5 comments about Microsoft Access VBA Programming for the Absolute Beginner, Third Edition.

1. i have to agree with all who say this book is hard to understand and to use - there are some good exercises, although one does have to puzzle one's way through them - there are recipes of how many of which type of controls to use but one has to go back and forth to name the objects to fit the code. i do like that the user can replicate the code and learn some convention in the process. the text is hard to follow and to fathom in that it seems the explanations of some of the concepts is superficial and thus hard to understand the concept. the absolute most frustrating thing for me is that there are no "answers" for the challenges.. if one gets stuck there is nothing on which to rely for help.. it is very difficult to know which part of the code one is supposed to parrot and adapt where.. and why things don't work.. i find it easier this time around to deal with the book, now that i have worked on three fairly complex database designs but i am still getting confused, lost and frustrated..



2. I'm a SQL database programmer, not an application programmer, so I thought I could pick up Access VBA fairly quickly. Not so much, as it turns out. I started off with Alison Balter's Mastering Microsoft Access 2003 Development, which didn't give me enough basic grounding to really "get it". I succeeded in using some of the examples to my purposes, but couldn't do any truly innovative adaptions because I really didn't understand what I was doing.
   
   So, time to find a more basic book to give me the grounding I needed. I bought Microsoft Access VBA Programming for the Absolute Beginner with that purpose in mind, and it has served that purpose admirably. Some of the writing is dense and difficult to follow, but he always follows up with examples that cleared up any confusion I had. I've had a great time working my way through the assignments and end-of-chapter challenges, and am feeling confident that after digesting the book fully, I'll be ready for Allison Balter's book.
   
   So, in a sense, I was an absolute beginner and it has been a very good book for me. But I was an absolute beginner at VBA, not databases or usage modeling. I've been supporting enterprise systems for 15 years, much of which was spent writing reports and complex queries. That experience made the examples far more accessible to me, I'm sure.
   
   I can't imagine how difficult this book would be for the complete computer novice or absolute beginner with zero experience in databases. I recommend a strong working knowledge of Access as an application before attempting programming with this book.



3. I have found this book very useful. It has a logical flow and increased my abilities to program in Access VBA. I think anyone with a little exposure to VB could pick this up and make sense of it. I would now like to see the "intermediate" book...



4. This book is pretty fun to read. That being said, it is certainly not geared towards those who know nothing of Access.
   
   Knowing both VB and Access fairly well, I was looking for a book that would show me how to integrate VB functionality into Access applications. This book does that pretty well.
   
   Before purchasing this book (or any other programming book for that matter) I recommend skimming the first three chapters and the table of contents to determine whether the subject matter is acceptable to you.



5. I have tried several books to help me with coding in Access and was never able to full grasp it. This book made the basics very easy to understand. I even found better ways to code in VBA through this book than I had learned from other people that we considered seasoned experts in VBA. I would suggest this book for anyone that has never programmed in VBA and those of you that have been thrown into a position at work that you have to design a DB or taking over someone else's project. A majority of the information can be used in prior version of access as well.

5 comments about Dan Appleman's Visual Basic Programmer's Guide to the Win32 API (Other Sams).

1. it works well as a desktop reference but it also takes a little time to explain some of the more hardcore concepts. i recommend this book to ANYONE wanting to start and sucessfully finish an API project.
   from this book it is apparent that mr Appleman believes VB can do ANYTHING by using a little API and, after owning it for a few months, you'll know it's true and you'll know how to make it happen too. a must-have for any self-respecting vb programmer



2. For as long as there's been an API for VB developers, Dan has been THE source for reference on how to use it. He is the definitive authority. (How many people can earn that title about anything?)

   Use this book FIRST. Then check with other sources of you need to.




3. This book is useless for any work or learning.
   
   All samples are made with authors' functions which are in compiled dll written in C++ !?

   Each chapter has at least 30% about porting from Win16 to Win32.

   And book is filled with listings of forms and projects.

   If you remove all this from book, the rest is less than 100 pages with confused explanations.

   Do not buy this book. There are much better books around.




4. After buying many useless books on the VB API programming I bought this one after I read the reviews, and it is the ultimate reference ever.
   
