1 comments about The Elements of Visual Style: The Basics of Print Design for Every PC and Mac User.

1. I bought this book with high expectations, which were largely met with a few unfortunate caveats.
   
   First, the good. I really enjoyed the first chapter, which deals with using type. The intricacies of fonts, point sizes,x-height, serif fonts, etc. are clearly presented and enjoyable to read, with good examples.
   
   for a book that claims to be, "drawn from the field of graphic design and cognitive psychology." (p x.), I was disappointed in the lack of documentation for sources. In fact, the book does often reference principles of design and psychology, I just don't know where they come from or why I should believe them. If there is a future edition, I hope they strike a happy medium, not delving into theoretical discourse, but allowing the reader to know where he or she could go to learn more.
   
   A small, but significant, problem throughout the book is that all the text in the examples is gibberish. Why not use standard Lorem Ipsum type to fill-in the lines? I found reading through the examples to be very distracting, something I have not found with other design books that do use Lorem Ipsum type.
   
   Another missed opportunity/pet peeve is that the book fails to take itself into account. none of the examples reference the actual design of the book that you are reading (for instance, pointing out why a certain font or page layout is being used in this book). This book feels a bit as though it were a rush job, or perhaps the reason is because the book designer is not the author. Again, a future version could include references to the actual book, which overall looks quite nice.
   
   This book does convey the basics, which would be very useful for a person who just wants to produce nicer looking electronic documents. Others, who have more experience with such writers as Edward Tufte or Robin Williams will likely find this book contains information, but is a sub-par experience.

5 comments about Home Automation Basics - Practical Applications Using Visual Basic 6 (Sams Technical Publishing Connectivity Series).

1. This book will leave you scratching your head. Do not pay too much for it and you won't be disappointed. When it gets right down to it you might as well look for a plc with o.e. software because that's what you will need. Nice discussions on electrical basics and interfacing but just not practical or user friendly.There are just too many different devices to chase down and no real guidance as to where to get them. Writers should have non-technical people read their material before they publish.



2. After reading the authors review I bought this book. It has nothing just a copy of DF1 protocol for Allen Bradley PLC (Unprotected Reads and Write). This book is a basic book not for advanced users.



3. The general intent of the author is interesting but he blows it by writing the book based on the AB PLC which is expensive and not generally popular with Hobbyists and DIY folks.
   The book will certainly have a lot more appeal had it been written based on PIC's or Basic stamp microcontrollers. However, I found the chapters on RS232 interfacing very useful and am keeping it for that reason.



4. Mr. Leonik is correct in his feeling with regard to the title given to his book, it is in fact not representative of the material inside. I can't imagine someone just getting involved with home automation (or wanting to learn about the subject) choosing this book as a starting point. Visual Basic is a huge programming language that takes years to develop a proficiency in. Writing effective communication protocol software in any language is no easy task and it is only a small part of VB capability. As a Vb programmer I had heard about Mr. Leonik's book through the "VB Grapevine". I had been searching for a book that covered this subject for a Modbus project I was working on. Of the 50 or so VB books in my library none of them covered this subject, so when I learned about this book and after reading Mr. Leonik's writeup I knew this was a book that I had to have in my library. I was not disappointed -- the information and program contained in Chapter 5 was well worth every penny (just the algorithm for CRC computation was enormously helpful). This book filled a void (no pun intended) in my arsenal of VB knowledge (and my library). Thanks, Mr. Leonik, from myself and my fellow VB programmers for the useful knowledge.



5. This is an excellent practical resource since the details are revealed. The procedures can be modified to suit many other control applications regardless of residential, commercial or industrial. Recommended!

4 comments about COBOL and Visual Basic on .NET: A Guide for the Reformed Mainframe Programmer.

1. I really tried hard to get somthing out of this book. The author just wont sit still long enough to get to the point (show me how this works)... darting from one thought to another without finishing the original thought (except to say 'This is beyond the scope...', then offer some random comments completely off the mark). The book is comprehensive (about 1000 pages and 7-8 pounds), but not clearly written. I am sure the author knows what he is talking about, he just does not know how to include the reader into the process (except to refer to a hundred different places for 'clarification'). Maybe next time (if he bothers), he will write a much shorter book on the subject, keep his flittering comments and comical bursts to himself and concentrate on giving the reader something of value for the time and money invested in trying to learn something from this book. A big disappointment.



