5 comments about Practical Guidelines and Best Practices for Microsoft Visual Basic and Visual C# Developers (Pro-Developer).

1. In the [...] environment there are many different ways to accomplish the same result. This book provides information from people who are indisputably knowledgeable in the area that helps enormously in choosing between the various options. One of the most useful parts of it is the explanation that is provided for why one option has been chosen above another, which is to say, why it's a "best practice." I would recommend this book to any .Net programmer who wants to acquire concrete data that will help him in making his programming decisions.



2. John Robbins on the foreword of this book wrote "..No matter how you use Practical Guidelines and Best Practices, it will save you a tremendous
   amount of time by helping to reduce those insidious bugs and performance problems in your
   code. I've been using it with all my projects, and it's certainly made me a much better developer.."
   
   I'm a simple .Net developer, how can i say more, from when i bought this book it is ever on my desk like the Holly Bible.
   
   I had the honor of met both Francesco Balena and Giuseppe Dimauro it was like a normal violinist could talk with two Paganini.



3. This book was referred to me by a friend that is a very talented developer. I now see why he keeps this text on his desk while developing. The author provides excellent code examples in multiple languages. This is one of the best books that I have purchased in years !



4. As a compendium, making for efficient reading, among the best. Definitely one of my fire exit books. Can't wait for the sequel for .Net 2.0/3.x.
   Congratulations to the authors for winning an Excellence Award from the Society of Technical Communication.



5. This is very much guide to best practise in your dev team. It will help any team and sure helped mine.
   Its easy to absorbe and it makes a different.
   It can also be dipped into when you need 'advice' and for us was a first port of call when we were setting up best practise in our department.
   Might be one to get second hand and ensure that it circulates in your department.

5 comments about Sams Teach Yourself Visual Basic 6 in 24 Hours (Sams Teach Yourself).

1. This book is a joke. If you want to give up learning VB OR learn VB ass-backwards way, I recommend you read this book. It'll give you a headache you won't believe.
   
   Rather than giving you an overall viewpoint initially of what the program is about and how it works, they dive into stupid un-important specific details about what this command does and doesn't do..and even then, they don't show you how things work. Rather than explaining Global/Private procedures and overall layouts and approaches first, they lose you in this bizarre, nonsensical approach of messagebox and input box commands that mean nothing when you don't understand why they are there...
   
   To think these people made a book and have a job in this field...how pathetic.



2. At the University of Redlands, one of my biggest gripes was the use of ineffectual textbooks - the type that are better used as doorstops than for actual learning and/or reference. I had struggled with the idea of wasting money on books required for each class and tried something a bit different when I took Visual Basic 6. Instead of the required doorstop textbook, I purchased SAMS' TEACH YOURSELF VISUAL BASIC 6 IN 24 HOURS. I was very happy with that decision!
   
   SAMS' TEACH YOURSELF VISUAL BASIC 6 IN 24 HOURS provides a good overview of Visual Basic and is definitely written for beginners. Even with this agenda, not every menu item is shown so the reader feels like an idiot. I found the answers to my questions easily and this book gave me a basic understanding of how VB works. Examples of code provided in the book teach the reader to write code rather than have him/her following along with few brain cells needed.
   
   Towards the end of the book, space is given to "Sprucing Up Programs" and glosses over more advance techniques using VB, like ActiveX controls. In order to learn more advanced VB, a different book will be needed, as this one should be used for an overview and introduction only.
   
   The CD that accompanies this book will give the reader practice writing code. Some of the items covered here are: Labels, buttons, text boxes, controls and properties, message boxes, output boxes, looping, dialog boxes, printing, database basics, graphic image controls, and much more.
   
   During my Visual Basic class, my fellow students struggled using the standard text. I breezed through my assignments and tests. A few weeks into the class, one friend asked if he could look at my book. After that, copies of SAMS' TEACH YOURSELF VISUAL BASIC 6 IN 24 HOURS started showing up and the standard text soon disappeared off many desks. We all agreed it was a much better choice for our needs!
   
   SAMS' TEACH YOURSELF VISUAL BASIC 6 IN 24 HOURS is a great beginning source and will help the novice understand the basics. It is not intended as a die-hard resource book, but an introduction into this powerful programming tool.



