4 comments about Advanced Visual Basic.NET: Programming Web and Desktop Applications in ADO.NET and ASP.NET.

1. One of biggest complaints I have about asp.net is they do not start with the basics of object oriented programming. This book reviews classes, variables, arrays and ado.net sql programming. THIS BOOK STARTS WITH THIS, however please you Should have some background in object oriented programming before starting this book.!! This book provides a nice reference. Muti-architectural asp.net has many facets classes, controls,sql-ado.net etc. I have yet to see a perfect(ASP.Net book(I did search in columbia md and white flint mall) so this book is just one piece of a large piece of the asp.net puzzle. The other books should be in sql-ado.net, hashes, parse, controls, data grids etc



2. One of biggest complaints I have about asp.net is they do not start with the basics of object oriented programming. This book reviews classes, variables, arrays and ado.net sql programming. THIS BOOK STARTS WITH THIS, however please you Should have some background in object oriented programming before starting this book.!! This book provides a nice reference. Muti-architectural asp.net has many facets classes, controls,sql-ado.net etc. I have yet to see a perfect(ASP.Net book(I did search in columbia md and white flint mall) so this book is just one piece of a large piece of the asp.net puzzle. The other books should be in sql-ado.net, hashes, parse, controls, data grids etc



3. One of biggest complaints I have about asp.net is they do not start with the basics of object oriented programming. This book reviews classes, variables, arrays and ado.net sql programming. THIS BOOK STARTS WITH THIS, however please you Should have some background in object oriented programming before starting this book.!! This book provides a nice reference. Muti-architectural asp.net has many facets classes, controls,sql-ado.net etc. I have yet to see a perfect(ASP.Net book(I did search in columbia md and white flint mall) so this book is just one piece of a large piece of the asp.net puzzle. The other books should be in sql-ado.net, hashes, parse, controls, data grids etc



4. This book came in perfect condition with the cd in the back. Im seriously loving it.

5 comments about Visual Basic .NET Bible.

1. I only read two chapters of this book for ADO.Net and Multithreading. I would have to say that the ADO.Net section was good. On the otherhand, the Multithreading section was very skimpy, but it does show the reader where to start.



2. I was first amazed at the size of this book. It is large, 1240 pages and not only covers vb.net ... but everything you want to use vb.net for (ASP.NET, Windows forms, webservices, etc). If you want to be a .net developer who uses vb.net, then get this book. As someone said earlier, it also makes a awesome desk reference.



3. After reading VB.Net by Fransesco Balena, this one was its poor cousin. If anyone were to get into the ADO.Net chapter, that persons database access knowledge is bound to get scarred for life. Majority of the samples dont work. take a rain check.



4. This is by far the worst book I have ever read on any programming language. I would have to say that 90% of the code examples are wrong. I have been programing in VB.NET since the beta's and thought this book might be good for some reference. I was totally wrong.
   Seems to me that it was written too fast by to many blind people who have no idea what they where doing. Its almost as if they where making things up as they went along! If you want a good book dont get this one.



5. I like how this book has attained a good balance of being a tutorial and reference book. It has many great examples and does a great job of explaining how to better understand how to develop in .NET!!!

5 comments about Murach's ASP.NET 2.0 Upgrader's Guide: VB Edition.

1. I've already gone through three books on Visual Studio 2005, VB2005 and ASP 2.0 then finally came across this book. The other books were good, this book was great. It clearly lays out the information and was outrageously easy to read.
   
   Clean writing, excellent examples and the "left page, right page" format they use is great. Easy to read technical writing on the left side page and always examples, clarifications, illustrations on the right side page.
   
   After reading this book, I immediately ordered his C# book. Now when I need a tech book, I search for these authors first. No kidding, this book is really good!



2. - Simple reading
   - Well organized
   - Fast upgrading from 1.1
   
   - The only bad thing I've found is that is a too low programming level. But is a fast way if you want to upgrade your ASP.NET 1.X knowdeleges



3. It is an easy read. Each pair of pages is laid out in paragraph form on the left page, and figures with bulleted points on the right page. After 20 or so pages I was confident that there was no need to read the left pages at all.
   
   On the plus side, it actually concentrates on visual studio. So few books do this. And it only contains information about the things that are new.
   
   The only negative is that I thought it would have more actual code methods with examples for the new classes and keywords. Although to be fair I have only read about half way before I just started using VS2k5 and I haven't gone back to finish the book yet.



4. It is clear and simple and right to the point. Very Helpful. It gave me a good foundation in ASP.NET 2.0.



5. It is a very helpful book and saves me a lot of time for doing research.

5 comments about Expert Guide to Visual Basic 6 (Expert Guide).

