpenVMS Application Developer" is an abundance of information that you cannot afford to be without.
   
   Here's some background: "OpenVMS (Open Virtual Memory System) is a high-end computer server operating system. As a multi-user, multiprocessing virtual memory-based operating system (OS), it is designed for use in time-sharing, batch processing, real time, and transaction processing. It offers high system availability through clustering and distributes the system over many machines." In other words, you need to know this!
   
   This isn't a beginner's guide, to be sure. However, those in the IT industry will be thankful to Hughes as he describes uses of: the MMS and CMS tools from the widely used DECSET OpenVMS software development toolkit CDD FMS the RDB and MySQL databases. He describes other tools found in OpenVMS application development such as VMSMAIL, and PHONE. The book works readers through and around a single application which is developed in each of DEC BASIC, FORTRAN, COBOL, C and C++ using a variety of tools. On the accompanying CD, full source code is provided.
   
   Hughes' language is easy to understand. He doesn't speak over the heads of the readers, nor talk down, and his tome is not the dry textbook form you may be used to. He uses humor and easy going guidance, making this likely one of the most readable IT guides out there.
   
   Drawing on his vast experience and knowledge, Hughes rewards himself and the reader with a final chapter on the IT field. His guidance here is not so technical but rather personal when deciding where a developer wishes to work. His attention to company restrooms is something I did not expect to read about but is likely very valuable information. If you want to be an OpenVMS Application Developer, this is the book you need.



3. Reviewed by Regan Windsor for Reader Views (8/07)
   
   While at first glance "The Minimum You Need to Know to Be an OpenVMS Application Developer" may look like a classroom textbook, you don't need to read very far into it to realize it is much, much more. Roland Hughes has managed to write a comprehensive guide on the OpenVMS operating system and a variety of the tools, languages, and databases used, as though he was standing over your shoulder mentoring you through the process. In addition to source code, best practices, and tips and tricks, aimed at saving the novice developer hours of frustration, Roland also includes critical historical information on various applications. This information transfer is critical to the success of the IT industry and consequently the success of all companies whose systems are impacted by the historical trends in application development!
   
   "The Minimum You Need to Know to Be an OpenVMS Application Developer" covers the fundamentals of OpenVMS, including hardware and software, as well as some tips on choosing an editor, and then starts the reader off with some hands-on exercises that build throughout the book. Also included are some end-of-chapter exercises (with answers included at the end of the book) to ensure the reader has grasped the key elements of the chapter.
   
   The chapters that follow cover various tools, languages, and databases for developing applications on the OpenVMS platform. Beginning with DCL and Utilities, moving through DEC, FMS, CMS, CDD, FORTRAN, COBOL, C/ C++, covering Object and Text libraries, as well as Message Utility, Mail and Phone, describing MySQL and RDB databases, and ending with a chapter on the authors observations on the IT industry. Each chapter includes an overview, a discussion of functionality, and other relevant historical information, tips, tricks, best practices, and much more, and then works through several programming examples and exercises (source code provided). Many of the exercises walk the reader through the same process with the various languages, providing an appreciation of the trade-offs between them. Where more advanced functionality is available, Hughes provides a high level overview of what the additional functionality can provide.
   
   "The Minimum You Need to Know to Be an OpenVMS Application Developer" should be on the desktop of anyone new to the OpenVMS platform and on the bookshelf of those seasoned veterans looking for a comprehensive reference book. Hands-on programming throughout the book provides a highly effective learning tool, and the best practices, advice, and knowledge transfer from the author gives the reader the unique feeling that they are sitting down next to a mentor, being coached through the tricks of the trade!



4. Running at around 800 pages "The Minimum you need to know to be an OpenVMS Application Developer" by Roland Hughes is a complete reference book for people wishing to learn, develop and/or maintain code in the OpenVMS environment. The premise of the book is simple: to create the same simple application in different common languages used for development under the OpenVMS system. These languages are Basic,Fortran, Cobol, C and C++.
   
