5 comments about Wrox's Visual C# 2005 Express Edition Starter Kit (Programmer to Programmer).

1. This book is written at a level appropriate for someone with a little previous experience programming in other languages. Although it is positioned as useful for a complete novice, it makes too many assumptions about the reader's understanding of programming concepts and vocabulary to really serve as a starting point for a first time programmer. Also, the many innaccurate figure references, typos, grammatical errors, mismatches between figures and the text describing them, etc., fail to inspire the confidence that someone new to programming would hope for when purchaing a book of this type. This is a shame, because the concept is a good one. A little more attention to editing would have gone a long way to making this a very good book.



2. Seems like a good book so far. But I'm only on page 5 and I have encountered syntax error after syntax error after syntax error, and typo after typo after typo. Don't these publishers bother to read their manuscripts before they send them to press? There are so many goofs I'm beginning to wonder if I can continue reading it since I am constantly tripping over the editing blunders.
   
   Psssst, Wrox (Wiley) ... programmers are brilliant people but they can't write English. They need help; that's where YOU come in. Get it?



3. This is a good starting point if you're new to C#. I have to agree with Glenn's review (above) as this book is very poorly edited and contains numerous errors. It's not hard to figure out what they are trying to say, but it's annoying nonetheless. I'll think twice before I buy another Wrox book.



4. The times for programming are so much more friendly to new comers. This book is wonderfully easy to ready, and beginner friendly. You don't feel like you're reading a textbook.
   
   I like that this book is so thin. It really didn't take long to get through this (perhaps because i've programmed already). it also covers using the tools to connect to SQL Server Express. But what's even cooler is that it demonstrates how to connect to web services.
   
   You also get the basics of the C# language. Which for C++ folks will be like sailing on a sunny day. But for new comers, will be straight forward.
   
   It's so easy. If students completely new to programming want a place to start (and want to program on Windows), get this book, it comes with Visual C# Express 2005 and SQL Server Express 2005 (so no high speed internet connection needed).
   
   Plus the author looks like a cool biker dude. :)



5. It's a very good book for beginners, with very interesting things to discover

5 comments about ADO.NET and ADO Examples and Best Practices for VB Programmers (Second Edition).

1. I did not read the first half of the book, which covers ADO, but the second half, on ADO.NET is great! The style is easy to follow, the examples make sense and there are almost zero proofreading errors (which makes the book a standout among programming books by itself). The code examples in the text, are minimal, but the CD has the complete code and more. The examples on the CD work (another standout feature). This book is not for a beginning programmer, but it very good for an experienced progammer trying to make the move to ADO>NET, it was the 6th book that I read on the subject and after reading it, I was able to go back to my other books and understand things that had not made sense the first time I read them.



2. Bill's work on data access is well known and has been for some time. But this work really shines - it's useful, practical, even enjoyable reading! Most importantly, it speaks to developers like me with an understanding of what we need to get things done.

   This is hands down the best of a considerable number of books on ADO .net.




3. The first half of the book is old technology (VB6), I was nervous when I ripped it open and began reading the first couple chapters... then I saw the second half is about ADO .NET or database programming for VB .NET (phew!). So, depending on what you're using 1/2 of the book will be useless for you. I happen to be going from VB6 to VB .NET. He explains through great detail and with surgical precision what things are, how to connect to stored procedures, all sorts but it's all based on datasets. For example, like most people my program has multiple forms. This book was useless on helping me re-use a connection. I began programming each form needing to open a connection when necessary each and every time. I figured out myself (after about 18 hours) how to use a connection from another form and had to scoff at how easy... but it's one of those things that takes forever until you get it. Another is binding controls in VB .NET. If in code I create the connections and dataset and I want a textbox to display the customer name, you won't find the answer in this book and I think that's basic stuff. The thought of having an example where you select a customer from a grid and display the info of that customer on labels or textboxes bound to the record is no where to be found in this book. I'd like to know how to update/delete them as well from those textboxes but as said previously the only control used in the entire VB .NET section is a datagrid, you'll know more about datagrids than you'll know what to do with and I think he should've branched it a little to other controls. Now, I'm searching on my own again on how to bind a dataset to a textbox.



