3 comments about Professional VSTO 2005: Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Office (Programmer to Programmer).

1. VSTO (pronounced Visto) is a most interesting product when viewed from Microsoft's overall standpoint. It is a very carefully crafted product with the primary purpose of continuing Microsoft's continued dominance of the desktop marketplace, and a part of Microsoft's thrust to move more heavily into the server marketplace.
   
   As best I can tell, it works something like this. Microsoft recognizes that servers handling up web pages, processing mail, etc. are a huge market, but that Linnux owns a big percentage of that market. Consequently Microsoft came up with the .NET strategy. .NET is a bunch of subroutines (if you will) that are written to provides all kinds of utility to programmers. You write your applications using propriatary programming languages such as C# and J# that use the .NET library and consequently have to run on Microsoft operating systems.
   
   In the Office environment, packages such as OpenOffice have gotten to be pretty good, are basically Microsoft compatible so you don't have a re-training problem, and are FREE. I don't know how much success OpenOffice has had, but it appears to be enough to attract Microsoft's attention.
   
   Enter VSTO. VSTO adds customization and productivity to Microsoft Office applications through 'links' that tie Office to the .NET framework. So to use VSTO first you must have and load the .NET framework, then you must load Visual Studio.NET - in that order -- then install Visual Studio 2005 Tools for Office.
   
   All of this is clearly explained by Mr. Bruney in this book, who then goes on to do an excellent job of explaing how to write programs using VSTO. As examples he includes some real world applications. Most of the book is on Excel applications, but Word and Outlook are included as well. Finally he concludes the book with an excellent discussion on pivot tables.
   
   Conclusion: A well written, understandable and complete book on VSTO. If you're going to be using VSTO, this is an excellent place to start.



2. I bought this book because it was available from a 3rd party seller for a very low price. For the money it was okay. It got me familiar with VSTO. However, I'm very glad I didn't pay full price because frankly the text is full of errors, typos and mistakes. E.g., in one paragraph he is talking about the Range object and when referring to an object there is a particular font and style that is used. However, the Range gets referred to 1) using the style, 2) without the style but with a leading capital letter, 3) without the style and all lower case. Consequently I had to re-read the paragraph 3 or 4 times to figure out if he meant "range" in the English definition or the object. A pain. This sort of thing is all over the book.
   
   Also I was reading it so I could automate Word and I found very little practical data in the chapters on Word.
   
   So, unless you are getting it as cheap as I did, I'd say find a better book.



3. Like so many books an help manuals written today, this book never tells you how the pieces fit together. The section on Word starts with an example which occurs on the "ThisDocument_Startup" event, which then opens another document. (Actually, most of the examples are nested in an event handler of that name.) The author doesn't tell us what would ever cause this code to execute -- is it part of a standalone application? Is it triggered when you open a particular file with Word? etc.
   
   I need to write code which operates in place of a Word macro -- i.e. there's a toolbar added to Word via a Global Template, and it has a button, and when that button is clicked, an object is instantiated which then begins to interact with the user and with Word. I've skimmed the entire section on Word, and found nothing of relevance. I'm ready to just skip out and buy another book.

5 comments about Programming Visual Basic .NET, 2nd Edition.

1. Probably the best way to learn how to code in any language is to program with the examples in the book. I'm an experienced programmer in C#, but needed to get up to speed on VB.NET quick for some consulting work. I won a copy of Programming Visual Basic .NET 2nd ed. at a "WeProgram.NET" .NET user group meeting, and started reading it immediately. I skipped reading most of the explanations and went straight to the code (serious coders will understand this urge!). Even without reading much of the text, the code examples, while unimaginative, were selected well enough for me to pick up on the language, including its idiosyncrasies. I also like the fact that, for the text I did read, he explains why he is doing things a certain way. This would be really helpful for someone just learning to program or making the transition to .NET.

   The only problem I really have with the examples is that it did not make clear what code was part of VisualBasic interop. Since I am now coding in two .NET languages, I don't want to have to remember CInt for one language and Convert.ToInt32 for another. I know this book is geared toward experienced VB6 programmers, but let's start doing things the .NET way. That's why it's here.




2. Overall it's a decent book VB language. However if it has more contents/examples on Windows Form will make it a lot better.