   To accomplish the premise, Mr Hugues gives a rather thorough introduction to the fundamentals of the operating system whose topics range from the basics of logging-in to Symbols, Editors and their configurations and the OpenVMS's command line language DCL. Even goes so far as to cover developing a basic import program using DCL and indexed files. These first chapters are a lot harder to read for all those not too familiar with the OS itself and at times the information is given at a breakneck speed which might warrant the usual re-read from time to time. Once the basics are covered the author lunges into Basic and then veers for a few chapters giving us further introductions to OpenVMS tools like FMS, CDD, VMSMAIL, VMSPhone. The author also takes a look at setting up DEC's CMS tool for code management and the MMS (Module Management System-the make utility of the OpenVMS OS). The author continues then on to Fortran, Cobol, C and C++, and finally gets to the database programing section where he discuses both MySQL and DEC's own RDB database. Assignments for further study are included at the end of every chapter, and also included with the book comes a cd with all the code used in the book.
   
   The approach taken to follow the premise is very deliberate and follows the order of the chapters in the book very closely. I don't recommend reading this book out of order. The author himself on the introduction recommends that the book be read once through first and then used as reference. As an example the chapters where the author veered off into after Basic to cover FMS,CDD,CMS and MMS, are an integral part of the book and are constantly referenced throughout the following chapters on Fortran, Cobol, C and C++.
   
   The author uses a colloquial writing style in the book that is easy to read. From time to time he veers off to give further insights to the points he is trying to make but never looses sight of his main objectives, and this is laudable considering the amount of information being dispensed. This is mostly seen in the form of anecdotal information sometimes to clarify his own code other times to give more of a historical perspective. This colloquial style partnered with the unique structure of the book makes for a very interesting contrast as this book could be seen as a reference manual but at its core its a lot more of a personal account on good OpenVMS programming practice by Mr Hughes. A fact that he himself doesn't hide as he relates his opinions on such practices as well as many other subjects throughout the book with a great sense of humor which makes for a much more interesting reading.
   
   Mr Hughes great sense of humor and insight culminates in this book's final chapter called "Ruminations and Observations" which has nothing to do with OpenVMS but is more of an opinion piece on a few subjects that touch all of us that work in IT. These subjects range from the real reason Y2k happened to offshore computing to avoiding a hellhole shop, and are bound to make more than one programmer laugh with glee and more than one manager blush.
   
   In conclusion this is a must read for anybody wanting to learn to write code in this most venerable of Operating Systems.

2 comments about QBasic Fundamentals and Style with an Introduction to Microsoft Visual Basic for Windows.

1. I just finished a class in QBASIC using this book and it was very easy to follow. It also has many great problems with which to quiz yourself and includes many great programming examples which will be similar to actual programs you will write in the workplace.



2. Very good book for individuals looking to explore the basics of programming. Covers structured programming techniques and other basic fundamentals of programming. Perfect for students who want to discover if programming is an industry they would like to enter.

5 comments about MCAD/MCSD: Visual Basic .NET Windows and Web Applications Study Guide.

1. Used this book along with other materials to pass 70-305. This is an OK book, but it is not written at the beginner level. The reader needs to be fairly advanced to pick up the information the way it is presented. Read another book first to get the concepts and high-level picture of ASP.NET and then start reading this book to focus on the test.
   
   The sections in this book on the web.config file and debugging/tracing are well done as these topics are hit heavily in the test. The end of chapters review questions could be better, but they are decent.



2. This book manages to cover the main subject matter for both exams.... having passed both 70-306 and 70-305 in October 2004, I can personally vouch for the teaching style this book offers. Although I agree that the content is somewhat light for 70-305, I believe it is because there is significant overlap on certain topics for both exams (especially with ADO.NET concepts). If you are a strong .NET developer, you may get away with simply using this book as a means to prepare for the exams. For most of us, however, building a foundation in VB .NET/ASP .NET with 1-2 other books (particulary those offered by O'Reilly, WROX(Wiley) or APRESS) is the best way to go prior to picking up this book. Moving forward to 70-310, I can only hope the "Sybex" approach continues to prove effective.