4. First off, the first half of this book talks about working with ADO in VB6, scared me at first but the second half talks about ADO for VB .NET. So, right off the bat 1/2 of this book is most likely useless to you depending on what you use or want. Goes into great detail about gotcha's, speed, interesting methods like using stored procedures and how the dataset is handled and what to watch out for. My problems, he does not mention how to bind a control through code. For example, have a form that has a grid/listbox and when the user clicks on an element have it display more detailed info about that record in labels & textboxes which are bound to the record... won't find it here and that's like basic 101 stuff. Maybe you want a parent child record, with the parent in text boxes and labels, and the child to be a grid (sort of like the tutorial but a little more advanced since it too does not show textboxes/labels). No help here. Also, all his examples appear to be just single-form based. I wanted to know more about how to program connecting to a database across multiple forms. Why, I even wanted to create a single connection object and use it across multiple forms... or have a database application on multiple forms... another basic database example. No help found in the book, after 18 hours I finally crawled my way and found how to do it myself and how darn simple! But, if you don't know where to begin (this book was no help) it's difficult and tedious. Now that I know I'm kicking myself.

   In the end this book fulfilled me half way. I wanted to know how to program an application across multiple forms that connect to a database, how best to use the same connection object across those forms, and how to bind textboxes/labels through code and how to update, delete, and insert records that way. This book has left me in near utter darkness on how to do that. I wanted to know about parent/child relations and this book had very little to offer as far as I'm concerned in respect to examples (there's one). However I have a complete understanding of how to connect to a datasource, access columns, set up parameters, access stored procedures, and some knowledge of parent/child relations, some gotcha's of using the fill method, how to set filters, and sorts on the returned recordsets, and a good understanding of updating/deleting/inserting and how to intervene with those operations... also foreign constraints so that's why I give it an average rating.




5. Like all of Bill's work, this book kicks butt. If you do anything more than lightweigth ADO.NET programming, make sure you add this to your library

No comments about Visual Basic 2008 for Windows and Mobile Applications: Introductory (Shelly Cashman Series).

5 comments about Beginning .NET Game Programming in VB .NET.

1. This book may present some theoretical views for beginner level game programming, but do not expect to learn the correct syntax for VB.NET. Actually if you purchase the same authors book for programming in C# you'll find they have the same first chapter (that's as far as I looked). This book was obviously a lazy attempt for these people to make a quick buck. Unfortunately they wait until the end of the book to let you know:
   "Most of the example games leave much room for improvement. Even when we looked back on them after finishing each chapter, we would sometimes look at parts of the code and think, "We can't believe we wrote that." Even worse, some of the things we told you aren't always true." pg 348
   While I was trying to complete the exercises in this book I spent more time with my nose in other books so I could learn the correct way to do it. Do yourself a favor get a different book.



2. Although this book isn't a complete waste of money, don't be fooled. It's not very well written.
   There are countless errors in the code right from the beginning. They also just skip telling you some important pieces about what is going on in every chapter.
   However, you can still squeeze some use from this book. Go to the web site and download all the code from them. For the most part, the code works and can be your reference. You *can* learn from this book and d/l code, but you have to work at it and use a lot of trial and error.
   
   Thank you for reading.



3. My biggest complaint with VB.NET game programming books so far (and I've read a few) has been that they either: A) try to teach elementary VB.NET using game flavored examples (but nothing about actual game development) or B) try to take existing game programming material and shoe-horn it into a VB.NET book. Sadly this book falls squarely into the second category (so far).
   
   It's quite obvious that ALL of the sample code was originally written in C#. No big deal, it's easy enough to convert. However, if you aren't a VB.NET guy, don't you dare write a freaking book with VB.NET in the title. There are more differences between VB.NET and C# than just syntax!! For the love of god, 85% of the code samples (encountered so far) do NOT work as printed in the book. Some have glaring C# syntax still in them, but only in places... often sharing a line with VB.NET syntax. The tech editor should be drawn and quartered, on TV.
   
   To make matters worse, the main author seems somewhat condescending (arrogant?) for someone who's never actually published a game in his/her life, ever (and had to have TWO other people write the book with him... neither of whom have ever published a game either.) This is an actual quote, immediately after some collision detection code that DOES NOT work as printed... If you think this is too much math, this is probably the place where you should take this book back and take up something less mathematically demanding, like nuclear physics! Ok... seriously? That comment would be a lot more impressive if your code ACTUALLY WORKED!
   