3. A Great Introduction to VB
   U Gotta be kidding me
   This book SUCKS!
   If you really want to waste your time reading this get it from a library
   and
   If u have nothing to waste ur money on u can buy this
   
   lol



4. I have had good luck with this book, ONLY because I have had other programming languages. It does get into actual coding, but does little to explain how it works.
   
   The authors experiments in the CD are quite lame. The ones that DO work off the CD offer no usefulness.
   
   If you are good with programming already, this book will be useful if you are new to VB, cause you can figure out how to make bigger better projects. But most of what you do in VB will be of your own experimentation. Don't count on this book offering any real programs. It merely gives you the puzzle pieces, and it is up to you what you do with them.



5. I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It is a great read and very informative.

5 comments about Absolute Beginner's Guide to VBA (Absolute Beginner's Guide).

1. This author has a clear way of explaining the full realm of VBA using all Microsoft Office applications. The hard part is that its not really for the ABSOLUTE beginner. Another problem is that through each step of his writing he makes the assumption that you have a specific need for that specific portion of VBA's abilities and then goes on explaining it like your just going to be able to apply it to your personal programming needs. The sad part is that the author took no time to create a hands on approach so that you could understand and self apply. I would go with a different beginners guide.



2. I came to this book about two years ago after about a year of VBA programming in Excel. At the time I was mostly hoping to learn how to automate Outlook and Word from Excel. Although I enjoyed the book and found it to be fairly straightforward reading, I didn't walk away feeling I had picked up the skills to succeed with the automation tasks I was hoping to work on.
   
   In coming back to the book on a few occasions since my first reading, I've found the book had more to offer than I absorbed on first reading. The organization is good; the code samples are practical and to the point; the style of writing ease clear and easy to follow.
   
   Still, the book does seem to skip a lot of foundation and details. I'd recommend it as an introduction, with the intent of following up with a book that addresses whatever topics you are primarily interested in learning in greater detail.



3. I really was disappointed with this book. It lacks for complete examples and details that show how to implement and use VBA functions, commands, and procedures presented in this book. It was hard for me to implement and use most of the Objects, Methods, Properties, etc presented in this book. The readers need to see complete examples in order to understand how it works.
   
   This book is suppose to be for beginners, however, it is a more descriptive book of VBA objects, methods, etc rather than a teaching book that takes the reader step by step through the learning process.
   
   A lot of typos especially in Excel functions or commands which confused me and wasted a lot of my time trying to find the correct function. I think it is not worth buying it.



4. This books has almost no useful code, and does not go into enough depth to demonstrate how to write any useful code. Fortunately, I found everything I needed on several VBA websites. I wish I had saved the $18.95...



5. This book lacks the organization and isn't a very good reference. If you need to learn VBA, this is a good book. If you need to learn and have a good reference, I would suggest you look for another book.

3 comments about Pro .NET 2.0 Windows Forms and Custom Controls in VB 2005.

1. This book is full of simple tidbits for binding controls to data objects and custom objects. The examples are short and easy to follow so you don't get lost in the code. Matthew does not spend a lot of time explaining background code (specifically, using ADO) because this is not the forum for those topics. What you get is 1000+ pages of explanations and examples focused on the task at hand: binding data. He does spend a few chapters introducing you to the various objects, covering many not-so-common functions. I found myself thinking "Wow!! That's cool!" several times. I highly recommend this book!!



2. This book really hits the nail on the head. I've been struggling with custom controls for weeks searching every article on the web and all over Microsoft and MSDN. No place has demonstrated the depth of understanding anywhere near as well as Matthew MacDonald has done. Not only are there clear and to the point examples without getting bogged-down in some lengthy, arcane and mythical tasks, but the accompanying text describes the underlying 'why' that is almost more useful than the code. Every page has some exceedingly useful information. My project has been in C# but the translation from VB from the book to C# is a no-brainer (assuming you've written in both over the last few years).
   I pride myself as a descriptive writer but this book is far better than I could have written myself. It is to the point and thorough. If were any better it would wake you gently in the morning and make your coffee.



3. This book is quite possibly one of the best books writen on the subject of creating custom controls inside vb. By reading this book I have already improved my applications performance and reduced my design development time using my own custom made control. Great book all around.

5 comments about Microsoft Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition Programming for the Absolute Beginner (For the Absolute Beginner).

