5 comments about Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 Programmer's Guide.

1. If you are a programmer and looking for a good guide and/or reference, do not buy this book! The examples are few and not very good. The book does not go beyond VB in explainations, or lead you to additional reference material. Don't waste your money.



2. I started doing VB back on Win 3.1 and had lost touch with it after severals years. I had to begin to relearn the new improved versions of VB now for a summer job i had received. I picked up this book, and for the most part the information was very good. However the main problem i have with this book, is that if you are ever looking for more indepth information into it, the book refers you to "the Language Reference" or one of the other reference library books. I understand that you cannot have all the info in this book, but being refered to another MS book just bugged me. I mean the knowledge being online, they could have given the exact URL to find the info, instead of trying to get you to buy a 70dollar reference manual.

   THe information in this book is more of an overview of all the different components, and have helped me out of a lot of binds over the time. This book is not for someone new to VB or to programming in general, there are plenty of books and online refs for those.

   I have since bought the reference library, and without that as an accompanment to this book, it would have been very difficult to get most of the knowledge I have needed for my programs.

   If you are looking for a good standalone VB book, look elsewhere, if you are looking for a good reference book for a outside assistance, this could be your answer.




3. This is a good step-by-step book for learning Visual Basic 6.0 Professional Edition. There are some minor mistakes in this book but overall it is a very good book. If you follow along, you should not have a lot of problems. Please note, this book is geared toward the "Professional Edition", you will need to have a strong understanding of the features of "Enterprise Edition" in order to pass the certification exams. Subjects such as the Visual Component Manager, Visual SourceSafe, MTS/COM+ are not covered or bearly covered. You will need other books in order to get a more thorough knowledge of these subjects. Visual Basic Professional Edition and/or Visual Studio Professional Edition are excellent for SOHO (Small office, home office). I have Visual Studio 6.0 Professional Edition installed on my home PC and I use this book to solve some of the issues that arrises.



4. If your a newbie to Visual Basic do not buy this book! This book in geared towards the intermediate to advanced programmer I have been using VB for several years and take it from me, don't buy it. Even for the intermediate programmers this book makes numerous references to the Library Reference, If your serious on vb then get it too otherwise don't bother, try a website.



5. For 90% of the VB questions that I have I can find the answer in this book. It is a great programmers reference. Of course it is just about the Visual Basic language itself and really doesn't delve to far into using VB to program databases or anything like that. Just a good solid reference to the basics of the core language itself.

5 comments about .NET Gotchas.

1. I got this book as a gift. I'm not sure that I would have bought it myself. Pros: good technical information, one of the few books to give both VB.NET and C# versions. Cons: very dry writing style and the topics seemed disconnected somehow. So, I give it a 5 for technical and a 1 for writing, for an overall of 3.0. I think this is a book you'll like a lot or dislike a lot.



2. Are you among the many programmers who have come to appreciate how powerful Microsoft's .NET Framework can be as a platform for development? If you have, this book is for you! Author Venkat Subramaniam, has done an outstanding job of writing a great book that shares his .NET experiences with developers, to help them avoid the gotchas!
   
   Subramaniam begins by discussing the features in the CLR and the Framework that can impact the behavior and performance of your application. Next, the author focuses on Visual Studio- and compiler-related gotchas. Then, he delves into gotchas at the language and API level of the .NET platform. The author continues by discussing the issues of language operability gotchas. In addition, the author next focuses on concerns related to garbage collection, and how to write code that handles it effectively. He also discusses, the things you need to be aware of in the areas of inheritance and polymorphism so you can make the best use of these important concepts. Next, the author addresses the general problems with threading, the thread pool, asynchronous calls using delegates, and threading problems related to Windows Forms and Web Services. Finally, he focuses on details you should be aware of to make interoperability work for you.
   
   With the preceding in mind, the author has done an excellent job of writing a book that focuses on the .NET Framework and language features that have consistently exhibited behavior that is not obvious to the programmer. So, why should you be interested in learning about these unexpected features? Because, knowning these little gotchas will help you avoid mistakes!



3. ... for many reasons, foremost in my mind - the format makes for very efficient reading - and if all you have is 30 minutes a day, a gotcha or two a day and in a month you are done. That being said, I found some of the topics rather esoteric, so chose to revisit those at some point in the unknown, er, future.
   
   Superb succinct read.