3. This book is BOTH good and bad ! This is DEFINITELY NOT for those people who are learning to program and need a VB.Net book that starts with explaining what the CPU and RAM are !

   WHY GOOD - It is a great introduction to VB.Net for experienced programmers (experienced with VB6 or other programming language). The fundamentals of the language cosntruct (like the usual If clause, While loop etc.) are nicely condensed into one single chapter (Ch 3). Every chapter in Part-1 of the book explains one or more related language concepts in an easy to understand manner. Until the end of Part-1, all the code examples can be done using Notepad and compiled with the Visual Basic command line compiler (You do NOT even need Visual Studio.Net !). This is very good since it focuses on learning the language concepts rather than forcing you to get familiar with a strange IDE if you have not used Visual Studio before. Though there are some obvious errors in the code samples in Arrays and Strings chapter, they are no showstoppers in understanding the underlying concepts. Overall the part-1 of this book helps you to get upto speed on VB.Net very quickly. I did not read Part-3 yet, but I expect the treatment to be similar to Part-1, since Part-3 also deals with more theoritical aspects like Part-1.

   WHY BAD - I read every page of this book until Part-1 but Part-2, where each chapter deals with things like Window forms/Ado.Net/Web forms (which themselves are separate books on the market), can be very intimidating as the author tries to cover a lot of ground in a very short space. For example, the code example in Chapter-13 for Windows forms, is gargantuan for a first time Winform program to be developed in Visual Studio.Net. Moreover, the code download from the author's website is also not of much use since the author had hidden some code to save space in the book and uploaded the same thing in his website also !

   Overall, a good starting point to get into VB.Net but don't expect to learn everything about .Net with this book alone ! If you are already into VB.Net and looking to learn more about ADO.Net or Web forms, then this book is definitely NOT for you !




4. Some of the code examples in this book are laughably wrong. Especially the section about declaring arrays. There must be at least a dozen different kinds of errors in the section about declaring arrays. The author even gets wrong that the number you give in an array declaration is the upper-bound not the size. It makes you question how well the author really understands the language. Also, the book skimps on certain important areas, such as dynamically adding event handlers. Overall, I'd say this book is not that great for an introduction (too many errors) and lacking as an advanced guide (not enough detail). So I'm not really sure who it would be useful for.



5. I am an experienced VB6 programmer who was familiar with Object Oriented concepts since I have also programmed a little bit in C++ and Java. This book was perfect for me. It gave me a great overview of the language and reinforced the object oriented concepts.
   
   I use this book as a reference for day to day programming but I also keep
   Programming Microsoft Visual Basic .NET (Core Reference)
   by Francesco Balena
   handy for detailed explanations.

2 comments about Visual Basic .NET All in One Desk Reference for Dummies.

1. hi
   well I have tons of "for dummies" books(from spiritual to graphics and programming and the like) and this is the first that isn't good.

   problems:
   just some i'll like to mention.
   -the author writes code for you to copy and doesnt include the "_" between the lines (other manuals/tutorials/books at least tell u to put "_" , since they dont have space to write the full code in one line), so if you go by his code format you will keep getting errors.
   -on one hand the author seems to write nothing about certain vb.net code and on the other hand he writes tons about the difference between vb6 and vb.net.
   he devotes tons of the book on stuff that is new to vb.net compared to vb6, while not actaully describing vb.net stuff in the first place.

   in conclusion:
   if your coming from vb6, this is a great guide/reference for u. if your not, using the help(references/tutorials/info that u can get on controls/commands) that actaully comes with vb2003.net is far more effective.




2. Please do not torture yourself by buying this book. The title of Visual Basic.Net for Dummies would indicate that this book is appropriate for somebody who wishes to learn this computer language. It is a horrible learning tool.
   
   Twenty-five years after engineering school, I wanted to refresh my computer programming skills which were very good. However much has changed and I needed a guide. The frustration that I encounter with this book is greater than I ever experienced in Engineering school. Remember, engineering school is designed to be very challenging. I told my wife that I thought that I was smart, but my brain must have degenerated since my high honor college days.
   
