5 comments about The Visual Basic Programmer's Guide to Java.

1. Of the many Java books I have purchased, this has been the most helpful. I recommend this to anyone learning Java, especially Visual Basic users. Can't wait for an update to cover JDK 1.1.x and Beans.



2. Recommendation
   VB pros - Strong Buy.
   Delphi pros - Buy.
   C++ pros - Don't Buy.

   Pros
   Author makes language approachable by writing VB code next to Java code. Learning by example snippets makes Java seem easier than it is. This teaching method gives the reader the bonus of a boatload of code samples to play with, all on a CD. These CDs are nice, but I remain unconvinced that a CD justifies the skyscraper prices computer publishers demand.

   Cons
   Biggest letdown was absence of database material. JDBC came on the scene about the time the book did so perhaps that explains the omission. JDBC or not, the author should have said something about databases. Also, the Internet received too little attention. I was surprised since the Internet was touted by Sun as the language's primary justification (read cross-platform compatibility) after marketing the benefits of a language for toasters and refrigerators warmed programmers hearts like watching a flawless sprinkler system hose your workstation during a supposed fire drill.

   Review Abstract
   The chapters are organized well and short (<20 pages each). This isn't Moby Dick so biting off small bites and taking time to digest is part of good geek mores. You actually learn to think of VB in an abstract manner - more mores.

   Chapter Review Details
   1. "What is Java?" A quick and dirty overview of Java. Could have used a fun in the Sun anecdote or three.
   2. "Installing & Using Java" Missing any mention of Visual Cafe or Microsoft J++. Perhaps I'm a bit tough here, but author burst out of the gate without even checking on Symantec and Microsoft.
   3. "Syntax of the Java Language" Didn't hurt much.
   4. "Object-Oriented Programming" Best lesson for Vbers who like pick-it-up-during-lunch training methods.
   5. "Using Classes in Java Programming" Whoever gave them the name "class" must enjoy the bewildering look on people. It makes more sense to stick ! with the term "object." It confuses me. I think schedule every time I see "class" instead of methods to accomplish something like returning the number of characters in a string using int len = abc.length();.
   6. "Inheritance" Actually a good moniker. Properties and methods are passed on to your version when you base it on a previous object. It's the same as placing a textbox on a form. You have access to the height property even though you didn't write the code for it. Java folk say you inherited the height property.
   7. "Java Visual Controls" Just what the chapter title means. About the only chapter that needed more material and examples.
   8. "Writing a Simple Visual Application in Java" This is where the book would start to change if the author does another version. This chapter simply needs to include a real tool like Visual Cafe or Microsoft J++.
   9. "Layout Managers" Too much said here. VB does it better and, amazingly, Microsoft marketing machine doesn't even demand credit for it.
   10. "Using Graphics Methods" I don't know how to draw on paper much less on screen so no opinion here.
   11. "Writing a Program With Two Windows" Excellent chapter with a misleading title. Should have gone with Communication between Windows.
   12. "Files & Exceptions" Another strong chapter that would have been a good transition into databases.
   13. "Using Threads in Java" Best theoretical chapter in the book. I didn't get it all so I'll have to reread it a few times.
   14. "Images in Java Applets & Applications" Necessary evil for artistically challenged like myself.
   15. "Menus & Dialogs" Nuff said.
   16. "Classes & Binary Files in Java" Should have come after chapter 12.
   17. "Keyboard Input in Java" Makes me appreciate VB.
   18. "Using the Mouse in Java" Makes me like VB even more.
   19. "Building Custom Contro! ls" Somewhat tough. I would usually surf far and wide for one someone else's hack before taking the time to do anything complicated.
   20. "Using Packages" A way of grouping classes. I never heard of it before.
   21. "Building Web Pages" No Java, just plain HTML.
   22. "Applets & Web Pages" Late, but finally!
   23. "Interacting With Web Page Forms" Really fun section.
   24. "What is JavaScript?" Author gets points for due diligence.
   25. "Using Sockets in Java" Most powerful chapter. You can get dangerous here.
   26. "Math Classes & Matrices" A small chapter that was still appreciated. It would have been easy to add some statistic examples on CD like standard deviation and average of arrays.
   