3. Want to pass 70-305 first time around ? Use this book and the braindumps (www.braindumps.com) and you're there !
   Mind you I did find some errors in the book, but after contacting Brian Reisman I received help within days !
   I send my additional errata to Brian, to check and update the Sybex online Errata and later the next edition of the book.



4. This Book is good for people who already have quite a bit of experience and only need an overview of the material required to pass the exams. I read this book first, then went to the ExamCram book by Mike Gunderloy. The ExamCram book filled in all the gaps left by this book, giving an excellent treatment of ADO.Net. The authors of this book are good writers and I think their goal was not to get into a lot of detail, but just to give readers a starting point for further study. I do like the style of the book, it is very well laid out and the Practice tests that come with the book are very good, almost as good as Transcender. I did buy the transcender tests/ Transtrainer video and they were also very helpful in passing the 70-306 exam with a score of 800.



5. I passed both exams, 305/306. This book was especially valuable in how much of asp.net + vb.net is covered. However, the book is so riddled with painfully time-consuming errors, it may not be worth buying unless the authors actively do something about erratta (sp?). I would have passed my exam a full month in advance if the editor was doing any "editing" at all.
   The errors I found and their approximate "cost" of my time are below.
   P/Invoke ex, pg 243: alias should be "MessageBoxA" - 1hr
   Interfaces, pg 215: Did not mention you must save your project before implementing an interface - 2hr
   Class library pg 215: They didnt tell you to change your project type to class library, or else you cant register for COM Interop 3hr
   CreateObject() pg 222: Author says no equivalent to CreateObject(), In fact this function is still available in .Net 1.1, not only that ... GetObject() is also there! 0hr
   Cookies, book never explains more than one way to set a cookie 1hr
   Web.Config pg 589 Authors did not put double quotes around word true, [identity impersonate=true], name value pairs in web.config are case sensitive and values must always have double quotes, without knowing that, cost me 4hr
   assembly linker utility pg370 The /c switch is missing from call to al.exe, also the word Exercise is misspelled (Excsercise) 2hr
   HTML Controls pg 610 Visual Studio automatically generates declarations for controls that you place on a web form, the book leaves me in the dark about this 20min
   Dataset pg 145 The variable dsEmp has to be *public* scope, HTML can not see into the code behind without it! 2hr
   Resource file pg 685 Resource file name is wrong! 2day
   Anonymous pg 704 If you deny anonymous [deny users="?"] and enforce integrated authentication, no login dialog appears to access virtual directory. 1hr
   
   Other more minor errors ...
   pg 751 #5, fs.trace.close is incorrect 1hr
   pg 756 #3, btsDim should not be there
   pg xliii, pure typo, answer should be C (globalization and localization)
   pg131, sqlcommandbuilder not required for typed datasets
   pg 412, Not actually VB.Net code, this is C#
   
   I found roughly twice as many more errors, but I quit tallying because I was basically fed up.
   
   I passed Windows with score of 875, and Web with 905, thanks in large part to this book. Outside of the typos and errors that is, it was a big help. I also used practice exams from a friend. But, I didn't need them. This book has pretty good questions that very closely resemble what you will see on the real exam. However, many practice exam questions have the wrong answer, have duplicate answers, or simply have questions that are not complete. In the latter, you just guess something and look at the explanation.
   
   If I did not have my 5+ years of previous experience in VB 6, I imagine that I would have struggled a lot with this. Maybe I would have quit. I rated this book 5 stars only because I actually passed my exam. Otherwise, I gets a zero or whatever the equivalent is.
   
   Basic Summary:
   As someone previously mentioned, if you know some programming already, this book is Ok. But, beginners will have a really hard time because of the errors, but not because of the level of difficulty. If you can tolerate the errors, go for it.

5 comments about Build Your Own PC Game in Seven Easy Steps: Using Visual Basic.