   If you are thinking of buying it, read the other reviews - they describe it more than I do - and go ahead and get it. It's worth every ounce of its weight in pure gold.



5. This was just what I needed to develop a special VBA program with Access. The Win32 API's let you get a little closer to the Window operating system than most standard languages.

5 comments about Microsoft Excel 2002 Visual Basic for Applications Step by Step (Step by Step (Microsoft)).

1. Although this book is indeed introductory and would not qualify as a reference manual it is the best resource that I have found to teach VBA object programming to my students. The examples are great and with the exception of Chapter 6 on Pivot Tables, maybe too difficult for a beginner, I agree with the good reviews of this book.



2. If you're new to VBA, as I was, don't make the same mistake I did. This book is definitely not what I was hoping for. Very unorganized for a starter book, and not much good content. The book from the Wrox group is MUCH better.



3. I have may books on excel and vba for excel. This is the best self help book on vba in excel that I have encountered.



4. I've taught VBA for a few years, and this book is fantastic. If you are trying to learn VBA from the position of an intermediate Excel user, it is a GREAT way to do so. The extensive coverage of the range object is invaluable, as is the coverage on VBA's debugging tools. I've even recommended this book to Access students just to get a better handle on how to use the VBA debugging tools, because the topic is so well covered! The index leaves a bit to be desired, thus falling somewhat short as a reference tool afterwards - but if you're looking for a nuts and bolts tutorial that is practical and fun, this is it!



5. This book has great examples, is clear and well organized. The thing that I find falls short with books relating to VBA libraries, is that there isn't a nice little short reference containing the relevant classes, objects, syntax, and examples to call the library functions and methods. If the authors were to include this very helpful aid, I'd rate this book a 5 in a heartbeat.

No comments about Programming in Visual Basic 2008.

1 comments about Visual Basic Express in Easy Steps (In Easy Steps).

1. Used to do VB in the past but got away from it. This is a great book to get back into the swing of things. Good examples and clear.

1 comments about Starting Out with Visual Basic 2005 (3rd Edition).

1. This item would have been great if the book would have come with it! that was the whole reason I bought this item. There was supposed to be 2 cds and a Textbook, well the cds were in perfect condition but there was no text. This item was sent back for the above reason, a replacement was issued and yet again, no book. was not happy with this item purchase!

3 comments about VBScript Pocket Reference.

1. I like the O'Reilly pocket reference series. They don't take up a lot of desk real estate, and you can generally find what you need to know in a hurry.

   From the perspective of a programmer who hasn't touched basic since he had a Sinclair Spectrum, I found this book got me up to speed reasonbly quickly. However I suspect it will attract a fairly small audience - a non programmer would find it too terse to be a good learning book, and an experienced VB programmer would probably be better off with a book specific to the environment they're using (eg, ASP) because this book does not cover any enviroment specific objects, and VBScript has no enviroment specific functions. It does however cover the filesystem objects and the dictionary object, which is handy.

   Every now and then I get frustrated with the book when I can't find a function that I want, but then I usually discover that the function doesn't exist in VBScript, which is really such a trivial language that a pocket reference can cover it more or less completely.




2. It you want to learn VBScript go elsewhere. However, if you just want a quick reference that you can take anywhere this is the only book for you. It is remarkably concise and very well written. Its perfect for the VBScritp programmer that needs a little help from time to time looking up a hard to remember command and its syntax.



3. The reference material seems accurate but I have found more detail in the free help file that comes with VBS 5.6. Return values and types and the actual values of the builtin constants, which I didn't find in the book.
   
   I apparently overlooked the note that this book was based on VBS 5.5 when I ordered it. I have several pocket references and this is the first that fell short of my needs.

4 comments about VBScript, WMI, and ADSI Unleashed: Using VBScript, WMI, and ADSI to Automate Windows Administration.

1. What a pleasure! This is a book written for technical administrators, by a technical administrator with a knack for writing. Don Jones demonstrates a talent for explaining the intricacies of monitoring and administering a Windows enterprise using WMI & ADSI scripting (et al) in a perfectly comprehensible manner without coming across annoyingly simplistic or condescendingly academic. Computer book writers take note!