2. Comparing / contrasting JES to the CLR, then Object Oriented to JCL...I love that! And it's so perfect and makes so much sense. This book is perfect as an introduction to the world of .NET for the Mainframe programmer.

   I have written in a few books and hundreds of magazine articles, but I have always maintained I'm just a technology guy who writes. Clearly, Chris Richardson is a real writer. And his editor(s) have done a wonderful job. This book is written like a novel. Most technology books are written mostly as reference. This book makes for a very interesting read...especially for those of us with a mainframe background. After reading this book, the COBOL programmer has obtained enough foundation in .NET, related back to the world he/she is comfortable in (mainframes), to take the next step and dive into more generic .NET titles and some real .NET application programming.

   For years my problem has been figuring out how to convert the fantastic amount of talent on the mainframe side of the world to the current technology set so that I can hire them. As everyone knows, this is a brutally tough transition and the learning curve is almost insurmountable. Well, this book is a must for the mainframe programmer who wants to learn application development in .NET and very entertaining for us old guys who love to look back at the way it was.




3. Someone finally built a bridge to help mainframe programmers understand Windows and the Windows programming arena. While this book targets the mainframe COBOL programmer, it is none-the-less and good reference for those of us who have worked in the Windows arena, specifically .NET.

   Chris dove into the .NET Framework with the understanding that after having rad his book you would have a good general understanding of .NET, not an indepth, "let's drown'em with a firehose" manual. Chris provided me with enough information to enable me to learn about the Framework, COBOL and areas where additional information could be found. If I wanted to read further I knew where to look. Chris's style was witty, funny and kept me entertained while I learned.

   The .NET Framework is a huge undertaking in programming. With over 5,000 namespaces Chris covered the essentials to getting going in the Framework, giving the reader enough knowledge to reduce his/her search times and find the information in the Microsoft help files they may need.

   A good read for anyone starting out in the .NET COBOL environment.




4. I bought "COBOL and Visual Basic on .NET" in order to learn VB.NET, but ended up receiving formal training through my employer before completing this 1,000 page book. Nevertheless, I constantly find myself referring to various chapters whenever my old COBOL brain has trouble understanding .NET and object oriented concepts.
   Mr. Richardson's clear writing (despite his well-intentioned attempts at humor) and numerous examples make me very glad that I made the purchase. As long as COBOL and .NET exist, this book is a must-have for programmers like me. Speaking of existence, I bet that COBOL will be with us long after Mr. Gates pulls the plug on .NET.
   If you are or have been a mainframe programmer and whether or not you know anything about .NET, you will be hard pressed to find a book as useful as this or one that is so well written.

No comments about Visual Basic 2008 for Windows, Mobile, Web, and Office Applications: Complete (Shelly Cashman).

5 comments about Visual Basic.NET by Example (By Example Series).

1. A strong point of "Visual Basic.NET by Example" is that it introduces the fundamentals of the VisualBasic.NET language in a context that a typical developer might experience in the real world. With this book, a beginning developer not only learns VisualBasic.NET language, but also is provided with an overview of the .NET environment, shown how to use Visual Studio, walked-though object-oriented and database fundamentals, and introduced to highlights of user interface design, UML modeling and general development methodologies. A developer would normally have to read several books to get such a broad view, and would still not benefit from seeing the big picture tied together like it is in this book.

   The book is very well organized. The table of contents and the index are well done and easy to use. A summary, review questions and exercises accompany each chapter. Unlike many of the recent .NET books, this one is of extremely high quality. I only caught one error and that was in an UML diagram in the appendix.

   "Visual Basic.NET by Example" is straightforward and written in a way that you can understand. It serves its target audience (beginning- intermediate) by not skipping steps or assuming the reader has background knowledge that he/she might not have been exposed to. Not only are the examples excellent, but the authors also takes the time to provide a quality and detailed explanation of each example, often with screen shots. I highly recommend this "Visual Basic.NET by example".




2. I needed to learn how to program VB.Net quick and it is a long time since I hit the keyboards. This book covered all bases from basic programming concepts to great VB.net examples. Everything I needed was in one place. If you need the whole scoop or just a clear description of VB as its grown-up in .Net, this is a great book.