3. This book is unlike any other Java book on the market. For a VB programmer, the comparisons really clear even the most abstracts aspects of Java programming. I highly recommend this book.



4. As a proficient VB/COM developer, I thought this might be a good book to begin learning Java with. Be warned: It is not! It was written over 4 years ago and it completely out of date. The text makes constant references to the accompanying CD, which does not exist. The book honestly looks like a poor quality photocopy. It is clear that this was writen in 1996 and republished in January 1999 with nary a change in content. The book only goes to VB4, which is long gone. Want to learn Java? Buy Beginning Java 2 by Ivor Horton. I am sending this book back.



5. As a long time VB and ASP programmer, retraining for Java or C# is a mind-boggler. After taking a class on OO Analysis and Design, I can now make sense out of the paradigm of OO, and appreciate it's benefits. But the paradigm shift is so great, that one probably needs more than the syntax training and introductory level OO concepts presented in this book to be successfull with OO. However this is not the author's fault. If you already grasp OO concepts, this book provides superb examples of how to move from procedural syntax and program structures to use inheritance,polymorphism, and encapsulation as provided by Java.

No comments about The Microsoft Visual Basic for MS-DOS Workshop (Microsoft programming series).

2 comments about Software Visualization: Visualizing the Structure, Behaviour, and Evolution of Software.

1. Este libro, es demasiado teorico.
   Esperaba algo con ejemplos mas practicos y detallados sobre la visualizacion de grandes proyectos de software.
   Sirve como punto de partida de alguien que este interesado en la materia, para seguir estudiando la materia, pero no para una aplicacion rapida de lo ahi conversado.



2. The previous reviewer (in Spanish) criticizes the book for being too theoretical and not having practical examples with details about visualizing large projects. They state that it is a starting point for someone interested in studying the subject, but not as a quick start for visualization. This is not surprising.
   
   The description on the back cover refers to this book as "the first textbook on software visualization", which "targets both students and teachers in computer science". It further states that it is written for graduate students and researchers, "as it will provide a broad and systematic overview of the area including many pointers to tools available today".
   
   In essence, such a review is like going to an Italian restaurant, then disparaging the food because you really wanted Mexican instead. It's not fair to the author or future readers.
   
   
   
   The author does a phenomenal job of covering a very broad topic exactly as he intends to. The writing style is brief and informative, and the organization is excellent. The book is broken down into coherent sections that address specific methodologies that exist (or have existed) in this field. To wit, here is a summary of the chapter contents:
   
   1. Introduction
   Definition and explanation on software visualization, taxonomies and surveys, etc.
   2. Visualization Basics
   Basics of human perception and cognition, graphical representations, techniques, and metaphors.
   3. Static Program Visualization
   Observing properties such as program architecture, control flow, data flow, etc.
   4. Dynamic Program Visualization
   Visualizing runtime data, including algorithm animation and visual debugging.
   5. Visualizing the Evolution of Software Systems
   Visualizing how software structure, coupling, etc. evolve over time.
   6. Evaluation
   Quantitative and qualitative evaluations of various methods, plus empirical results.
   7. Conclusions
   Summaries, resources for further reading, and though on the future of visualization.
   
   As a Master's student in Computer Science researching Software Visualization, this book is an invaluable resource. It covers virtually all of the seminal works and major ideas that have influenced the field in its short history. The author certainly provides abundant resources for the reader to find the individual tools, and if they are difficult to comprehend or use, the tool is to blame, not the author.
   
   I highly recommend the book as a reference for the theory, history, and progress in the field of Software Visualization.

5 comments about Programmimg Distributed Applications With Com+ and Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 (Book & CD).

1. I have huge respect for the author and the knowledge shared with us in this book. I love the aspect of "WHY is this the way it is?" for every chapter in the book. I would rather know first how things work beehind the scenes so I can then develop against that knowledge. This is definitely for someone with at least 2-3yrs of good experience with VB6 and MTS. I was able to step one level up in COM+ architecture and become advanced programmer/architect just by finishing this book. Excellent!