4. I made the mistake of buying this book based on recommendations I had read here on amazon.com -- don't make the same mistake. If you are looking for practical techniques that will help you write .NET applications, this is NOT the book you want. Now this book is sort of interesting and points out weirdnesses of .NET but nothing that I hadn't seen online. So, check this book out first by browsing through a hard copy in a bookstore to see if it's what you want. I wish I had.



5. This book is written with determination and care. Every aspect is explained at length and the examples are abundant.
   
   But this book is not for everyone. If you want to learn .NET, C# or VB.NET programming from it, you won't be able to do it. Also, if you have time to search through zillions of MSDN pages in order to seek various details on .NET and/or .NET languages, then this book is not for you either.
   
   But if your time is tight and you want to have many .NET common mistakes at your fingertips with no effort from your part, then this book is for you.

1 comments about Advanced Visual Basic 2005 (4th Edition).

1. So what exactly does Advanced Visual Basic 2005 mean? Well, the book is not about the elementary programming syntax. That stuff is [or hopefully it should be] easy to pick up. Instead, part of the text goes into some of the graphics widgets available to you. This is expanded into a discussion about designing intuitive user interfaces. One aim is to show how you can easily cobble together a non-trivial interface from what is available in the widget library.
   
   This segues naturally into using VB in ASP.NET applications, where you have a web server making dynamic HTML pages. So web forms and cascading style sheets get shown. Here, there are also demonstrations of how using Visual Studio as your development environment can greatly help your productivity.
   
   Other sections of the book then explain back end material. The designing of relational databases. Using Microsoft's SQL Server, naturally. So you can use the book as one way to learn SQL. Note though that the presentation doesn't go into the formal theory of databases (e.g. normal forms and all that). So you don't need much mathematical background to understand it.
   
   Plus there is also a nice talk about XML files for sharing data across computers. The table design topics are probably where the most complexity exists in the text.

5 comments about Beginning VB 2008: From Novice to Professional (Beginning from Novice to Professional).

1. It's an ok, but not for an absolute beginner. I would say it's for the advanced beginner to intermediate. I've been learning VB.NET for about a year and this book really helped me grasp the concepts associated with creating classes and structured code.
   
   For the absolute beginner, read Visual Basic 2008 Step by Step before reading this book.



2. I opend the book with the hope that it would lay down a solid foundation for a novice VB programer like me.
   Guess what? If you don't have any previous knowledge on OOP or VB, to say the least, you're out of luck.
   The author might be a seasoned programer himself, but not a good writer from my stand point. The way he extends his ideas and thoughts into black and white is quite 'un-logic' to follow.
   This book is definitely not for novices. The title of the book should change: Finalizing VB 2008: exclusively not for novices!



3. Flipping through this book in the store, it seemed like a good choice because it appeared to try to use coherent projects to teach rather than going the way of most horrible programming books that just isolate topics on one or two pages and never explain how it all works together ("Chapter 44: How to place a radio button. Click the tools tab, then select radio button. Place on form. Chapter 45: How to place a text box..." etc).
   
   The other main reason I bought this book was because it actually has exercises at the end of the chapters, and promises that solutions are available on the publisher's website. This is another feature most programming books sadly lack. For anyone wanting to learn outside of a classroom, there is usually no way to test or check your own progress.
   
   Well, this book sourly disappointed on both these supposed advantages. While it does try to implement the concepts within whole projects, it does this at the expense of teaching you Visual Basic. The details are sorely lacking. After three chapters, very little has actually been explained. I've learned a bit about how to make text appear in a text box by clicking a button, about variable types and a few functions for manipulating numbers and strings. But very little about how to actually make things work together.
   
   Chapter three has you making a "translator" program that will take simple greetings and translate them from one language to another. For example, English "hello" to German "hallo." The first half of the chapter simply covers how to write a command prompt program to get "hello" to go to "hallo" reliably, while the rest talks a lot about language and culture settings in .NET and how to manipulate them. Where are this author's priorities? Is that really relevant yet? You would think he'd wait to cover that later and instead teach you how to use a radio button or something. Then, after giving nothing more than bare bones to work with, at the end of the chapter the exercise is to "finish" the translator, adding in the ability to translate both ways and to select different languages to translate to or from. This is all without having given you ANY idea how to implement any controls on a window or form (aside from making "hello world" appear in a text box by clicking a button). Umm... so how are you supposed to do this? To select a language, for example, you would need a control in the window to do that, but so far he has not given even the slightest idea of how that would work.
   