2. I found this book to be very helpful and practical with the examples given in the book. The examples have come in useful for me for basic systems administration in my Windows Server 2003 network with Active Directory. The author breaks down the example codes line by line and explains what is going on, which I found to be very helpful.
   
   one thing I did not like was that some times the author purposely put mistakes in the code without initially telling you. Then towards the end of the section, he will ask you why the code did not work and will tell you what went wrong and why. He doesn't do this all the time, but a few times. It made me second guess myself and thought that the publisher had bad typos in the code, something familiarly seen in a lot of programming books. Good learning experience, I suppose.
   
   Even if you are a beginner programmer wanting to learn VBscripting, I think you would be able to get the gist of VBscript by copying the examples in the book and tweaking them for your needs. This is my first VBscript book and it's definitely a keeper for me. Highly recommended!



3. Hey all,
   
   I was a noob in all of this scripting stuff when I bought this book. Frankly it was not a bad purchase but it did leave me kind of disappointed. The first few chapters are a waste of time because there just like a huge sales ad for the author's company that sells a VBScript IDE, added to that you never get that feeling that he's fully convinced of what he is telling you, i.e. "You should learn VBScript but it doesn't matter because we have the impending doom looming over called Windows Powershell".
   
   Last but not least is the fact related to the title of my review, basically he stresses the point that to learn VBScript you should get the online documentation for it......then what the hell did I buy this book for? If I wanted to learn structured programming I would've bought a C++ book that will do a better job.
   
   All in all, the book has it's good points..I just can't remember them right now 'cause I'm hungry and it's Christmas Day. It does give you the basic knowledge what scripts can do, although if you been a windows admin for a while then this will only confirm to you that there are other ways of doing stuff....and that you need the VBScript online documentation (which by the way was hard to find on Microsoft's website) to do them.
   
   This is the only scripting book I've so sadly I can't give you an alternative to it or compare it against any but if you really are into self-learning I think that a little organization, time and all the documentation available at MS's website might do.
   
   If you have the bucks to spare buy it, if you have time on your hands don't buy and turn over to the Net to learn.



4. I had originally studied the Microsoft Press book "Microsoft Windows Scripting Self-Paced Learning Guide", but still needed more.
   
   VBScript, WMI and ADSI Unleashed is the book that I wish I had read first. It is a good choice for a system admin who wants to start scripting administrative tasks.
   
   Having never scripted before, I had many questions. This book started from the beginning, what editor should I use for programming, and took me all the way to my first scripted program....to search AD for all Servers at or below a specified OU, remotely attach to each server, determine if it is a physical or virtual computer, run a hardware configuration utility as appropriate, reconfigure the hardware as appropriate based on the utilities output and report back to me the results. I went from nothing to decent in about two weeks.
   
   This is a good choice for this type of book.

5 comments about The Book of Visual Basic 2005: .NET Insight for Classic VB Developers.

1. This is definitely not a complete work on VB or .NET. It does serve as a good walkthrough of the features of .NET and their use through Visual Basic. So as long as you know what you are buying you will likely be pleased.
   
   The writing is solid, and the graphics are used effectively. This is not one of the screenshot heavy tomes so often seen in the VB world.



2. Very well written and organized. I've read it once and am re-reading it again. Highly recommended.



3. The focus of this book is to take a traditional Visual Basic developer who is already experienced writing Visual Basic programs and use that as a base to move them to the .NET platform. One of the problems of the traditional Visual Basic program has been that it has its own way of doing things and is built on a platform that is different from other object-oriented languages such as C++ and Java. Of course this is not the only problem but if you program in more than one language then Visual Basic's dlls would often replace and create problems for the other language and vice-versa. The vision of .NET was to create a common language runtime with common classes that can be used for all languages. The problem is that this meant a complete rewrite of Visual Basic and many of the expressions used before no longer work. This need to relearn how to do so many things has slowed the adoption of the .NET framework for Visual Basic. This book comes to the rescue by providing a convenient learning pathway that starts with the familiar for the Visual Basic 6 programmer and moves them from there to the correct use of the .Net framework to accomplish the same goal. For the Visual Basic programmer making the move to the .NET platform The Book of Visual Basic 2005 is highly recommended.