1. "Build Your Own PC GAme in Seven Easy Steps Using Visual BASIC" is an impressive title and worthy of many a purchase. Though it requires use of the as-of-present somewhat dated VB3 or VB4, it nonetheless provides a helpful perspective on game development in Visual BASIC. If one owns a copy of VB, it is undoubtedly a enjoyable title and even if one doesn't carry a strong interest in game programming it provides for a refreshing event. Though it lacks in some areas, such as consistent mispelling\errors, and can produce some overly-simplistic samples, it nonetheless is a good sprint that will allow one to develop quality text-based programs, graphic arcade style fighteres, or graphic RPG style adventures. Highly recommended!



2. I bought this book hoping to find some information on how to build a game engine that would allow me to move sprites on a tile based backround, which is done by a function called BitBlt, although this book did have some info on Bitblt it was not alot, and most of the book only showed you how to write text based games with minor graphics. If you want to program games dont use Visual Basic, use a better laungage like VC++, and surely dont use this book! Try to find a copy of the Black Art of VB Game Programming, I did buy that book and with it I could make some ok games with VB, But DONT USE THIS BOOK



3. I'm part way thru the book, and so far its good for beginners. Even tho it is dated (1996), most of the concepts are valid. As a programming teacher, one thing does irritate me: the persistent misuse of the word "programming" when the author means coding. Programming is creating the logic, coding is translating that logic into code. Many students come into class able to code, but almost none come in able to program -- that is, create the logic. They think sitting down and making spaghetti code is programming. The author, as many authors and teachers do, promotes this confusion with his misuse of terms. This lapse makes it so much harder for novices to learn to program. But I was glad to see him emphasize "plan", even with the terms confused. Otherwise, good book for basic game concepts.



4. If you can see the cover of the book at the top of this page, It includes a picture of a 3-Dimentional castle. Immediately, you'd think you can jump into the fine arts of "NEXT GEN" gaming. Not so. With this book, you will jump into the fine arts of "TEXT ADVENTUREs", which is mostly the main topic of this book. Although Text Adventures have their element of fun, these days you'd probably want graphics, right? Oh, sure this book gives some info on graphics, you can find the same info on the web. I'd recommend this book for people who are familiar with VB, and want to "Get Started" with game programming. Otherwise, keep looking.



5. I picked up this book thinking I'd be able to make the simplist of games. I was wrong. This book dumps alot of code at you in big klumps and mainly teaches stuff how to organize the game, instead of game-specific stuff. The BitBlt and MCI stuff is nice, but most of it can be found on the web.

4 comments about Visual Basic 4.0 Power Toolkit: Cutting-Edge Tools and Techniques for Advanced Programmers (Power Toolkit Series).

1. This is a great book. Very specific and clear. Uses plain English to describe the power of the visual basic. I recommend this book for beginner and advanced a like. If you want to master vb you must have this book.



2. I never used the API before. I got this book and in minutes I knew how to READ, WRITE and EDIT an INI file using the API. Add mail-aware and mail-enabled to all your applications. It just shows you all the stuff you thought where impossible to program in a couple of lines of code. Would of got a 10 but only the bible gets that rating



3. For anyone who knows a reasonable amount of general visual basic. The language is ENGLISH. It's not scientific, you can understand more complex concepts. Proof of all statements made are backed up with code. Their are plenty of examples. I do not write book reviews, but this book deserved one. I only hope that they write another one, or someone else can write as good a book for VB5.



4. For all things except CCReations and VBOOP there really is a single book that covers it all for beginners to severely advanced coders. I first bought the VB3 edition and the VB4 edition is still the first grabbed book whenever I hit any non-oop walls. Graphics & palettes, optimizations, and a devious VB-ONLY encryption technique that is as secure as any system you would pay for (and that only needs to be converted to a VBdll to get rid of the documented limitation ... prior to VB5 you could not reset the initial "engine" without restarting the app... think about it). Seriously, this book is the ace in the hole. Says "VB4" on the cover, excellent for any VB version (cd includes the full VB3 version too). Get it, you'll never regret it. If Amazon can't get it for you (nothing against Amazon at all but it is listed as out of print) try calling "Computer Books @ Half Price" (ask you operator for the numbers in Bellevue or Seattle Washington) for a brand new copy ... at half price .