   It seems to me the author was simply extremely lazy and figured you should just read the Microsoft documentation for the petty details. Also, I think he really doesn't understand the perspective that a novice would have. The things he chooses to explain seem pointless for a beginner to know, while the things he glosses over are more relevant. He is more concerned with getting philosophical about whether it is the user's responsibility to make sure there are no extra spaces in the word he types, or the programmer's responsibility to anticipate that there might be extra spaces. Seriously, he spends a whole page on that. What a joke. In addition, the code that he DOES explain is really never explained in full. For example, I've typed "Public Shared Function" many times now and don't recall ever seeing the "public" or "shared" parts explained. Some functions in the book are only "public" and I don't know the difference. A few words on that kind of thing might help. The author really spends very little time at all trying to explain the basic structure of the language, it's logic and flow. He just has you typing out lines of code right away, telling you what it does as a whole but rarely explaining the parts.
   
   As far as the exercises and solutions go, well, there are no answers on the website. I downloaded what was available there, and guess what? It's just the examples from the book typed out for you. There isn't a shred of anything that can't already be found in the book. So if you're baffled about how to complete that translator application, you're out of luck. I'm used to learning things on my own and usually do very well at it, but a decent book is a necessity. This book is terrible. Avoid.



4. Beginning VB 2008? Hmm Beginning... Hmm!
   
   I'm going to keep this short and to the point.
   You would stand a better chance of learning VB 2008 by reading
   Walden by Henry David Thoreau!
   
   Glad I kept my receipt!



5. Aside from the fact that it doesn't look like a book for beginners, the author doesn't explain what you need to know instead he fills the book with lame analogies that in the end will make you more confused.

5 comments about Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft Visual Basic .NET 2003 in 24 Hours Complete Starter Kit (Sams Teach Yourself).

1. Great beginner book - incorporates a bit a humor throughout to keep things interesting. Nice book to transition from VBA to VB .NET.
   Errata is posted on authors page as well as user forum.
   
   The book also acclimates you to the Visual Studio IDE very well.



2. This is an excellent book and Yes, you can learn to program in Visual Basic.Net in 24 hours. This book gives you the details the other books leave out. The book flows well and builds a solid foundation. This is better then the college text I am using for VB.Net. Buy it, you won't be sorry!



3. The title could rather be given as sams teach yourself VB.NET "for" 8 hours....All what has been presented here can be mastered in just 8 hours. This book lacks essence in conveying the concepts. It does not also cover all parts of VB.NET. The author could have dedicated some more topics on ADO.NET and database programming.
   This book sounds good to novices in VB.NET but a money waste for experienced programmers.



4. I have had many years in IT. I wanted to understand what .net was about and VB (.net) to get through the brochure speak and be able to manage developments in the .net environment effectively.
   
   This book was excellent.
   
   Taking each lesson in turn, the pace and instruction was clear and exact. At the end of the 24 hours I more than satsified my aims. I now have a good grounding in vb.net and understand the .net environment much better.
   
   Well done to James Foxall



5. This book is so well written, if you are just starting out with VB, then this book is a must. Where my tutor does not make sense, James Foxall does. James you are a genius, Thank you.
   
   So this book is a must, you don't need to think about it, just buy it.

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.

1 comments about Upgrading Visual Basic 6.0 Applications to Visual Basic .NET and Visual Basic 2005 (Patterns & Practices).

1. This book was developed by the Microsoft PAG (Patterns and Practices) Team and ArtinSoft. It contains the most comprehensive and up to date guidence on how to approach a Visual Basic 6 Migration/Upgrade project. From how to set a busines case all the way to the smallest details.
   
   If you are considering moving your VB 6 code to .NET I highly recommend this book!

4 comments about Microsoft Visual Basic .NET: Comprehensive Concepts and Techniques (Shelly Cashman).

1. It's a Shelly Cashman book, what do you expect, basically it's the same as all the other shelly cashman books, very indepth with good lessons and projects..enjoy!



2. Product was as advertized and shipping was as promised. Great value for my money!!



3. I would tell anybody that wants to learn Visual Basic to buy this book. It maybe long but the step by step details make it where you can work at your own pace.I found this book to be very well written for the person who has never used Visual Basic the information is written in each chapter to show how it is applied and builds on each chapter until you have a working project at the end. I hope this review will help in your decision to purchase this book.



4. This is a great book to get your feet wet with modern VB programming! He includes all of the code right there on the pages with details as to what everything does and what it means. His database is Microsoft Access; SQL Server Express or SQL CE would have been better, but they weren't out whenever this book went to print.