   So far I have nothing positive to say about this book, so let me see... ok well, the girl on the back cover is kinda cute (allegedly one of the authors, although I have no idea which sections are written by whom... is that good or bad? You tell me.) Oh yeah, and the price I paid was 40% off, although sadly I still feel ripped off!
   
   FWIW, I did eventually get the collision detection code to work on paper, although NO explanation is made for why the algorithm handles things a certain way, and the reader is told to perform a simple Google search for more info (I kid you not!!). I'm guessing this is because they don't actually know why the code they "borrowed" (from the net?) did things that way either.
   
   At this point, I'm almost considering this book as a possible alternative energy source. I can't believe anyone at one of my favorite publishers actually read this book prior to printing it and selling it for $50 a copy. By the time you rip out the index, table of contents, foreward, introduction, recommended reading and 'about the author' section... it's barely 350 pages. Yes... I know it's not about page count, but when quality is already out the window, what other metric is there?
   
   I'm not going to tell you the name of this book or the publisher (yet), because even though I've managed to work up this much bile and stomach acid over it, I'm only on page 35. God help me, I hope it gets better quickly.
   
   It's funny, every truly good tech book I read makes me less inclined to try writing my own. This book, however, has convinced me that I still have a pretty good chance at getting published.



4. I would hate for people to get the wrong idea about the book from reading the other posts. This really isn't a bad book.
   I am completely new to game programming (although not new to VB), and following along with the examples I was able to get the Tetris, Caterpillar and other games to work.
   This gives a good introduction to game programming, covering both 2D and some 3D graphics.
   
   But the book isn't all about writing the code. It also tells the reader how to plan out a game before coding, and gives good tips on keeping the project on track.
   
   The book isn't perfect though. There are some errors in the code (but only one glaring instance of C# code in the VB code).
   But APress has followed up, and has posted some code corrections on the web-site, and gives the downloadable code which helps a great deal.
   
   I found the text of the book to be very easy to follow. The author has more of a conversational style than lecturing.
   
   I think the book succeeds in being a good introduction to game programming. Getting the Tetris game to work gives you the incentive to keep reading and learning. Plus, it is fun to play your own game!



5. I am halfway through this abomination and only a masochistic bent will force me to continue. I initially thought that I could easily pick up any beginning programming book and breeze through it but I am new to VB.net and have been away from programming for a couple years so the MASSIVE amount of Typo's, random variable names, extraneous nonsense, as well as items that are left as an exercise for the reader -- most of which are anything but trivial -- make this a medication consuming, frustration-fest. I was considering trying to sell it second-hand but I would foist this dead tree turd on my mother-in-law. Not to mention it's poor condition from heaving it out the window numerous times. Don't, I repeat, don't consider this purchase!!! Pitiful, just pitiful!

4 comments about Sams Teach Yourself More Visual Basic .NET in 21 Days (Sams Teach Yourself).

1. If there was a list of the worst VB NET books, this book would surely be on it. For a book that claims (on the back cover) to be "intermediate", it does just about everything wrong.

   Doesn't use object oriented programming correctly (public instance fields??) (Doesn't emphasize or use classes much in fact!)
   Still covers the older On Error Syntax and doesn't stress Exception handling.,
   Stresses collections from the Vb 6 compatibility layer rather than teaching the more useful collection like classes in the Framework. (In fact much of this code is simply using the compatibility layer rather than the framework, bad bad bad.)
   Doesn't cover multithreading..

   Doesn't do much of anything in fact...

   This book is simply a port of what was probably a not very good VB6 book done quickly. The result was to quickly produce a truly awful VB .NET book. (I thought Sams had crossed a corner with it's great ASP .NET books, they seem to be back at their old game of producing junk quickly.)

   If you want a great intermediate book try Cornell's great Apress book or Connel's equally useful Microsoft press book. Then, after you have finished either one of those books and want a more advanced book, try Troelsen's masterpiece from Apress or wait for Balena's sure to be a masterpiece book.




2. This book assumes that you have at least a rudimentary knowledge of VB.Net and general programming concepts. "Sams TY VB.Net in 21 Days" can provide that foundation. Unfortunately, this book appears to be a sloppily executed cut-and-paste re-write of the author's previous edition (TY More VB 6 in 21 Days), a book which itself was not very well received. There is some good material here, but not enough to be worth the price.

