5 comments about Visual Basic(R) .NET Power Coding.

1. There are endless books for beginners trying to learn .NET. This book is for people yearning for more. His discussing on Asynchronous operations is worth the price of the book alone. So is his discussion on No touch deployment. If you want to take your VB.NET knowledge up a level, this is the book for you.



2. As a professional programmer with almost 2 years experience with the .NET framework, this book is a breath of fresh air. Finally, a book on .NET that goes beyond the basics and shows some of the more advanced and interesting capabilities of the framework.

   Highlights for me include a discussion on value and reference types, delegates for multithreading, reflection, attributes, COM interop, remoting, custom components (including UITypeEditor) and implementing Extender Provider controls (like the ToolTip control).

   I discovered many details of the framework that had eluded me. For example, did you know that all value types inherit from the ValueType class? how to add custom properties to all controls on a form? or how to use COM interop to provide a smooth path for the migration of VB6 application to .NET?

   On the down side, the chapters dealing with the subject of ADO.NET, which is itself in need of a few advanced books, only describe the more basics aspects of the technology. Also, there is no chapter on XML.

   Overall though, Kimmel does an excellent job of putting together a wealth of advanced subjects in a compact package.




3. To start this book review I can only say one thing ... this book is AWESOME! I actually sat
   down and read the whole book in just over a week. I couldn't put it down. The way Mr. Kimmel
   writes will keep your attention GLUED to each page as you read and learn about Visual Basic
   .NET programming advanced topics. His sense of humor comes shining through in his examples and
   writing. It is a book that I could just not put down. I'd come home from work, grab a bite to
   eat and it was off to the reading room for me. I spent many a night this past week staying up
   late because I didn't want to close the book for another night.
   
   Mr. Kimmel did what a lot of books have tried to do, but in my opinion have come up short on
   all too many occasions. He started out in Chapter 1 explaining the differences between Visual
   Basic 6.0 and the new, improved Visual Basic .NET programming languages. He drilled down into
   the changes more than any other book I have read and made it so easy to understand the
   differences. This is also something that he did throughout the text. This was to give the
   reader a look back at the Visual Basic 6.0 language and then explain how it works now in the
   .NET world. That is something that many books have tried to do, but in my opinion, Mr. Kimmel
   NAILED the explanations to the barn door. He made is so easy to understand the VB.NET language
   now and the advanced features that are available to us as developers.
   
   I have spent the past three years teaching at the Community College of Aurora as an Adjunct
   Instructor in the Computer Sciences Division. I have had the opportunity to teach Visual Basic
   6.0, Advanced Visual Basic 6.0, and Java programming languages. I have read and used many
   different textbooks in my tenure. Going forward, I'm going to be telling my Visual Basic .NET
   programming class students that this is the book they need to read after they have finished
   their Advanced VB.NET book. The textbooks that are available for instructors are all fine, but
   I believe that Mr. Kimmel's book will be a much higher benefit to my students who are serious
   about learning VB.NET and the power that it now has. I have already contacted some of my
   previous students who are Visual Basic .NET developers and have advised them to get their own
   copy of this book.
   
   My favorite chapters are 10 & 11, ADO.NET and Advanced ADO.NET. In my years of developing
   projects I have done A LOT of database programming, as most of us have. I found that ADO.NET
   is a subject that has MANY, MANY different books written about it. Most are very intricate and
   very technical, which is good for some people. For the rest of the folks out there, it's best
   to get a GOOD grounding in the basics before moving on to the heavy technical stuff. I believe
   that Mr. Kimmel found the secret of how to give us that understanding of ADO.NET that we can
   now go forth and build upon.
   
   That is how I feel about the entire book. There is enough technical expertise to keep the hard
   core developers interested, but at the same time there is a good balance of information for
   folks who are just stepping out of a college level advanced VB.NET course who are looking for
   a good reference book to help them get a better understanding of VB.NET. Mr. Kimmel covers
   Visual Basic .NET like no other author I have found yet. Very concise information is shared in
   the pages of his book. There is no "fluff" that you find in some books. No, not in this book.
   He drills into Visual Basic .NET like no other author that I've read thus far. I feel very
   enriched by having had the opportunity to read this book and plan on having this located on my
   bookshelf within EASY reach while I'm developing projects.
   