2 comments about Programming Windows Services with Microsoft Visual Basic 2008.

1. Excellent book. Well written. Covers main topics needed to write services for IT automation. Highly recommended.



2. I'm only on chapter 2 and there has already been many errors in the written code. I can't imagine how bad the other chapters will be.

5 comments about Sams Teach Yourself Visual Basic 6 in 21 Days (Sams Teach Yourself).

1. I have been struggling to learn VB 6.0 with this book, and I will tell you, it is terrible. The book starts out great, with a very thorough explanation and it doesn't overwhelm you. But, all the details it tells you not to worry about come back to haunt you as you progress. They don't just come back to haunt you; they slam you hard. This book goes from a snail's pace to WAYYYYY too fast, in a matter of pages. The book leaves out a ton of details. In one instance, you are asked to create a form with option buttons (radio buttons) that respond to the user clicking them with messages; well, they never even tell you how to write the code for an option button in the section that was supposed to cover it!!!!!! Horrible stuff here, people. To make matters worse, the book is strewn with a ton of errors! The very first problem they have you code has a mistake in it, that only a more advanced programmer would pick up on. The errors continue thoroughout the book and, in some cases, the whole program is completely out of wack. Not only this, but there are not many good sample problems to solve and the examples they give are incomplete, which only adds to the confusion. Simply do not buy this book if you are a true beginner and if you are not, then why would you need this book anyway???? I cannot recommend this at all, and am only giving it 2 stars based on the fact that it has a decent introduction to the VB world, but the substance is flawed. This book almost made me hate VB. Please stay away everybody:(



2. Hmm this is weird, I am the only one who is writing a good review on this book. Whats up with that. Maybe the people who wrote the reviews are not actually programmers but confused minds. Please accept my apologies. I think this book is a very good source on VB 6.0. I used this during my Master's Program, during my Internship and in my professional life. I dont know what people are expecting, but this is a good medium level fast paced source on VB 6.0. If you have to write a quick VB App, and dont have much time on your hands, pick up this book. If you want to be a VB guru then this is not what you want. But for starters and quick reference people who use VB 6.0 from time to time, I would highly recomment this one.



3. I bought this book because I got my start in computer science by learning ASP with a Sams book. Since that time I have earned my associates degree and am about to complete my BS in computer science.
   As everyone else has already stated the book has many type errors. The most basic and obvious concepts are repeted over and over while the most complex issues are glossed over completely. My final and ultimate dissapointment in the book can in chapter 19, Connecting to the internet. The book has the reader do this in the very begining with a small paragraph explaining how you select 'yes' for the internet browser option while using the VB Aplication Wizard. So why devote an entire chapter explaining the same thing? Oh, the author does tell you about two other very important types of internet connections you can make using VB but it is just a mention. He does tell you what HTML is and show an example. HTML? give me a break I want the VB! Finally the chapter is concluded with a note, "This chapter is a high level overveiw of internet connectivity using VB. for a compete understanding buy another book." I would say by "high level overveiw" he means from far, far away, glossed over. Chapter 19 should never been put in print. I don't think the author thinks his readers are up to the task of comprehending the more complex programming issues. Or, he thinks we are just going to run out and buy another book in hope of finding the rest of the details. Well, he is correct I will be getting another book but it will not be one of his, and I don't know if I can ever trust Sams Publishing again.
   This book should be re-named "Sams Give Yourself a breif Introduction to Some of Visual Basic's Easy Concepts."



4. the author did post his errata online and this book isn't really all that bad for those who'd like a decent intro to Visual Basic unlike what the book's haters would like to have you believe.



5. At first I was completely put off by the other reviewers bashing this book. Then a friend of mine bought it and I got a chance to finally hold it in the flesh. I agree with most reviews, but I think that this badly organized book has its place. For anyone willing to put up with the horribly layout of the book, some hidden gems can be found. For example, I've never found any other author outlaying the basic for printing from VB6 as easily and clear as stated in this book. Also, you can find a couple of useful excerpts (not full chapters, mind you) for the young programmer.
   
   I think that many of the VB6 crowd (well, programmers in general) are a bit harsh: some are completely newbies regarding programming skills and some are know-it-all geeks. For them this book is almost completely useless. But for me, having a 15+ years plus in programming (BASIC and FORTRAN) this book is worth the money (barely), specially a used one.
   
   I'd give it 1 stars for the many examples, 1 for the print section, 1 for the hand-holding and half a star for many funny moments throughout the book.