   Then, I read Murach's Beginning Visual Basic.Net. What was difficult was now clear. Buy Murach's book if you want to learn this subject. Thank goodness for Murach. He showed me that I still had a functioning brain. I was not stupid. Visual Basic.Net for Dummies is very stupid.

4 comments about Enterprise Application Development with Visual C++ 2005 (Programming Series).

1. For programming enterprise level applications the Microsoft .NET framework has grown to some 30% marketshare (J2EE has about 40%). While originally .NET was developed to compete with the Java Runtime libraries as part of the breakup of Microsoft that was ordered by Judge Jackson, it has become a major thrust within Microsoft to help maintain their dominant position in the marketplace.
   
   For developing applications Microsoft has developed the Visual Studio integrated development environment which supports the programming of applications in four languages: Visual Basic, C#, J# and of course C++. While Microsoft would prefer that you use their propriatary languages they still support C++ which is arguably somewhat more powerful than the other languages.
   
   This book is a complete and detailed text on programming in C++ using Visual Studio 2005. It is highly oriented to the .NET Framework 2.0. The book is more in reference format than tutorial which makes it easier to find what you are lookin for when you go back to confirm what you've read. It is intended for both experienced and novice C++ programmers, but I don't think that it is suitable for the total beginner to programming. Some work beforehand on a beginning C++ book would be desirable, a lot of the minor details like language structure are not explained at the absolute beginner level.



2. Max Fomitchev's Enterprise Application Development With Visual C++ 2005 comes from a Moscow Ph.D. and covers the best practices for coding and C++ development. Plenty of practical real-life examples pepper instruction on how to use compilers, enhance and change database applications, and more. The fundamentals of successful coding and application development practices are imparted along with coverage of the latest Visual C++ 2005 features, making this a top reference for applications developers.



3. I bought this book because I'm a long-time C++ developer (mostly Gnu) and wanted to come up to speed fast on VC++ 2005. This book was good for that, although I'd not recommend it as a way to learn C++ from the ground up.
   
   The book has two rough edges: (a) occasional proofreading mistakes (sometimes amounting to fairly serious errors of fact, more often just typos), and (b) continuous "moose and squirrel" grammar that omits definite article. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Article_(grammar) ) With those caveats, I'd recommend it for the same purpose I used it.



4. I cannot find this book useful. It's a heap of shallow text, harmful for beginners and unuseful for any other. It lacks of substance and it's full of errors and imperfections. Who want it?!

No comments about An Introduction to Programming Using Microsoft Visual Basic: Versions 5 and 6.

5 comments about ADO : ActiveX Data Objects.

1. I bought this book for one chapter - data shaping, and it turned out to be the only place that I found that was able to explain it in a way that I could understand. The author has a knack for thoroughly explaining the material. I also found the appendix on SQL helpful.



2. You can't get a more complete ADO book.. ever gritty detail is in this book.. It's almost too much information. :- ) if you code ADO. This is a good book to have.

   Cheers

   Wayne lambright




3. This is a well written book for existing programmers who want to learn ADO. While the examples are in Visual Basic, the core concepts of ADO are very detailed and anyone with an understanding of a similar language, such as ASP or C++ should have no trouble applying the examples to the other language. It will not help you if you don't already know how to program.

   It also serves as a good reference book.




4. this is a very good book, comparing to MSDN ADO note on the web, which covers only access to .mdb database, this book covers a variety of methods and databases. Thank for the great contribution.



5. I have also read Programming ADO from David Sceppa and I prefer this one because it contains a lot examples with source code. My only complain is that there is only a small C++ program and the rest are all in Visual Basic. However, this is not a big issue as it is very easy to port the samples in C++.

5 comments about Network programming in .NET: C# & Visual Basic .NET.

1. This book took me from 0 to 50 on network programming in 1 long day.
   
   It is written for someone familiar with .net and wanting to do network programming in .net -- either C# or VB.net.
   
   The coverage is very broad -- starting from sockets, to email, to http/web, to encryption, network utilities, etc. Each section is short and sweet, but still specific enough with an example that you feel you can jump in and start coding this.
   
   Also, the author is clearly a practioner himself -- this wasn't just reciting the msdn library, this was the tips and tricks on what parts really matter of each aspect of networking, with real life situations.
   