   I feel fortunate in that I have been extended a hand by what I believe to be that of a
   gentleman who is a person I consider to be extremely knowledgeable in both the technologies
   and helping others understand the technologies. I received an e-mail from Mr. Kimmel just a
   short time after sending a thank you note to the publisher's representative who donated this
   book to the Denver Visual Studio User Group, Denver, Colorado, where I selected this book for
   a review. I was shocked when I opened my e-mail and I saw the address being Mr. Kimmel's. When
   I opened the e-mail what I found was a gentleman who can only be described as an individual
   that I hope to keep in contact for years to come. He had a genuine interest in me as a person
   and a developer. We have shared a few e-mails since then and I sincerely hope that he will
   consider revising his book and writing a 2nd Edition for Visual Basic 2005. I know that there
   are going to be many upgrades, changes, additions, subtractions, etc. that are accomplished by
   Microsoft and I would really appreciate it if Mr. Kimmel could be the one to lead the charge
   as the new technologies are released. He has such a tremendous understanding of the
   technologies and how to put them into words that makes it easier for us developers to
   understand and then use the knowledge that he shares with us to help build our foundation on
   which we build our empires of knowledge.
   
   Thank you to Mr. Paul Kimmel for writing such a true work of art for those of us who are mere
   students of Visual Basic .NET and who seek the wisdom of the Masters! I truly believe that
   this book could be considered a book written by a Master of Visual Basic for the Ages!



4. This book covers a grab bag of topics around the .NET platform. Topics range in obscurity from reflection (which it starts with) to just above basic, using ADO.NET with stored procedures. Threading, which is always a difficult topic to explain, was covered in a well written fashion, but lacked illustrations, which I think would have brought a lot of clarity to the subject. Other topics were given some illustrations, but overall the book used screenshots for most of the graphics. Remoting was another area that could have used illustrations.
   
   Overall well written, but could have been better organized and illustrated. Definitely worth a look over if you find that it covers topics of interest.



5. This book is awesome. It is exactly what I have been looking for.
   
   I have been coding in VB.Net for a couple years now and I'm comfortable with the standard features of VB.Net and Visual Studio.Net. I needed a book that would take my skills to the next level and help me take full advantage of the more powerful capabilites of the .Net programming environment.
   
   Make no mistake, this is not a beginner's book. It does not rehash the same old instructions on how to do the basics. What it does, and does very well, is take you straight into the advanced topics of interfaces, delegates, reflection, attributes, multithreading, COM Interop, remoting, custom components, smart clients, web services, and much more. I can see how this information will help me build awesome applications that I would not have otherwise been able to do.
   
   Paul Kimmel's writing style is concise yet friendly. The examples truly help clarify the lesson at hand. The size of the book is small enough, 700 pages, that you can take your time to understand the material and still expect to complete the book in a reasonable amount of time.
   
   I know that I will be writing and delivering better software as a result of reading this book. It is exactly what I was looking for in a "Level 2" book. I don't know if there is a "Level 3" book or not, but I can only hope that if there isn't one, that Paul Kimmel is in the processing of writing it.

5 comments about Visual Basic .NET for Windows (Visual QuickStart Guide).

1. I have purchased four VB.NET books thus far, and this one is head and shoulders above the rest! Easy to understand, great example code. AND, much less expensive than the rest! A bargain by any measure! I highly recommend it!



2. I've always wanted to learn how to program, but never really got started. Well, with VB .Net and this book that's all I needed. This book has everything for the beginner, clearly explained. I wish I could give it 10 stars!



3. (The following was inadvertantly written for Davis' previous book "Visual Basic .Net Programming". While it applies somewhat to that book also, it was intended for this one.)

   I have been programming since IBM produced the 7090/7094, with the first symbolic assembler/compiler. I have not completely adapted to object oriented programming yet (but am commited to modular, well-documented code that avoids arbitrary assumptions that prevent smooth future growth).