4. Are you a Visual Basic 6 developer? If you are, then this book is for you. Author Matthew MacDonald, has done an outstanding job of writing a book about Visual Basic 6 developers who want to shed some of their current habits and start learning more about how the .NET platform works and thinks.
   
   MacDonald, begins by showing you why Microsoft decided to create a whole new framework for programming and what it threw in. Then, the author provides an overview of the design environment. Next, he looks at the .NET world, with an overview of language changes, an exploration of the class library, and an introduction to namespaces. The author also provides an overview of Windows Forms. He continues by showing you the basics of object-oriented development, the most modern and elegant way tosolve almost any programming problem. Then, the author explores VB 2005's object oriented features and advanced class construction techniques including interfaces nd inheritance, the most anticipated Visual enhancement ever. Next, he shows you how to make your own components and get the essentials you need to know in order to transfer your applications to other computers. The author also describes debugging in the IDE, outlines some tips for making bug-resistant code, and introduces structured exception handling. He continues by showing you how to deal with Data: Files, Printing and XML. Then, the author presents an overview of databases and ADO.NET. Next, he provides some advice about when to create threads and how to use them safely. The author also describes the basics of ASP.NET, Microsoft's all-in-one solution for creating web-based applications. He continues by showing you how to create web services and, best of all, let .NET take care of all the plumbing. Finally, he shows you how to deploy your application: the streamlined web-based ClickOnce model, and the more comprehensive Visual Studio setup project.
   
   Throughout this most excellent book, the author strives to give you the essential facts and insights. More importantly, the emphasis here isn't on becoming a "language nerd," but on gaining the insights you'll need in order to understand .NET development and to continue learning on your own.



5. 'The Book of Visual Basic 2005: .NET Insight for Classic VB Developers' by Matthew MacDonald is another fantastic book written by the busy author Matthew MacDonald. Presented in a very entertaining and fun format thanks to the No Starch line, this book will cover Visual Basic 2005 from top to bottom and show you why it's one of the most popular and easy languages to develop in. With ~500 pages of material and 14 chapters, this book doesn't skimp on any of the good stuff (plenty of whip cream and jimmies for everyone).
   
   If you are a VB programmer and want to learn about how far it's come and why the .NET framework makes RAD ever more RAD than ever before, pick up this book, read it, and enjoy it.
   
   Easy to read and even easier to recommend, this is a solid best buy.
   
   ***** HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

5 comments about Beginning Visual Basic 2005.

1. I recently purchased this book used here on Amazon. As I read it, I find that the material is very easy to pick up and I even find that I'm jumping ahead of the lessons and making my own code to do different things. This book is not the usual boring droning on type tech manual that I thought it would be. 5 stars.



2. Visual Basic has now been around for some fifteen years. Through several versions it has progressed to be a fairly complex, fairly powerful language having been extended into the .NET family of languages, database connectivity, web functionality with both HTML and XML.
   
   At 800 pages, this is a large book. It starts quite simply doing a little program where you type in your name and it comes back with a 'Hello' statement. From there it goes step by step to fairly complex programming using Microsoft's ADO.NET interface to talk with SQL Server.
   
   Microsoft has established this programming evironment where everything about the language, the editor you use to program it, the utility routines you call on, the database you access has to be Microsoft product. This book fits into the 100% Microsoft environment. If your database is MySQL, this may not be the way you want to go. On the other hand, Microsoft rules the desktop environment so it may not be a bad idea.



3. I am a seasoned programmer learning the .NET platform. At first this book seemed okay...the layout was pretty good and I found their presentation methods easy to learn from. Then I started running into some serious coding problems. Their ASP code examples are outdated and riddled with errors. No error errata on the website either to fix anything I saw. I spent more time trying to fix their stuff than I did acutally learning. It would be a good book if it wasn't for all the errors. They desperately need some technical editors... I wouldn't recommend this book at all.



4. I looked this book over pretty well at Borders before buying it from Amazon, but was unpleasantly surprised once I began to read it straight through. Critical information is omitted from some topics. Continuity seems illogical. And the website, though expertly administrated, has a small subscriber base. The book is not very well organized and is carelessly written. For twice the price, the Deitel offering is ten times the tome.



5. This book is excellent for beginners; it explains all steps in details.
   It is definitively a must have!