1. I have been doing computer systems and software for forty years and was looking for a training book for two new staff engineers who have engineering degrees but little programming experience. I ordered Andrew Parsons "Starter Kit" for this purpose and then ordered this book by Jerry Lee Ford as well. For reasons described below, I have selected this book, the Jerry Lee Ford book, to use for newbie training while reserving the Parsons book for those with prior programming experience.
   
   My first reaction was disappointment. There is no CD with an installable VB Express. Such a CD is handy for newbies even though the free download is there on the Microsoft site. Thumbing through the book with its large text, I thought perhaps it was written for ninth graders. (It is subtitled "for Absolute Beginners.") And the sample code applications were all simple games. I, like others, found lots of typos, like referring to Appendix A and Apendix B but forgetting to print them. If someone sees me reading this, they are going to think I am only a dummy or at best a hobbyist. BUT THEN IT GOT BETTER.
   
   I raced through the book and concluded that Mr. Ford, an exceptionally experienced VB teacher and writer, has distilled VB to its essential elements. The origins of the VB language, the .NET Framework, and Object Oriented Programing concepts were explained sufficiently and clearly along the way; but the heart of the book is the creation of several simple projects. Each start with a GUI (one or more user forms with one or more buttons or other controls), modifications of form and control properties (appearance and other), and code to do things when events happen (button clicks for example).
   
   The wonderfully easy features of drag and drop GUI design grab the reader's attention in the first third of the book as simple projects illustrate design of forms with controls, menus, and toolbars. A nice chapter on application interfaces has the reader create and publish an application and reminds the reader of the need to make the user comfortable and well informed during program execution.
   
   The middle third continues with simple applications but addresses coding procedure fundamentals. Not much has changed in the forty years since I had my first programming course, and the outline of the middle portion of the book could be from a 1960s Fortran course. Variable types, conditional logic, loops, and functions are still important topics and part of every common computer language and must be mastered for almost all real projects.
   
   The final third of the book begins with a nice explanation of the key object-oriented programming (OOP) concepts of abstraction, encapsulation, inheritance, and polymorphism and adds chapters on graphics/audio, and debugging. The OOP's concepts fit nicely here now that the reader (not normally an experienced programmer) has used objects and has a good feel for the whole of project development. Only an experienced teacher, like the author, appreciates fully the importance of waiting until the student is ready. (If this section intrigues the reader, he may be a candidate for additional more difficult programming courses, but he will be well-started with this book.)
   
   I am glad I got over my first impressions. This book rocks (scratches and all) like an old Jerry Lee Ford (I mean Lewis) 45 RPM recording of "Great Balls of Fire." I mean you can't miss the beat on that record and you can't miss the VB essentials in this book. This book would make a good text for a community college VB course.



2. I am a technical instructor that teaches programming to students who have had no previous experience. I utilize many of the "absolute beginners" books to get them familiar with the landscape before dragging them into deeper "technical" books.
   
   One thing that I have noticed from "all" publishers is a series of typos that people in these reviews complain about. One thing that THEY (the reviewers) need to keep in mind, or learn, is that there is a point where the manuscript is out of the hands of the author and the technical advisors and in to the hands of people who have NO IDEA of what the material means. These people are those who transfer the manuscript from the word processor format to the publishing format. While formatting the manuscript into what would become the "final draft" before publishing. They (the typesetters) become "helpful" in correcting what they believe are mistakes. Things like (a == b) or (a != b). Also, while formatting the text, they accidentally hit keys like "space" or "del" without realizing that they just took out a portion of text during the formatting procedure.
   
   Why do I bring this up? Because I have found many books with these problems and having worked with publishers for years regarding materials have gained an education on their internal process.
   
   This book has some glitches in it from the typesetter. They all do.
   
   Putting all of that aside.
   
   The material in this book is very informative and helpful to get you up and running toward becoming a VB 2005 programmer. There is a lot of insight which this particular author brings to the table for a new student.
   
   If you are looking for the "perfect" book....you won't find it. If you do, email the title so I can teach from it. But, if you want a strong book that will get you up and running. This is a good place to start!



3. I found that the express verion of Visual Studio 2005 the to be a really nice product at a great value (free!). Because the "Express" version does not include all of the functionality the full version has, I found non-express books and online tutorials and other information frustrating. "Microsoft Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition Programming for the Absolute Beginner (For the Absolute Beginner)" fills the void quite nicely. The examples are interesting and easy to understand. I look forward to an intermediate version that goes to the next level of what the "Express" version can do.