3. I must say that this book from the best beginners books in the market,but it still need another book like 'How to program Visual Basic.NET'to answer all the qus? you can ask it,for example all the book you will see{0}and you will geuss it's functionality from the examples,but in the second book it will explain it,another example something in the inhertance called 'is-a',in the book he didn't explain it well but in the second book he did,someone will say:so why i will buy this book,i will answer: this book explain the concepts 100% and covers a lot of things which the second one don't cover it,and for example the data access and XML and UML and a lot,so as i said buy the 2 books and take one chapter from here and one from here,and you will be just fine and you will be ready for Andrew's book :Visual Basic.NET and the .NET platform,thanks for reading my review and i hope that it will be helpful



4. Sweet and Simple

   not Confusing Just Basic BASIC

   I read this book in 2 weeks (NonStop) and i had no Prior Experience with VB just C++

   Great Book beggining Book Probably the best one out there




5. This is the first review I've ever written. I have to say that I'm very dissappointed with this book. As far as a reference book I think it's good, but as far as a book to learn VB.NET, it's terrible. It spends about 300 pages just talking about general and OOP principles. Then when it finally does get into making programs in VB.NET, it just gives small code "snippets". Furthermore, it wastes pages of code showing you how to set properties that can easily be set using the GUI. At the end of the end of the book you're left with a bunch of cute snippets but example of how to pull it all together. This book should really be called VB.NET by "Snippets" because as far as how to make a real program that actually does something...there is no "Example". If you're new to VB.NET and need something to get you up and going...look somewhere else. I bought the Microsoft VB.NET "Step-by-Step"...hopefully it'll be better than this book.

No comments about Visual Basic 2008 VB.NET Training Video Tutorial.

5 comments about Visual Basic .NET Power Tools.

1. This is a must have book for Visual Basic programmers. It has a lot of practical tools to give your programs the edge.



2. I have purchased several vb.net books over the past couple of years, somewhere around 6-7 books. None were as informative and precise as this book. The authors provide many details that all the other books do not cover. They give many inside details that otherwise many programmers like myself would probably never know. Chapter 1 alone gives a lot of insight into the .net framework that all of my other books did not provide. Without going into every aspect of this book that makes it stand out above the rest, I'll just say this...I've completed more of my project with this book than all of the other books combined. Also, check out books by the Murach publishers; they come in at a somewhat distant second, but these books have been of great help also.



3. First of all, we all know that .NET harnesses way more power that VB6. However, we also know what a pain it was when we had to make that leap to adjust our thinking to the new platform, and quite frankly it was a hard one for most of us. Things that seemed rather easy before were made unnessarily difficult. (Or so it seemed to us VB6 programmers).
   
   Well this book starts right off the bat explaining the "Why's" of that and is not shy to be honest. I appreciate that, especially after reading about 7 books on my book-shelf which highly extols .NET
   
   Make no mistake about it, dotnet IS better, but the honesty these authors exhibit while explaining features (that no other dotnet book has that I have seen) is most refreshing.
   
   Great book, but is somewhat advanced. The first chapter is worth its weight in gold. If you know VB6 very well and know VB.NET somewhat, this book will help you.
   
   This will help the adjustment and transition to .NET more smoorther for advanced VB6 programmers.



4. It is very sad that this book is as bad as it is. I would recommend almost any other book for .NET if you actually want to know what you are doing. There are a FEW good examples, but it ends there.
   
   This person actually says english and art people are better programmers than math and science people because most ALL apps today use little or no math. What an idiot. If anyone has written code for ANYTHING you will find that you use math a lot!
   
   They also don't understand why and when you use the New keyword aka the difference between shared (static) and Instance Methods.
   There are many errors in this book, and the author(s) have a vague understanding at best of programming in general.
   
   I could go on and on, but hopefully this will give you enough knowledge to avoid this book and get a book you can learn something from.



5. Note: There is something odd about Amazon's processing of technical reviews. People goofing off, or what? I submitted this a couple of days ago and it never appeared - perhaps this will be the lucky time. The only other time this happened was also with a computer-related review. Anyway, here goes....
   
   I haven't read every page of this 560-page book, but I've seen enough to make me want to give a really strong recommendation. If you are working with VB.Net at all, you probably need this book.
   
   I say it's much better than its title, because to me, and I suspect to others, "Power Tools" suggests a bunch of handy add-ons - neat tricks, perhaps some useful utilities. That's not what this book is. It is a really thorough and well-written explanation of a host of absolutely key, fundamental topics in VB.Net.
   