2. Good book. As one reader noted above, it seems aimed at providing background information rather than how-to guidance. And this is a good thing. It's definitely worth reading if you're interested in broadening your understanding of COM+ architecture and its underpinnings.



3. The common mistake everyone does while learning COM+ is that they try to pickup the syntactical details to write a good COM+ component. But trust me you will never learn COM+ that way. There is more theory in COM+ than code and this book exactly does that. It gives you the inside scoop and at the same time doesn't overload you with details.
   This book is definitely not for beginners. This book is for those people who want to know "Why things work the way they do in Windows and Why do I always do these things in VB?" At the end of this book you will think twice even before you write a simple Select statement. You will know what I mean when you read the book. I took a few day off to complete it as it was so good.



4. Excelente libro, el mejor de visual basic 6 que pude conseguir, tiene todo lo necesario, abarca todos los niveles y todos los temas. Muy completo, de repente al ser tan completo le falte un poco de profundidad, pero casi no es necesario. Me acompaño por mas de 10 años como desarrollador vb6.



5. This is a bit old now, but if you need to program COM+ from VB6, then this is the book for you. It has all the little nuggets of knowledge that you absolutely will not be successful without.

1 comments about Microsoft Visual Basic BASICS : Book w/ CD.

1. This book is the main reason of why I became a computer science engineer, and genius in my field. I totally respect the authors

3 comments about VB.NET & SQL Server 2000: Building an Effective Data Layer.

1. I own about 20 Wrox programming books. This is one of the more disappointing ones in my collection.

   I bought the book because I was specifically interested in "Building an Effective Data Layer" with VB.Net, i.e. implementing n-tier applications and specifically the Data Access tier. Unfortunately this important topic rarely came up in the book and when it did it was lost in the details. It does cover the SQLClient, and DataReader, ADO.Net, Data Binding and Stored Procedures. However, other books already do that.

   It never specifically covers the "Concept" of tiers, nor the strategy for implementing them (e.g. strategies for passing information between tiers, or using VB.Net's more object oriented features to implement the layers).

   The organization and emphasis was weak. The Second Chapter "The SQLClient Namespace" should have been an appendix. The very last chapter is a Case Study which involves a data layer, but the authors fail to explain the strategy and implementation of data tiers using VB .Net.

   All-in-all it was very, very disappointing.




2. Initially the book was a little overwhelming, but as our development team's competence and familiarity with .NET increased, so the later chapters became more valuable. This is especially true of the iBank Case Study, which provides a great "How To..." reference in building a complete enterprise
   application using all the elements of .NET based on multiple tiers (Presentation, Business, and Data Layers).

   The book's highly professional structure and coding techniques demonstrates the authors' deep knowledge and experience in the SQL/VB.NET domain.




3. A lost classic
   This is a great book -unfortunatly overlooked.
   A great partner to my other fave Wrox title-Proffesional VB Design patterns.

   My favorite chapters are Chapter 9 Component Services and Chapter 12 Case Study IBank
   You will have to work really hard on the case study 40hrs-80hrs + to get a real gain from this book but unlike some other Wrox books - its not over the top.

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...

1 comments about Fast Track Visual Basic .NET.

1. Fast Track Visual Basic.NET is an excellent follow-up book to the successful Public Beta version. I constantly use this book in the first instance, rather than the larger Professional Desktop books - because it provides me with concise & pragmatic explanations of the key technical issues in a manner that is intuitive.

   Back in early 2001, when Visual Studio.NET public beta was released I rushed out and bought a copy of VB.NET Programming With the Public Beta & C# Programming With the Public Beta. Recently I had the pleasure of working as a technical reviewer on both of the sequels: I am a time-poor developer and architect and rely on ensuring that I have access to quality information and value greatly a concise real-world professional explanation.

   Generally, as busy developers, we do not have the time to read a book from cover to cover but I found that the Fast Track book is actually well-suited for this because it is so well written and full of interesting issues; although it is also great to use simply as a reference book. But what really sells me on this book is its professional and friendly atmosphere; the craftsmanship of the authors; choice of content and clarity of explanation.