No comments about Advanced Programming in Microsoft Basic.

5 comments about Visual Basic® 6 Master Reference.

1. This book is exactly what I was looking for. I consider myself to be an intermediate user (working hard to become an advanced user), and what I was looking for was a easy to use, fairly complete, concise reference book to supplement my library of "How to program in VB" books.

   Topics are broken down alphabetically, and like a dictionary, the Visual Basic 6 Master Reference has little three letter "tabs" on the edge of each page (i.e. "efg") help you locate your information quickly. The information on each topic is well presented, and includes little snippets of code that help to clarify and illustrate correct usage.

   Although this book is very good, it is not perfect. I have searched for some bits of information only to find that the book doesn't include them. But I can't imagine any single volume paperback or hardcover book that could provide information on all that VB has to offer.

   To summarize: this is a great reference book (not a how-to book) that covers a great deal of information about the Visual Basic 6 programming language.




2. I bought this book from the bookstore few weeks ago and i can say that it is one of the best buys i have made.I mean it is with hard covers, it has most of the control references in it and the examples are really helpful. And this is like the best laid out book i have seen in a long time. For the work place you can hardly find a better reference (at least on the controls).



3. The other reviews sum up the book nicely. It is much easier to use then the MSDN CDs. Here is some of what it does not include taken from the preface to the book: "This book does not cover the many additional controls (such as DataGrid,MonthView,MSChart, and Winsock) supplied with some editions of Visual Basic, as well as all events, methods, properties, and objects associated with these additional controls. Moreover, this book does not cover any controls, objects, properties, events, or methods used in Visual Basic database programming." They estimated a book covering all of VB would be twice this book's size. So if you are looking specifically for database help, you'll have to look elsewhere.



4. This book has everything I need. I found browsing(?) the book helpful as I encountered methods and code used in other books. It provides a good description of properties and what objects use them. The gigantic number of properties in VB at first intimidated me when VB1 came out in 1991, but this book helps greatly to overcome fears. The example code is good, but I would like to see much more sample code ( as we ALL would ). Buy this as a Reference tome to backup the other books you buy about VB.



5. Not what I had first expected, really good book to be used as a reference guide, rather than a book on showing you more features of vb.

5 comments about Waite Group's Visual Basic 6 Database How-To.

1. I don't usually buy a computer book before checking out the customer review on the books. This time, I was in the hurry and had no time to check the review, so I wasted $.

   On the cover, the publisher claims the book is "THE DEFENITIVE PROBLEM SOLVER". Shame on the publisher and the authors. The code in the book doesn't compile. ActiveX components are missing from the CD. In other words, nothing works.

   The Waite Group, you owe me $+ tax.




2. I was looking for a book that explained the differences between and the advantages of the various data access methods available in Visual BASIC 6, and which would guide me through implementing my chosen solution. After working through the first few sections, I'm more confused than ever. Instead of helping you decide which path to follow and then guiding you down it, this book takes the route of saying "Here's something neat" - "Oh - and this is neat too" - "And *this* method is pretty cool" without making it clear (at least to me) whether you're supposed to use them in conjuction with each other or pick one and use it exclusively in a given program. In fact, I moved from the "Bound Controls" to "Data Access Objects" sections without realizing through several examples that these were probably not meant to be mixed together. The examples often seem to say "Do this, then do that" without making clear _why_ you're doing it. I don't know about you, but I can't learn by rote nearly as effectively as I do if I _understand_ why something works the way it does. I keep thinking "Well, maybe it's designed for someone more experienced at VB database programming than I am," but in working through the examples, I get the feeling that someone with much VB database experience would already know most of this stuff. I'll put the book on the shelf and maybe it will be a useful reference once I've got a clearer understanding of the subject, but it hasn't been much help as a beginner's guide.