   For instance, it's got the best, most concise description of public and private key security, and RSA encryption, with clear, straightfoward "how-to's," that I've ever seen. Also, the best and clearest description of middle-tier technology options, with comparisons betwen Web Services and .Net remoting, plus a good summary of COM+ and how to use existing COM+ components in .Net.
   
   Other chapters cover a wide range of topics - queuing, XML, regular expressions, ADO.Net, Reflection, deployment, and more...Whatever the topic that is currently interesting or challenging you, you'll probably find it here.
   
   In the Introduction, the reflections on Microsoft's clarity, or lack thereof, in documentation are often right to the point! And the whole issue of having a productivity language rewritten by exponents of a low-level, nitty-gritty approach is well covered. The two approaches to programming are very different, and in adding VB to the .Net family, much was gained but also quite a lot was lost that could have been kept - at the price, admittedly, of making VB able to do things that C# couldn't do! Don't tell me they couldn't have found a way to make things like user-defined types of arbitrary size, with fixed-length strings, and control arrays, translate into IL - they just didn't want to. The Power Tools authors don't use the term "language snobbery" but it comes inescapably to mind.
   
   The new VB9 tries to make a few gestures in the direction of ease of use, such as inferred type definition, but they miss the point and in fact may just open the door to errors. Old VB6 hands aren't looking for the ability to write loose or sloppy code - they just want a more flexible tool, one where the compiler does more work to save the programmer's time, so we can get a working product out the door more quickly, That's always what VB was about, and Microsoft somewhat lost sight of that. Oh well...

5 comments about Visual Basic Game Programming For Teens.

1. Helloooo! VB 6 is dead! <--------- You are in denial.
   First off VB will never leave you in the dry.
   1. VB is owned by Microsoft and will never be ported to Linux or Mac.
   2. VB has continued to have new releases.
   3. C++ uses directx just like the rest of programming languages for games.
   4. VB dominates in database programming. [MMO] Game DataBase!
   5. It is possible to code in VB, that can run faster than C++.
   6. Most people who bash VB do not know how to code in it and claim it to be for beginners when they only seen the dev. Fact is VB can do anything C++ can if you know how to code it.
   7. So i say read and know what you are talking about before shooting off at the lips about something you have no clue about. Try looking at the development and then retract your comment.



2. Just started programming and VB seems like a good place.
   Johnathan rambles on a bit to much about maps but I learned alot. Rich D



3. Don't believe those that tell you VB is dead, vb is still alive and well! Just look at Microsoft Access 2003(A database program)when you build advance coding in it you are using vb language,even in the latest Access edition, VB is still there. Just visit your local book store, you will still see VB books out there. Another proof that VB is still alive, look at many E-commerce shopping carts, many of them are build in VB, and they are functioning with great precision.
   The book is intended for the teenager that wants to explore programming in a fun, and easy method, and Vb can deliver that without advance codes that will make a teenage kid left in the dark. It will give them the opportunity to learn to write simple executable codes, once they do that, then they can move on to Vb.net or C++. And with that, the author would accomplish his/her mission, and that is teaching a young mind.
   Go ahead buy the book, play with the codes, and have fun!



4. Overall I find this book good at what it advertises to be, a tour through the process of making a DirectX game in VB that would be very interesting and appealing to a novice programmer (teen). The game is a simplified 2d rpg/adventure game, called `Celtic Crusader'. While functional, in the interest of simplicity and time by the author's own words it isn't a fully featured game, it lacks features such as character inventory or network play.
   
   If you are looking for detailed information on DirectX, this is not the book. This book does not explain the DirectX methods used, or even display their signatures, it just tells you what the routine you are coding does as a whole, and gives you the code.
   
   I currently work in VB.Net, but I am experienced in the last few incarnations of VB, so the conversion of the provided code examples into VB.Net is not much of a problem. I would say someone familiar with VB.Net but without experience in VB6 will not have much problem; in fact the DirectX method calls in VB.Net are more logical than in VB6.
   
   For example
   d3ddev.Present(ByVal 0, ByVal 0, 0, ByVal 0)
   becomes
   d3ddev.Present(Handle.zero,Handle.zero, 0, Handle.zero)
   
   If you pay attention to the intellisense balloons then the DirectX method calls are fairly easy to figure out.
   