   A risk facing many VB.NET developers is that they will not comprehensively understand full Object Orientated programming nor the broader functionality of .NET; having been nurtured on legacy VB's. A C++ or Java developer moving to C# will have an enormous advantage over a legacy VB developer; however this book provides an excellent chapter that simply and clearly articulates the new object-orientated capabilities of our language in a manner that quickly offers the opportunity to bridge the gap.

   Apart from the expected syntax and ADO.NET chapters there is excellent discussion of creating a Windows Service, Installation & Deployment and the big issue of Interoperability and Migration (invoking COM and calling Windows API's and using the migration wizard).

   The book is full of explanations that simplify complex issues, that are well supported by short, realistic & pragmatic examples and offers a comprehensive understanding of our new & very powerful development paradigm.

5 comments about Learn VB .NET Through Game Programming.

1. Andrew said this book was good so i am gonne get it too!! I hope it DOESN'T taste like chicken either...



2. The reason I'm giving this book a low score is because I don't think it does what it promises. First of all, it's very hard to learn ANY programming language(including Basic) through game programming. If you know VB.NET well, go ahead and give it a try. I, however, am a newbie to game programming, and after reading through the first few chapters and finding the text confusing and having to frequently read lines over and over because it doesn't explain itself in a fasion it should to it's target audience, still don't know how to program a game.



3. If you want to learn some game programming, its pretty good. If you want to learn .NET its not so good. I use and enjoy VB.NET and thought this would be a good way to learn game programming. It does a pretty good job of introducing that. It would be better if it had some exercises for you to try on your own, rather than just copying the book programs, thats the only way to learn something is to do it yourself. On the positive side, if you are an experienced programmer, this book does a good job of teaching VB.NET and introducing games.

   If you want to learn VB.NET from scratch this book is not for you. It doesn't teach you how to get started with Visual Studio, let alone VB. If you don't already know some programming, you won't be able to follow it. Also, it has many typos and errors that break the code examples. If you are an experienced programmer, they are easy to spot. If not, you can use the downloaded code to fix them, but save yourself the aggravation, get a book that is really geared toward beginners.




4. I've studied from tons of books over the years and this is my least favourite ever. The subject matter is presented in what I feel is mostly a haphazard way. The author uses games to illustrate concepts about vb.net. However, if you wanted to search the book for a particular subject for reference, it would be hard to do. It does sort of build on topics, but not like a book should. The worst problem is that the first program, a cheesy dice rolling program is packed with coding errors. The errors weren't bad, but they were numerous. I did find the coding example interesting, but it did seem more like random mixture of stuff than an organized explanation. I guess my biggest complaint is that I shouldn't have to debug the code examples in the book this much. Overall, I am unhappy with the book and I'll not buy another APress book again. It seems to me that this book suffered from bad editing and rushed production.



5. I bought this book on a few reviews and the price of the book. What it offers is sadly not able to run. I mean, I downloaded the source from the publishers' site, and that ran fine. However, I compared it to my hand-typed version (following the books' examples) and my program is a mirror image (it seems to me, anyway) of the authors' code. However, it continues to give me an error on something that already has a value, and it reports it as having a 'null' value.
   
   And this is just the first program in the first chapter of the book. I
   
   'm sorry, but if you are going to put code in a book, please make it ALL consistent with every other part, there were a few places where the compiler warned me about some names not being defined because the author got lazy and put an abbriviated name in for another variable or procedure.
   
   I will continue to read this book and try to code it, but I will be wary of other programming books that come from this publisher.

5 comments about Sams Teach Yourself Outlook 2000 Programming in 24 Hours (Sams Teach Yourself...in 24 Hours).

1. When I purchased this book, I was expecting to really learn how to program Outlook. What I got was a choppy book that doesn't cover the subject in much depth whatsoever.