   This was one of the top few, if not the best, computer software books I've read, in terms of taking me from virtually no knowledge of a subject (outside of a network theory class a long time ago) to feeling confident that I can use the material in a commercial application.
   
   Two drawbacks:
   - Would have been nice to be able to download the sample code form somewhere as full apps. Retyping it is a bit of a pain.
   
   - I'm using the VS 2005 beta and a couple of the namespaces like system.web.mail have been obsoleted.
   
   However, if you're trying to learn about networking and using a .net enviornment, this is a good investment of time.



2. I purchased this book because I wanted to do socket programming. However only 30 pages is devoted to the topic. Threads are not covered as all and I found more information on the web then I found in this book.
   
   The fact that you can not download the source code is another blow against the book.



3. I was going to buy the book, but after discovering that the associated website required me to install Firefox to view it (and how egotisitical and biased is that?), and then didn't format code samples in anything remotely like viewable, plus that most people comment on a lack of code in the book (or that is doesn't work), I think you'd have to be dumb to part with the money for it.



4. A poorly written book!
   
   It appears as if the author chose his chapter headings and section titles well to make it look at first glance like an in depth material covering a broad range of subjects. However, if you read the book you will notice that each section starts with a poor superficial introduction of the subject matter with absolutely no in depth material, followed by a very good example. I must say that most of his examples work, but you will have to scratch your head to know why. He doesn't even comment on his own code other than in a superficial way.
   I tried to search for a good book on the subject and couldn't after a year of using this one. Being this the only valid source up there, you probably won't have a choice but to get it. It'll get you started, but you will end up having to purchase another book to complete your knowledge.



5. This book is awsome, I spent money on hireing people to make simple network aps for me that far exceeded the 35ish dollars spend on this book. I have yet to come across a book that "teaches" to the new commer. So far ive understood every thing the author has wrote. Im a complete new comer never touched the networking stuff(at least not got anything to work) and ive already created a couple usefull things. Alot of people are upset the source code was not included but personally I dont mind retyping it yourself helps you learn. Again if I could I would rate more stars kudos to the author.

2 comments about AJAX, Rich Internet Applications, and Web Development for Programmers (Deitel Developer Series).

1. The book covers only tip of the iceberg on all the subjects it advertises to cover. The list is over 20 subjects, and most are really quick and dirty introductions, but nothing that can really be used. The book probably rules if you are a total newbie to all of the subjects and need a quick intro to things, but beyond that, nothing new here. Googling the titles serves at least as good.



2. Overall, this is a good overview book. I thought it would be more detailed regarding tying Ajax with server-side technologies. It's more for the beginner type who's curious about how Web 2.0 works. This book does a pretty good job of showing a high-level view of client-side javascript and CSS interaction to manipulate the DOM, but the examples are very basic in nature. I would recommend this book for the curious non-technical person. I would not recommend this book for the professional.

5 comments about Microsoft® Excel 2000 Power Programming with VBA.

1. This is an excellent book for beginning VBA programmers or Excel experts who want to add some VBA to their spreadsheets. Even though it does have a lot of basic introductory code and the author usually explains what each function does, a lot of times I felt that code was being thrown at me with not much explanation about why I would need it. So far the code I've borrowed from the book seems to be working in Excel 2000/2002/2003. The examples are a bit basic, so advanced users should probably stay away from this book and stick to the many other advanced books out there (like 'Professional Excel Development'). The initial read was frustrating because the first 100 pages are about the history of Windows and other non-VB info, but once it gets going, it's an excellent resource. Overall I recommend the book to beginners who want to start programming.



2. Even though I bought this book in 2000, its proved to be an invaluable resource to constantly go back to. Much of the coding still works for Excel 2003.
   
   Definitly a book of reference for me because it breaks down what I want to know about without droning on. There's also code snippets that are very helpful too.
   
   The book is also easily searchable by topic which I like because there are times I want to know something really fast and not have to sit there and leaf through loads and loads of pages.
   
   I'll agree that it dosen't cover charts as much, and if thats the focus you probably won't find what you want here.
   
   Initally I had looked for an updated book when I got Office 2003 but found I really didn't need to because the info is still relevant.