1. I generally like Sybex's books, but this one kind of faked me out... flipping through it in the store I was intrigued by chapters like "Using Virtual Basic Functions" (was just instruction on how to use Date functions and the resource editor) and "Optimizing Visual Basic" (was just the usual things most programmers know, like doubles are slower than singles, longs are slower than ints, etc.)

   So this is not an expert book like "Hard Core Visual Basic" is. But it does document VB quite thoroughly, and if you don't have the hardcopy VB docs from Microsoft, it's not a bad what-it-does and how-to-use-it reference.




2. This is really one of the most horrible books, that I have ever read. Throw this book out event if you get it as a gift from your' boss ( If possible throw your Boss out too). The topics in this book dose't cover anything, you would probally be better off staring at the computer doing nothing. The sample code given in the book dosent work, this book is probally for a real 'Expert' who probally can figure out why the given sample programs dont' work. Moreover the authors style of coding is really horrible, there aren't any coding conventions followed. Not even a single topic is covered in detail. Please do your self an favour and buy any other book, except this on. If you sill have to buy this book, make sure that you read this book in a room that has many windows.



3. I have read a dozen VB books and this is one of the better ones. The author, Wayne Freeze, is obviously a seasoned programmer whose experience comes through in more ways than just the sample code he offers. The examples in this book reflect solid programming methods in a succinct fashion. It might seem that the book isn't that broad because the author usually leads directly to the best way of getting things done, rather than taking a length review of all ways to do something. The coding style and approaches he takes display a lot of wisdom. The book is excellent at providing a good foundation for VB programming and has one of the best no nonsense Inet and FTP summaries I've seen. It also has something uncommon... a summary of working with Windows animated agents. In spite of its lack of database programming, this is a valuable book that will benefit any newcomer to VB as well as those wanting to strengthen their existing VB skills. I give it a strong recommendation.



4. I'm pretty impressed with this book. I have several VB books on my shelf but this book has quite a few gems that are strangely missing from many others. The Status Bar, for example. This book explains how to provide feedback to your users through the status bar, while the topic is blatantly ignored in other VB books. It also has a great chapter on communicating with other programs. After reading this chapter, I successfully wrote an app that would launch Outlook and log me in automatically .

   You're not going to learn VB from this book. It does make the assumption that you are familiar with VB. Fortunately, it doesn't assume that the reader is a very advanced programmer - there isn't much in the way of object-oriented programming in this book. For that, I tip my hat to author Wayne Freeze. It's a great reference to pull off the shelf when you get stuck on doing some of the VB tricks that aren't documented well elsewhere.




5. Let's see ... this book was written 6 years ago and you are wondering why I'm bother to write. Well, I didn't planed to write until I went over to Peter Wright's Beginning VB6 object which was also came about the same time as this text and I saw people still writing reviews on it. So ...

   I've always enjoy reading VB6 expert guide, even when the codes didn't worked. The fix utility tool didn't really worked either (i.e., the treeview controls etc.) Then one day I found the correct codes in the site justplanes(?) and now I'm a happy man.

   The author didn't spoon fed you with every nuances of explanation behind the codes, rather, he presented the topics with the codes and you go explore further. This is exactly how I wanted it. There are lots and lots of ideas here and examples that works (finally). Once you master all these topics, you will be well on your way to become an expert.

5 comments about Sams Teach Yourself Visual Basic 5 in 24 Hours.

1. Had I read the reviews posted here, I would have never purchased this book and do not recommend it for learning Visual Basic. The book skips lightly over many complex issues, thereby leaving the reader without a solid foundation on those topics before moving on. After completing this book, I do not believe that I have the basic information required to successfully develop a usable VB application. As a result, I have had to purchase another book to cover the same material in better detail. The biggest lesson that I learned from buying and reading this book is to do your homework up front and carefully read the reviews at this site prior to making a book selection.



2. I was completely clueless about VB so this book gave a pretty good introduction to the subject. However, I found the examples riddled with errors which meant, as a beginner, I had to re-write code. Not an easy task. Got past a few chapters and then stopped. Chapters on looping aren't clear at all. I was disappointed.



3. This book is terrible. I found so many errors in the text and labs within the first 8 lessons that I could not force myself to read anymore. The labs were horrible and provided little if any explaination. The sample programs the book refered to did not exist. I have wasted about 12 hours of my life that I will never get back.



4. He talks way too much; he could have covered many of the things he only "touched on" with less gift of gab and more hands-on procedures. Too much talk is boring; had to drink extra coffee to get through some of the verbal marathons, as with other Sam's books, just too much flapping of the mouth. I actually prefer Microsoft online tutorials, neat and concise.



5. Mr. Perry patiently explains the fundamental concepts of VB5 for the beginning VB5 programmer with no prior experience. Each chapter ends with a helpful quiz and hands-on exercises, some of which depend upon sample programs that are included with retail versions of VB5.