4. This is at the crux of what I need to do. Whilst it is an excellent beginners guide, it would benefit from a glossary of commands and another chapter stepping through linking to and populating other office applications.



5. This has got to be one of the best out there to get you going with Visual Basic. A unique approach that spoon feeds a beginner the process of developing and building a visual basic program. Jerry Lee Ford teaches you from the ground up and in a very simple way. You will be proficient following his lessons and examples. Wow. very impressive!

5 comments about Professional .NET Framework 2.0 (Programmer to Programmer).

1. Took me a while to finally review this after receiving this book several months ago, but I felt it definitely necessary to leave my opinion. Joe Duffy strikes a good balance between writing an organized source of solid NET 2.0 reference material, and just simply talking to you as an expert programmer who is sitting in the next cubicle from you.
   
   And instead of trying to stay overly structured (covering a specific subject and nothing else in each chapter like I've seen a lot in computer books), he will sometimes mention a feature of the CLR that has its own chapter later, but that you should look make sure to combine with the current topic for great results.
   
   Joe hit that perfect target of not too many examples, but supplying enough of them. It seemed like in every instance that
   I started to get a little ansy and wanted to an example of his dotnet development instruction, there it was, a perfect code example to show me the way, and not too much of it.
   
   Duffy goes out of the way to inform you as to what CLR functionality is especially useful, and compares a particular API feature with the way another language (such as C++/Stl or Java) implements it.
   
   It's very evident that the author is actively using dotnet (even moreso, he is also a Program Manager on the CLR Team), because he will be sure to tell you that something is very useful
   (like he said about anonymous delegates), or that something is powerful (the new 2.0 Generics or Contraints. ).
   It's just pure programmer to programmer value.
   
   And he'll be sure to alert you as to how to minimize any potential gotcha's when running 1.x apps under 2.0 by telling
   you what compatibility switches to use, and he mentions an important one related to exceptions
   (by the way, great coverage of exceptions).
   
   It's a very thorough treatment of 2.0. Covers all of the important topics and more, of the DotNet framework.
   
   It would be useless to continue with more here in this review, because it's a given that you need to have all of the quality books concerning a particular language or framework if you plan on mastering it, so no more need to be said.



2. I liked this book pretty much. Contents are well organized and clearly described. Lots of pointers to good reference materials for topics discussed and not discussed. Gives an indepth knowledge of how objects are created and handled. It's pretty interesting and you can't just keep the book down.
   
   I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to know .Net FrameWork either a beginner or experienced.
   
   Note: Knowing framework well really helps to write good programming, rather than just knowing a language.



3. Before buying this book, I had no idea what .NET was. This book gave me the insight from the ground up to a fairly advanced features of .NET 2.0. Now, I am evangelising .NET to my whole team and pushing to upgrade from (the out of support) VS v6.0 to VS 2005.
   
   I have a very strong background in COM/COM+, C++, and VB. That helped tremendously in my understanding in the discussions on generics, delegates, interfaces, abstract classes, threading, etc.
   
   This book would have gotten a 5-star from me if not for the minor spelling and grammatical errors. But hey, we're programmers not english teachers =)



4. I bought it based on reviews I've seen on this page and after reading it cover to cover, felt extremely disappointed. I just can't understand why anyone would rate it so highly.
   For starters, there are plenty of typos and grammatical mistakes. Apparently, the author does not believe in using commas, making it very difficult to decipher what he wants to say. But that is just a minor annoyance compared to other misgivings.
   Throughout the whole book the author will use concepts from topics he had not yet discussed saying he will cover them later. He does attempt to cover them later but by then the meaning of the previous discussion is lost. He provides only cursory explanation of complex topics yet goes into gory detail on topics that are obvious to most people. For example, he devotes a huge section of one chapter to explaining sting member methods that are obvious to most from IntelliSense. There are very few examples. I was able to complete this book only because I had previously read Richter's "CLR via C#". I did learn a few things, just not sure if my time was well spent reading the whole book.



5. I can't really understand how people rate this book so high. The only thing I can say good about it is, it gives you a general idea what .NET framework includes. Very disorganized, lots of "and there is that but we will cover it later,below etc..". No comprehensive samples. All you can do with this book is to learn what you can do, but if you want to learn how to do it as well, go buy something else. Unfortunaltely this is what happens if you want to squeeze a whole platform into a single book.