   I really hate to criticize a book this severely, since there is so much work involved in writing any complete book manuscript, especially a technical manuscript on a new technology, but I'm afraid this one deserves it.

   WEAKNESSES: The review by "The Geek" raises many valid deficiencies. Both the copy editor and technical editor have overlooked conspicuous errors too numerous to count. These are way beyond the usual slips to be expected in similar books. But more importantly, the author teaches an undisciplined programming style that is careless and sometimes confused. The material reflects only a marginal understanding of the unique features of VB.Net and of the .Net Framework. In many chapters, it is clear that VB6 material has been merely refurbished with a veneer of .Net. Since VB.Net is conceptually different from VB6, the author's approach leans heavily on legacy components and constructs.

   The author's repeated use of the TreeView control in a "Windows Explorer" type interface tended to confuse many lessons with the cumbersome code needed to populate the nodes of the TreeView. This is even carried to the extreme of downloading a TreeView Web control from Microsoft in order to use one in an ASP.Net application example.

   There are several chapters that appear to deal with application architecture and the business side of software development, but they were mostly generalizations. The discussion of optimizations revealed a number of misconceptions. For example, the author recommends using the Long data type for loop variables, since it is optimized in the 32 bit operating system. Well, this is true in VB6. However, in VB.Net, the Integer data type is now an Int32 integer, and the Long is now an Int64. In VB.Net, loop variables typed as Integer are considerably faster than loop variables typed as Short or Long.

   STRENGTHS: Yes, I did find some. I thought the chapter on Crystal Reports was well done. The discussion of XML Web Services was brief, but clear.

   RECOMMENDATION: Pass on this one.




3. It is a appropriate aproach for a .NET begginers. It is necessary to make the exercises and maybe read other books.



4. I have given four stars because this book is quite old. But this gives a lot of information about the .NET technology and gives excellent examples on WHERE to use code along with HOW, unlike the usual how-only approach. the new visual studio 2008 has a lot of tools, but without this, you cant use them to the fullest.

5 comments about Outlook 2000 VBA Programmers Reference.

1. This is the best book I've seen on the subject. Very well organized and clear. If you're programming Outlook you need this book.

   Here's a tip. Use VBA whenever possible, rather than the VB Script available on the Outlook forms. The book shows you how to program for events such as the addition of a new item or changing an item. You can avoid VB Script programming on the forms this way.




2. Before this book was available, I used the Outlook Help files as a reference for objects, methods, properties and events. Anyone who has used the Outlook Help files knows how prone they are to errors, so this book was a welcome edition to my collection. I use it so regularly, that the spine on my copy has already has a crease.



3. Very Informative. I highly recommend this book. I was able to get the information I needed very easily.



4. This book was awesome! I used it to help me write VBA code to connect our SQL 7 database to the Outlook Calendar. As staff members update the SQL database, the information will show in individual calendars as soon as Outlook is started up!!! I also plan to use it generate Task Lists from the database. There aren't many books written on Outlook VBA so if you are looking for some answers start here first!!!



5. Since there doesn't seem to be any plan to update this book for XP, 2003 or 2007, this is still the definitive tome on programming with Outlook VBA. An excellent desktop reference, although it reads more like a dictionary than a true book, but for a straight up list of Outlook constants, it cannot be beat. If you program in Office VBA you must own this book.

No comments about Introduction to Programming Using Microsoft Visual Basic.Net.

4 comments about Beginning Visual Web Programming in VB .NET: From Novice to Professional.

1. The title says "beginning" but the authors actually take you to very important topics that are at the forefront of much Internet activity. Namely XML and Web Services.
   
   The book goes through a lot of necessary but mundane stuff concerning user interfaces, server control and ADO.NET. Yeah, to know VB.NET, you need this material. But more significant is the long exposition on XML. It is now a de facto standard for markup of structured data. Within the entire .NET portfolio, it is pervasive. And also in the J2EE world. The book shows how Microsoft has integrated web development and VB.NET tightly into using XML. Well worth understanding.
   