   One gets the impression that Mr. Perry has had experience teaching VB5 beginners, since he clarifies many points that confuse beginners, but which VB5 gurus often take for granted.

   The prospective reader should note that mastery of the VB5 programming language requires significant time and effort. As a beginning VB5 programmer, I have found Mr. Perry's book to be a helpful first step.

4 comments about Visual Basic .NET Solutions Toolkit: 30 Practical Components for .NET.

1. The solutions are great, if only they worked in real life and not in theory!.

   The Auto Deploy just doesn't work (returns an error that there is not information for!) and the Application Settings writer is great in theory but in reality its easier to use the registry setting to achieve and easier to implement the result in a large scale development....

   Conclusion...don't waste your money...




2. When I first got this book I thought it was a pretty innovative idea for a book and skimmed through it but didn't put it to much use initially.

   A couple of projects later, I've used around ten components from the book with a couple more slated for the next project I'll be doing. In dollars, that's huge.

   All of my projects were done in C#, so I can't comment on the whether or not the source is 100%, however everything is explained well enough that even the most junior developer will be able to work around any problem, should any arise.

   All in all I would recommend this book to anyone.

   (Note to Wrox, let's get some equivalent C# books out!)




3. This book makes good on it's promise to present a compelling collection of components for us to use in development. It does so in a very logical way, explaining what each portion of the component does and how it works. The solutions presented are practical, well thought out, and generic enough to CUSTOMIZE to your need. The beauty of this book is it gives you many new tools to use in enterprise windows/web application development while at the same time leaving an extensible open architecture. Anyone who criticizes a book because it doesn't offer 100% turn-key code reuse should be slapped. All others should BUY THIS BOOK!!



4. I wish there was a return policy. The book covered a lot of material but there wasn't anything new to learn from it. You would be better off spending your money on a .NET magazine subscription. Anything that was written in this book can be found on the web and won't cost you anything.

5 comments about Visual Basic.NET Weekend Crash Course (With CD-ROM).

1. Claims to teach you VB.NET in just 15 hours. In session 6 of 30, the book give you sample code that doesn't work. I spent hours reviewing for _my_ mistake and hours more reviewing web sites and newsgroups. Found the example given simply will not work, and if it did would be very poor programming practice.

   Also, in order to compress all of VB concepts into a small time, the book intersperses topics into completely unrelated sections. It made reviewing and debugging very dificult. After session 6 exasperations, I bought a new book.




2. While the book is at a level I can understand, the author spends too much time saying "Click on this, but we won't cover it in depth until Chapter XX". It's very confusing skipping around like this and in some cases he says try some code in one chapter that will still be in your project later on when he asks you to try something else, but doesn't mention how to deal with the code you tried 3 chapters ago...Delete it or add on..if add on how do you do it?

   I'm only in Session 4 but getting ready to give up and try another book.




3. i bought this book to get a quick start with vb.net having c, c++ and mfc experience, i manged to get the examples to work, but i can see a beginner spedning hours trying to figure out why the sample code in lesson 6 does not work. this books practice bad programming technics in general.



4. I bought this book elsewhere for full price. What a mistake that was.
   
   Everything started out fine until I got to lesson 6. The code in the book does not work at ALL- there was also a slight difference in the coding too. What I did not realize was that THIS book was written in 2002. After doing a quick search online and reading the reviews here on Amazon I find out that the book's examples are geared to the BETA version of NET not the RETAIL (Final) version!(and that others had the same hair pulling grievances as me on Lesson 6) Course that's going to make a difference. It would have been nice if there was some mention of this in the beginning chapters of the book or at least have the remaining copies out there pulled off the shelves. I will probably keep the book anyway for reference purposes.
   
   I also did not like how the author kept putting his own coding style in there. It is not the best in the world- Yes people do have thier own style but his is confusing to leave the default names! Guess I'll wait til my online course in September.
   
   Word to the wise: Check the publication date on ALL computer books before purchasing for full price!!



5. My gripe with the book is he can't decide who his reader is. Quite a bit of the time he is writing to the VB programmer moving up to VB.Net. Other times he is writing to the very beginner, going over very basic programming concepts anyone who has done any programming would know (what is a variable?). And at other times, he assumes you know concepts of VB, that the programmer who has never used VB is not familiar with. And he doesn't get into object oriented programming concepts until the last Chapter, and not much then.

5 comments about Visual Basic 6 Core Language Little Black Book: The Indispensable Guide of Day-to-Day VB6 Programming Tips and Techniques.

1. "Immediate Solutions" is what the cover says and, immediate solutions are exactly what Visual Basic programmers get. No timewasting, no schleppy tutorials, but excellent demonstrations on how do get things done! The best part is that very little/no prior knowledge is assumed, unlike many of the books written by authors, whose linguistic styles resemble speech enabled computer systems! Good stuff, Mr.Holzner!