3. I have just started using Excel at work for more than just listing data in a spreadsheet. This book is very good for getting you started writing code behind the surface of Excel. It takes you step by step. It is layed out in a logical sequence for writing VBA code. I have a background in programming, so that may help in following the examples given in this book. I am a Mainframe programmer starting to crossover into the world of client/server. I use this book as my main reference along with "help" in Excel.



4. Good book, very accurate and easy to use.
   It was exactly what I was looking for and it is helping me a lot to make quite complicated macro.



5. I bought this book in 2001 and it is still my #1 reference when I develop Excel Apps. I own several books on topic but still find this one the easiest to use. It gets to the point without a lot of excess baggage. Even though it was written for Excel 2000, I still use it to program Excel 2003. Highly recommend.

5 comments about Visual Basic 6 (Visual QuickStart Guide).

1. If you want to sit down and quickly get an understanding of Visual Basic, this is the book.

   It favors readers who have limited programming experience, but it is not too simplistic. Readers who are experienced in other languages will find that they can just move through it a bit more quickly.

   You start writing Visual Basic code on the first pages, and subsequent exercises build on what you have learned. As you go through the chapters, it provides enough clues to help beginners remember to change the name of new forms they create without boring more experienced programmers with endless step by step repetitions of how to start a new form!

   Having ready many "How to..." books on Oracle, Access, Linux, WindowsNT, etc. I had become pretty frustrated about how much the books cost and how little I learned (largely because they were too poorly written to stick with them for even a couple of days). This book is a great value, and you really can learn how to program in Visual Basic from it!




2. I found this book to be extremely helpful as a novice in the world of Visual Basic. Mr Davis's use of graphics took a great deal of the guess work away and demonstrated what the forms and properties should look like.

   This is a great book for beginners. His explanations are clear and concise. The source code downloads were excellent and allowed the user to compare their projects and judge your progress. I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to know more about Visual Basic.




3. This book is for the novice / beginner with basic computer skills and no real programming experience. The visual approach to teaching used by the author (particularly the extensive illustrations, graphics, and code examples) provide an easy, structured approach to learning. The book assumes that you have a connection to the Web to download code - no CD is included. If you are just trying to "get your feet wet" and find out about what can be done with Visual Basic, this is the book for you.

   For me, the main limitation of this book is that it is intended for the beginner and treats most topics superficially. It is not a particularly good reference text. I was trying to author a simple medical calculator, and ended up purchasing a more extensive book (Visual Basic 6.0 by Halvorson) because the information was not extensive enough in this book. If you 1) want to create a full-fledged program that could be used at work or home, 2) have experience programming macros, or 3) otherwise are beyond the "beginner" category, I would buy something else.




4. A good book for the beginner. I can read in less than 5 days. It covers perfectly most of the basic visual controls: button, dialog, menu, combo list, text box, timer, data control, status bar, MDI, SDI, set up control, environment ... The codes in the examples are short and simple, but they are good enough for your learning. If you have experience with other programming languages in a less friendly environment like unix, then this book is a quick way to catch the main idea of this language by learning the GUI quick.
   It mentions no OOP, ADO and has no cdrom, you should look in other books. In fact, this book covers all the main concepts that you will learn in the introduction course of vb at the college, except it will take you 15 weeks and you can do a little more coding. If you have some programming experience and need a quick learn the controls of vb, this is the book for you. You will not regret for < [money]. Other books will be the next. This book will not make you sick by the size and lengthy words. I wish I can find some similar for visual c++. Thank for any hint!



5. I've bought other VB books that are more detailed, but they are often tedious for beginners. This book perfectly balances ease of use with enough explanations for you to understand what you are doing as you learn by hands on example. The best way to learn VB is by doing it hands on. This book has tons of exercises so youre not just learning the fundamentals of VB programming, but you are seeing it all in action, building small mini-programs as you go along. Very easy to use, well explained, great graphics on almost every psge. If you desire to really be a master programmer, of course you will need a more detailed reference book afterward, and lots of hands on practicing to keep your skills sharp. But there are many books out there for that after youre done with this one. By the time you finish this book it will give you a real sense of what it feels like to construct programs in Visual Basic, and you'll be ready to take your learning experience to the next level. If I could give this book 6 stars, I would. Good luck to you all