   The other big buzz is about Web Services. Here the discussion is not as indepth. The basics are covered. But Web Services Description Language is only tangentially invoked. And what is seeming to be a more powerful language, Business Process Execution Language, doesn't even rate a mention. Perhaps this is why the title says "beginning"? There could well be a sequel in the works, to cover these.



2. I'm really impressed by the thoughtfulness of the organization and writing in this book. Where the reader has questions that require deeper explanation the exposition is there. The content is well researched and the author has obviously spent the time to do some complex information distillation for us. An ideal book for anyone looking to start with VB.NET programming. And well worth the look for those already using the platform who want to broaden their understanding.



3. Book was very well written. Author effectively communicates with novice users in a 'For Dummies' style without being patronizing or condescending. By 'For Dummies' style, I mean that he literally defines which menu option to click, etc. in a similar manner to the popular series.
   
   Intermediate to Advanced users will probably find this book to be a bit unwieldy, not because of the material presented but because of all of the detail given for the benefit of the novice user.
   
   I would absolutely recommend it for someone just getting their feet wet in the VB.Net web development arena.



4. Beginning Visual Web Programming in VB.Net is well worth a read. The book is very straight forward and the examples are such that they guide you through quite easily so that the reader can follow along without much trouble. Chapters 7 and 8 are really nice with their XML information and examples. XML is great if you need a pages that load fast and are efficient.The descriptions that come in these chapters increase your understanding of why it is such an important part of the overall structure. MSDE I personally find can be a bit of a pain when setting it up but with this particular book things seemed to go ok. Overall the book is definately worth reading and will only help in your knowledge of .NET programming.

5 comments about Data Structures and Algorithms Using Visual Basic.NET.

1. McMillan does for Visual Basic in .NET what other languages like Java, C and C++ have long had. Fundamental data structures like hash tables or hash sets, arrays, linked lists. He shows how to use these in the VB context. They greatly simplify your programming tasks. These constructs are so widely used in any practical programming language.
   
   Without them, you find yourself having to tediously reinvent basic functionality. Adding little value. And with the risk that your implementations might be buggy.
   
   McMillan shows how to use the structures in several algorithms. Having said that, this book will not be of any surprise to someone already familiar with algorithms. It does not go into these to the depth of Knuth's 'Art of Computer Programming', or Sedgewick's texts.



2. Michael McMillan's "Data Structures and Algorithms Using Visual Basic.Net" is an excellent resource for the serious programmer using Visual Basic.Net. With the advent of the .Net technology there have been some major changes to Visual Basic, one of them being the collection classes. Most vb reference books provide a weak introduction to the collections and how to use them; this is the focus of the book and really allows the reader to gain enough confidence to start using them effectively in their own programs.
   
   
   
   I look forward to more books from this author.



3. I have selected this book to be the textbook of an introductory course in data structures and algorithms for my second year programming students. There were three major reasons behind this choice:
   
   1- The book doesn't go into the mathematics found in other books. Of course, mathematics are essential for those who want to create algorithms, but it's not the case for the majority of programmers, at least in the business computing field, who just want to implement them. On the contrary, I think that teaching the mathematics underlying the construction of algorithms makes the learning process unnecessarily hard.
   
   2- On the data structures field, the book takes advantage of structures already implemented in the major development platforms. As the author says it: "students of data structures and algorithms can now see how to use a data structure before learning how to implement it" (Preface, p. vii). From an educational standpoint, this is a far better approach than starting to discuss a concept abstractly.
   
   3- The examples are in VB .NET, which I consider a good starting programming language. For those who rather prefer another language, the author has recently published the same book for C#: "Data Structures and Algorithms Using C#".
   
   In a word, I consider this book an excellent practical approach to learn common data structures and algorithms without going into the complexity of mathematics.



4. For some of us learning programming has been less of a structured approach and more of a journey, picking up what we could as we went along. This book is a significant aid in that it takes us back to the basics of how to write problem solving code and at the same time giving us an extended toolbox to apply to how we perform it. It has been a real help to me by reinforcing things to me that I thought I understood, and teaching me new ways to do things that I had no idea on how to approach.
   Al Edlund



5. This is a decent read, teaches you some important topics like collections, strings, etc. But if you buy this book, supplement your reading with a complete VB book.

No comments about From VBA to VSTO: Is Excel's New Engine Right for You?.