3. I have read other reviews here and I disagree. I find this book incredibly helpful. It will not write your application for you, but it will tell you how to do the details. It has helped me write a major application. I use it as a resource not a learning manual. Once you know DB programming, this book cannot be beat for VB-Access combination



4. This book changed my life in a number of fundamental ways. I bought one for my wife, my pastor, my parents and even my dog. I am now definitely a VB6 super-geek.



5. I usually don't write reviews, but this book has helped me so much that I felt a social responsibility to say it.

   I got a job that involved database and reporting work that evolved into being primarily VB with databases three weeks after I started the job. (Isn't it amazing how job descriptions can change after the hiring is complete?)

   Anyway, I had to learn fast and accurately to keep the job, and this book provided all I needed to save my job!

   It was also a great desk reference to troubleshoot when I got stuck down the line. I would HIGHLY RECOMMEND it to anyone who wants to learn and wants to buy only one book that they can continue to use after they're more comfortable.

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.

5 comments about Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0: Deluxe Learning.

1. I was fortunate enough to have my company pay for this book for me. After finding it here for a very low price and then the rebate for owning MS Office kicked the final price down considerably.

   I am about halfway through the tutorial segment and so far, I am pleased. Although it gets a bit dry at times, once you suffer through it, it does give you very useful information.

   It starts off by explaining the environment of Windows and then moves into the program, itself. It introduces all the tools and windows inside of the program. It walks you through the entire process of building three programs. If you show a large desktop (I used 1024x768) and reduce both windows to be shown simultaneously, you can watch the tutorial for what to do, pause it, and then go over to VB6.0 and do it! What can be more simple than that? You get to learn by doing. That's one thing that scored this program big points with me! Later on, more advanced topics (advanced for a beginner, anyway) are introduced.

   Also, since you have all of the tools you need to start programming right away, it is very useful, indeed. There are some features in the Professional and Enterprise editions that are not available in this edition, but I believe there is an upgrade rebate to move from this version to those.

   Finally, this set includes the Visual Basic 6.0 Programmer's Guide, which is essentially the Bible of the Visual Basic language. It discusses a majority of topics useful in programming in VB.

   All of these components add up for a great investment that is well worth any price mentioned! I started from scratch and purchased this and three other books to get my feet on the ground and this one definitely helped to get me there!

   Thank you for your time in reading this review.

   --Daniel




2. Although finding and reading a good Visual Basic book is an excellent start to ones Visual Basic career, I cannot over emphasize how important it is to get ones hands on a copy of the Visual Basic compiler. With both the book and the compiler you can quickly become comfortable with the Visual Basic Development Environment by typing in some of the source code in the book and test running it for yourself. Eventually, when you feel comfortable with your knowledge of Visual Basic you can begin writing and running your own programs. Visual Basic Deluxe Learning Edition will allow you to do just that.

   A highly recommended set of materials!




3. I found this book extremely helpful. I am a professor at Houghton College and purchased this book to write software for the genetics course that I teach. I had no prior experience in Visual Basic, although I have just taken a course in C++. The Step by Step guide is very helpful to orient users toward the visual basic environment, and has chapters on the syntax of the language itself, which is something I really needed. There are numerous helpful programs that come on the CDs, and I found the book extremely readable. In short, I highly recommend this book for its clarity and thoroughness.



4. This package has EVERYTHING that you will need to learn V.B. 6.0 and compile executable programs on your own. The step-by-step manual goes at a good pace for someone with little programming experience. The programmer's guide book and MSDN Help Library have the information necessary for those going beyond the 'Basic'.



5. Surprise! I'm reviewing Amazon. Your reviews for Microsoft Visual Basic 6 Learning Edition discuss the compiler that comes with the books, so people would naturally assume the compiler is included with the used books you're selling. It is NOT INCLUDED. Site visitors must click on details to learn that. Look, I know you don't have nearly enough billions yet to satisfy you, but play fair. Tell visitors on the review page that the compiler, the most important element in the reviews, is NOT part of the package.