3 comments about Accelerated VB 2008 (Accelerated).

1. Accelerated VB 2008 is a classic language reference book. It follows the pattern of language reference book. It begins with explanation of types and variable, namespaces, statement, control flow constructs, and iteration and looping constructs. Then it goes to class, class state, method, and interface. Then it goes down the path to operator overloading, exception handing, collection, delegates and events, and generics. It finishes with threading, best practices, and introduction to LINQ.
   
   A few thoughts after reading the book:
   1) VB 2008 is finally an object-orient language. Every object must inherit from System.Object. Java has the same feature 10 years ago.
   2) With a little bit help, VB 2008 (binary form) can run in Linus box.
   3) Extension method can add method to an existing CLR type. This enables us to expand the functionality of a type without needing to create a subclass.
   4) Mr. Fouche and Mr. Nash explain a way to deal with exception handling elegantly. The basic idea, I believe, is from traditional database programming concepts such as commit and rollback, at the expense of more space and more programming. The details can be found at chapter 8.
   5) In delegates and events, the authors point out that delegate can be an alternative to interfaces in implementing simple `Strategy' design pattern. For a complex `Strategy' with `Composite' or hierarchy interfaces, I imagine that delegate solution might become very ugly.
   6) LINQ. It is very useful for XML and in-memory object manipulation as long as the object implements IEnumerable (of T) interface. It might only work with Microsoft SQL database.
   7) Mr. Fouche and Mr. Nash also point out the VB 2008 is not exempt from bleeding edge of new technology issues such as compatibility, etc.
   
   In sum, it is a classic language reference book for the VB camp developers. I would give it four stars. I reserve one star for those books having real-world complicated projects being built step by step as we move across each chapter.



2. Potential buyers of the Kindle edition should carefully check a sample download to see if a problem I found has been corrected. A number of sections of sample code, or portions of sample code, were rendered in a tiny typeface that does not change when using the Kindle Text key. Amazon has said they will inform the publisher, who provided the electronoic version, but unless they fix it you may find the book quite difficult to use.



3. This edition is obviously designed to enhance the knowledge of experienced VB .NET developers by relating the features of the latest version of VB.NET. It concentrates on new features in the VB language itself, not on the enhanced version of the Visual Studio and .NET Framework products that it is inherently tied to. It does, however make sense to show how the language structures are enforced by the framework, and the book does this well. Code examples are complete yet concise.

5 comments about Microsoft Visual Basic .NET Programmer's Cookbook (Pro-Developer).

1. The Programmer's Cookbook is a great collection of "how-to" articles. It is filled with practical and useable code samples that you can use in your programs. It will not solve all your coding problems, but it is a great place to start when you are trying to solve some specific problem.



2. If you're familiar with VB.Net, then this is a great book for you to learn how to add those tricky little details that can make or break
   the professionalism of your Applications.
   
   If you are a beginner, you may want to book mark this book and get it
   when you feel more comfortable, because you will need it.
   
   Although just about everything can be learned from the MSDN Library and help files that come with Visual Studio.
   Its hard to find what your looking for when you dont really know exactly what it is that you need.
   
   Thats where this book comes in. This book covers a vast array of
   possibilities, that it'll truely keep you drawn into the fascinating
   world of VB.Net coding, and without such a headache in research.
   
   This is a book worth having as a refernce.
   
   Note: some of the examples you may need to modify to bring from a console app to a regular windows app. Which is no big deal.
   Just omit "Console.Writelines" for "textboxname.text = "



3. Book has a lot of practical suggestions, especially for rudimentary string handling operations. It stands out over most other books of this genre on the topic of .net.
   
   Even after i switched to c#.net, this book was still handy.



4. The book was new as presented and came very quickly in the mail. Thank you



5. I found this VB.NET reference of tremendous help to me. The content covers a wide cross-section of topics and addresses the needs of varying skill levels. Easy to use. Had just the information I initially needed to parse and manipulate XML files. I am very pleased with this book. It is proving to be an excellent resource for now and the future.

5 comments about Pro ASP.NET 2.0 in VB 2005 (Expert's Voice in .Net).