   The author doesn't fully qualify all his references, so be aware and supply the appropriate qualifacation for the constants. Be sure to Imports DxVBLibA
   
   For example
   d3dpp.SwapEffect = D3DSWAPEFFECT_DISCARD
   becomes
   d3dpp.SwapEffect = CONST_D3DSWAPEFFECT.D3DSWAPEFFECT_DISCARD
   
   The VB side of the code is the same (an If-Then is still If-Then) except that you will need to recognize form events as such by their names instead of their handles keyword.
   
   The DirectX8 for Visual Basic type library reference is still available with DirectX9.0c in VB.Net (just look under the Com tab when adding the reference) and seems to work fine in XP (I have tried it on 3 different machines.) I have not worked through the entire book yet, but so far I have not had any problems with compatibility.
   
   This book is thinner than the typical programming book (tome) you normally find. It leads the reader directly through the creation of this adventure game, cutting out many side details as mentioned earlier. However, I find it delivers enough to create a decent working game, and a nice resource for a programmer looking for straightforward code examples.



5. Ok, yes, 2005? VB6??? Are you aware that Microsoft has discontinued selling and supporting this software?? This software was first published in 1999!!! Find a book that is using a little bit more of state of the art technology. This one is a waste of time and money.

No comments about VSTO For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech)).

5 comments about Professional Visual Basic 6 Web Programming.

1. I have 4 years VB programming experience, but after read 7 chapters of this book, I'm still feel confusing. Everything are talked a little bit, but nothing is discussed in detail.
   Each chapter is not well connected, this not like a book but like a huge magazine with a bunch of articles -- too many authers can mess up a good name book. They seems never talk to each other before and after writing this book. for examble, in beginning of chapter 9, it says: "By now you have learned how Active Server Page (ASP) use components." -- False! I never learned, at least in this book!
   In chapter 6 -- DHTML Application. The example application is only working in VB IDE even after making the package. It's either the author's problem or Microsoft's problem.
   As a "Professional VB Web programming book", it neither explains how to deploy a Web application well in general, nor teach you programming in detail.
   This book turns me to read other ASP book.



2. I have 4 years VB programming experience, but after read 7 chapters of this book, I'm still feel confusing. Everything are talked a little bit, but nothing is discussed in detail.
   Each chapter is not well connected, this not like a book but like a huge magazine with a bunch of articles -- too many authers can mess up a good name book. They seems never talk to each other before and after writing this book. for examble, in beginning of chapter 9, it says: "By now you have learned how Active Server Page (ASP) use components. In the next two chapters, we will focus on ... (something base on use components)" -- False! I never learned, at least in this book!
   In chapter 6 -- DHTML Application. The example application is only working in VB IDE even after making the package. It's either the author's problem or Microsoft's problem.
   As a "Professional VB Web programming book", it neither explains how to deploy a Web application well in general, nor teach you programming in detail.
   This book turns me to other ASP books.



3. There seems to be a pattern with the books from Wrox. If there is more than one author on the cover, it usually stinks. This book is no exception. They try to cover too much, and end up leaving you mad because you actually spent money on something this bad. This book is nothing more than a door stop!



4. If you are just starting to use ASP and have access to a MS SQL server, then this is a good read. However, don't even consider it if you have any previous APS experience or don't have access to a SQL server. In fact, there is no mention of MS Access in the entire book! It is pratically usesless as a reference for ASP and just sits and gathers dust.



5. I rated this 5 stars because it has the most useful writeup on writing Server Components in VB for use with ASP - chapters 9-11. I wanted to do this and had trouble getting working samples and explanations. I feel that industrial strength ASP is very ugly and unweildy if you don't encapsulate the code into components. MSDN has lots of reference material about this but little, if any, useful "how to" stuff that i could find.

   This book showed me how to do exactly what i wanted to do.

   Other than that, it is a good introduction into a good number of web concepts, old and new. The first 3 chapters were a good overview of Microsoft web concepts and techniques. The writeup on web classes, if you like them, is good. I really liked the CGI case study including how to implement standard input/output via the win32 API.

   The relatively free use of various win32 API functions in VB help overcome a general fear of mixing VB and CC++ functionality.

   The book was a bit large but was well organized. In general it gave me a much higher opinion of Wrox books.