   This book suffers on a number of fronts. I think much of the blame lies on the publisher with only some of it on the author. The fact is, Sams has created a whole "Teach yourself X in 24 hours" series. Each book in the series uses 24 small chapters that you can read very quickly. This format is a downfall because it artificially forces an author into a fixed format. You must have 24 chapters, one per "hour." Each chapter must be very short to avoid exceeding an hour's reading time. Many of the chapters in this book were less than 20 pages each. With tables and screen shots, that doesn't leave much room for prose. Indeed, with these restrictions, an author cannot spend a lot of time on complex subjects or create chapters at appropriate locations dictated by the material.

   As a result of the format, Mosher has produced a book that only introduces the subject of Outlook forms, Outlook VBScript programming, and Outlook VBA programming without much depth. Many of the chapters are simply a rehash of VBScript and VBA reference material without much expository description. While this material is appropriate for inclusion, it burns about seven chapters out of 24. As a result, there isn't much room left over for other things.

   Another problem is that the book is choppy. It jumps back and forth between VBScript and VBA almost at random within chapters making it very difficult to read. If you are only interested in Outlook forms, for instance, you have to wade through a large amount of VBA material searching for the VBScript material. You can't just skip a few VBA-only chapters.

   While descriptions of both VBScript and VBA are appropriate for the book, the constant context switches also make it very difficult to use the book in any reference manner. After looking up something in the book, one can't determine whether the material applies to VBScript or VBA without rereading whole sections of the chapter to pick up the context.

   Finally, the largest fault that I see with this book is a lack of deep examples. Most of the examples are very, very small and disconnected from each other. I would have liked to see more material on VBScript and forms since that is the easiest way to create applications within Outlook itself.

   In the end, I get the feeling that Mosher understands the material but didn't have enough paper to say anything useful. Forced with a difficult choice of burning pages on VBScript and VBA tutorials or producing in-depth examples, she chose the tutorial material and produced an acceptable introductory book that leaves that vetran programmer wanting more.




2. Although this title is introductory in nature, it alerts you to how powerful Outlook really is. The book does a good job of teching the newbie developer/programmer the basics of the trade as far as Outlook is concerned, while showing the experienced developer who has no Outlook experience what Outlook is capable of. It also makes an excellent introduction to software development in general b/c you end up with bonafide programs that are easy to modify and that you can actually use right away. Looking forward to more Outlook books by Mrs. Mosher.



3. Consise, to the point, well laid out hour long lessons on unleashing the power of Outlook forms. Recommended for both the novice (like myself) and even experts will pick up useful tips.



4. I need to buy Sams Teach Yourself Outlook 2000 Programming in 24 Hours Book, Where can I have it as soon as possible? Please let me know



5. Sue Mosher is a very readable writer and there's no doubt she knows her stuff inside and out. Most books in the Teach Yourself in 24 Hours series are beginner-intermediate introductions to the subject. That's true with Mosher's book - however, she manages to cover an impressive breadth of material in 24 small lessons.

   The problem is finding the material. This book could use a revamp in structure (I hope the publishers of the new 2002 edition are listening). There IS a good table of contents and a satisfactory index, but it's still devilishly hard to find stuff in this book, and to see how it fits together. The VBA/VBScript distinction is probably the biggest problem. The beginning Outlook programmer, even a programmer with experience in other languages, will not easily discern why Mosher talks about VBScript on one page and VBA on another. VBScript and VBA are distinct tools, with very different applications in Outlook programming. Mosher makes that point, but not clearly enough, and the struture of the book obscures the point. In the real world, "Outlook Form Design" could refer to VBScript or VBA programming. In Mosher's book, it refers only to the former - which is confusing and misleading. Instead of "Outlook Form Design", the first section should be titled "Customizing Default Outlook Forms with VBScript". The second section could be called "Designing New Outlook Forms with VBA" (although "Design with VBA", the current title, isn't bad).

   There are lots of practical examples in the book. As said above, the breadth of this book is amazing (even if depth suffers a little as a result), and there are pertinent examples for just about every topic covered. In order to facilitate a more unified structure, it might be helpful to give examples that are related to each other and form a single, functional "Outlook Application". That may help the reader understand how seemingly unrelated material fits together, and would certainly better point up the distinction between VBScript and VBA.

   This Teach Yourself Book (like others in the series) has a few typos - nothing too serious...

   Great book - just needs some reorganizing.