1. I was looking for a solid, comprehensive, yet approachable ASP.NET 2.0 book for a long time when I stumbled across Pro ASP.NET 2.0. I flipped through it and quickly realized that it is both the learning and reference tool I was wanting. Since getting the book, I have not swayed from that position. This book is a great way to get started and to keep going in your ASP.NET development efforts.
   
   Although large (it weighs in at over 1200 pages), it is well organized and easily accessible. The material builds on itself in such a way that you don't need to read the first 900 pages to effectively use the later chapters. Additionally, the content is organized in a practical approach so you can get started relatively quickly. I find this technique helpful in that it I have more information when it comes time to answer specific questions. I never found myself "wishing" I know more in order to understand a concept.
   
   On the down-side, there are some glaring typographical errors throughout the text. It is pretty obvious in some places that there is a copy/paste error from the C# version to the VB version. None of the errata detracts from the book for me. In fact, in some cases, the little research I did to clarify something actually helped.
   
   All told, I have and continue to highly recommend this book to colleagues and clients alike. It is both an excellent learning tool and a great reference. The fact that one person wrote the entire text and in two programming languages amazes me. The author has an easy writing style that promotes absorbing the information quickly. I anticipate this book becoming tattered quite quickly!



2. I am very pleased with this book. After a couple of failed attempts to find a good ASP.NET 2.0 book I finally found this book. They really did a great job at covering a vast quantity of topics with enough substance that one can actually understand and apply to real life programming situations.
   
   There are some typographical errors and very few examples that don't work but in sight of the great volume of information and examples given, I'd say it is acceptable.
   
   I think I hit a jackpot with this book and I am looking for other books by the same authors that cover more specific topics and I doubt I'll be disappointed.



3. Although this book is only an introduction, the structure and depth are more than fine. After all, to discuss every single thing ASP.NET 2.0 has to offer would require several volume of HUGE books. I would suggest this book to anyone wants to learn ASP.NET 2.0, even with background other than VB.
   
   To the authors, you did a great job!!!



4. I have bought several other books on 2.0 and wish I had discoverd this one first. In each of the different categories, this book is written in order and style to learn and use as a reference. For me, a person with vb6 and asp classic experience this one hit the nail on the head.



5. I am reading this book now for some time. I have worked through the first 5 chapters and I am now in middle of the sixth. The content might be pretty accurate and maybe even comprehensive but there are 4 MAJOR problems which overshadow anything else. They are what I wrote in the title:
   
   A) MISSING: The author almost never starts by stating "add a new class and name it whatever" or "add three textboxes and one label". just throws you something like "heres the complete code" now from the snapshot i am able to figure out how he named the webform, which controls did he add how he named those controls etc. the source code on the Apress site is a must, cuz otherwise you'll be guessing you're head off on every page. Every 2 minutes I'm asking myself:
   should i add a module now? no? maybe soon?
   is this a new namespace?
   do i add that to the previous web form? or is it a replacement?
   is that a table, or div tags?
   other than that he also usually forgets to tell you when a namespace needs to be "imports"ed. probably to leave a challenge to the user why the editor is underlining all the object types.
   
   B) INCONSISTENT: most snippets of code that are more than a few lines will always have some naming conflicts. in line 1 the button is name cmdSave in line 10 it might be cmdSubmit. I mean this didn't happen once or twice it is a constant problem. As i type, i'm indebted to the VB editor in VWD for cathing these booboos.
   
   C) OVERDONE: this might not be a real problem. but as i am not yet such a seasoned ASP.NET 2.0 developer, i find reading pages upon pages of Http pipelines, ASP.NET providers, multiple comparison charts of State management options and custom tracing capabilities before even teaching how to put up a simple data-driven website with simple user and group options, extremely overdone and over comprehensive. if the author wanted to show how much he knows about asp.net 2.0 he could have done so in the preface.
   
   D) THEORETICAL: Everything taught is immediately followed by some code snippet which you could try and figure out where to plug it in and see if it works. he never (so far) builds upon something already done. I am now in the sixth chapter and have a mumble-jumble of techniques to accomplish a variety of odd and end functionality. I haven't the slightest idea of how to build a real world site.
   
   Again, I'm in the sixth chapter only. I'm still hoping to find some useful information in the remaining ones. Just felt I should let people know about it to save them from aggravation.

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.