2. While the answer to life, the universe and VB6 would have been many times the size of this book, the author did an excellent job of presenting the fundamentals of VB6 in a way that was very easy to use as a reference. He managed to hit nearly every point I really needed, and gave complete, if somewhat sketchy, examples. No wasted verbiage, no gratuitous editorializing; just solidly-written reference material.



3. For all the books on the shelf, I would say this book never collects dust, just attention! The chapters are clear and well defined, making it easy to find code your looking for. Error handlers, Working with Forms, Declaring Variables helped me out.I avoided alot of runtime errors with the code given in the book. I'm convinced, Buy it!!



4. This book served as a very efficient way for me to get started in VB. In about 2 - 3 hours it gave me a good enough overview in VB to start being productive. It gave me a quick overview of each major area of VB and allowed me to easily select the areas where I needed more data. This book saved me money (as I am an independent) and allowed me to study the additional data I want to know about VB while working with it on a day to day basis, which I find a much easier study.



5. This is a great reference, especially if you are a programmer and need to brush up on VB syntax and coding tools. Nice price and size also.

2 comments about VB .NET in 60 Minutes a Day.

1. Visual Basic.Net in 60 Minutes reads well from the beginning. The tutorial-style presentation is an excellent idea, with each chapter supported by an introductory streaming video presentation by Bruce Barstow, hosted on Wiley's web site. The only problem is that the video intros don't work after chapter 3 which is a real let-down. Wiley's "Technical Support" has, as yet, produced no response, despite repeated emails plus a not inexpensive international phone call to have this issue rectified.

   In summary, an excellent read for a programmer with some VB experience moving across to this VERY different world of VB.NET, but will disappoint anyone intending to use the advertised on-line lectures until (if/when??) Wiley get their act together & get these videos working beyond chapter 3!




2. This is a surprisingly useful book for newcomers to Visual Basic.NET. Buy it for the book, itself, not for the online presentation.

   The book comes with an accompanying website with audio/visual presentation for each chapter consisting of a PowerPoint presentation along with audio. Warning: You can only view the presentation with a high speed broadband connection. Dial-up can only get the audio and sometimes not even the audio. The online presentations are fine, but the value comes from the book itself, not the online presentation.

   I usually shy away from books with phrases like "In a weekend", "in 24 hours", "hour-a-day crash course" etc. You really can't learn a new programming language in a few hours. HOWEVER, THESE BOOKS ARE AN EXCEPTION. The authors don't try to convince you that you can expect to learn VB.NET in a weekend. If you do all the lessons (some of which may take a bit more than an hour) plus try to do a few original applications on your own, from scratch, you WILL get a very good foundation of the subjects being taught. It will take about 4 - 6 weeks to go through the entire book (not 24 hours or a weekend, like other books promise), based on 60 - 90 minutes a day 5 or 6 days a week.

   I own both the VB.NET and the ASP.NET (which is also VB.NET based) books and recommended them to my students who wanted to learn VB.NET.

   This books is designed for people who don't have the money or the time to attend a live, in-class course on the VB.NET. The authors anticipate, in advance, some of the questions you might ask to a live instructor if you were learning VB.NET in a classroom environment. According to the authors, they have taken their own experience as instructors and put that experience into the book. It works pretty well.

   Two caveats:

   (1) the book doesn't cover everything about .NET or about VB.NET or about the .NET Framework. It's provides a self-study, introductory course on VB.NET. If you complete the book, then you will be in good shape to take on some more advanced topics such as the details of ADO.NET (an entire subject in itself, check out Murach Publisher's Murach's VB.NET Database Programming with ADO.NET by Doug Lowe, Anne Prince - ISBN: 1890774197 for that) and ASP.NET (check out Wiley Publisher's ASP.NET in 60 Minutes a Day by Glenn Johnson, ISBN: 0-471-43023-4 for that or Mike Murach Publisher's Murach's ASP.NET Web Programming with VB.NET by Doug Lowe, Anne Prince ISBN: 1890774200 for that).

   (2) The online presentations are only available to broadband subscribers. However, even without the videos, this would be a great introductory book for beginners who cannot take a classroom course on Web development using VB.NET and ASP.NET.

2 comments about Visual Basic Applications for Office 2000 Unleashed.

1. I normally buy these type of books to save time by getting sample apps that work immediately. Instead, I had to spend my time fixing compile and runtime errors with the PowerPoint Sample code and the author neglected to give you any clue on what reference libraries were needed.



2. This book covers a ton of good information. Good explanations are given for the examples. Contains real world examples, very useful. I'm getting the best out of the book by reading it all through and running and stepping through the examples. The book does contain a few errors, but very little to make a difference. I'm glad that I bought this book. So will you.