   The first time I got one of Harold Davis' books, I was impressed: "Finally, a book for programmers that is really accessible!" I was tired of voluminous books of "how to"s that did not provide a good conceptual structure. (Some of us need that to help the memory, and sense of mastery.)

   He writes in an easy-to understand style in which the basic concepts are included along with the clear and straightforward "how to"s. It is clearly a book suitable for beginners and for experienced, moderately advanced, programmers at the same time. (Something I formerly did not believe was possible.) As one reads and occassionally rereads the material, it becomes evident that the content is really quite dense. One can read simply, follow the instructions - that are clear and easy to follow - and, if a deeper understanding is desired, then go back and re-read the material, more slowly. It is all there.

   In this latest book, he has brought this style to a very fine level. I was intending to "retire" with Visual Studio 6. After, reading the first few chapters of this book, I am eager to take his "journey" into VB .net.




4. This is an OK book (I give it a B- grade.) It can't be your only VB.Net book, as it only covers part of the language, and don't expect to learn anything about OOP and, more importantly, VB.Net's take on OOP. Also, the chapter on XML is useless unless you already understand XML very thoroughly.

   I have three complaints:
   1. The two-column per page layout results in nearly all the graphics fitting into a single 2.5" column. There are MANY instances where the tutorial instructs you to fill in a property sheet "...like in Figure xxx", and Figure xxx is an entire Windows screen reduced to a 2x1 inch graphic! Totally unreadable! Didn't anyone bother to proof this before it was published? Even a large magnifying glass won't help.
   2. The graphics are often not in sync with the text. For example, the graphic may show a form full of buttons and text boxes but the tutorial has just had you place a single button.
   3. Despite having a publishing data of 2003, it does not match VisualStudio.net 2003, although you can still use the examples.

   Still, for the price, this is as good a place as any to start on VB.Net. I ws able to do all the tutorial chapters in 3 days. If you do get the book, be sure to download the source code from the Net because you'll need it.




5. The cover says you can "Teach yourself Visual Basic .NET the quick and easy way!" My experience was otherwise. Way way otherwise. This book isn't just bad, it is idiotically terrible.
   
   I've been a hobbyist programmer for 30 years - Fortran, Pascal, Basic, VBA, Java script, like that. I just bought VB.NET and wanted something that would explain the basics:
   1) VB.NET syntax for Ifs, loops, arrays, etc., and
   2) the complicated .NET programming environment (where does the code go?).
   
   I've had good luck with the Visual Quickstarts brand before, so I bought this one without leafing through it. Big mistake.
   
   For example the traditional "Hello World" program, the one that helps you take your first baby steps, that traditional program is at the very beginning, but it's not even a program you type in yourself, it's part of a "Web service" , which is this thing VB.NET is supposedly handy for but which no beginner could possibly know about -- as evidenced by the fact the actual program example comes only after pages and pages of setup material, long computer dictionary definitions of WSDLs, UDDIs, SOAPs, etc., that you need to understand before you can understand the Web service, which you must understand before you understand .... "Hello World" Only when it's all over, you still don't. If it worked at all.
   
   And they _knew_ "Hello World" probably wouldn't work, because afterward there's a long list of helpful troubleshooting tips like:
   "The URL, or Uniform Resource Locator, provided in Step 4, assumes you are running and testing your Web service on a local instance of Internet Information Services (IIS). If you are using a remote host, enter the appropriate URL in the Location text box."
   
   If you're a beginner this chapter (and much of the book) is impenetrable gibberish, and this book will be useless for you. If it's not gibberish, you're not a beginner and you don't need this book. And if you just want a chapter, any chapter, on what the VB syntax is and where the code goes-that's not in here at all.
   
   Troubleshooting tips for "Hello World"? What were they thinking??!!
   
   This is a crappy crappy crappy crappy book. I would suggest instead:
   1) Murach's beginning visual basic .NET
   
   2) VB.NET Language in a Nutshell
   
   3) And if you haven't bought your copy of VB.NET standard yet, Microsoft's Learning Edition of Visual Basic.NET, has the full standard version of the software plus a much better Getting Started book, all in one package (which at my local store sells for less that the software alone, and the book is a $30 value.)

4 comments about ADO.NET Programming in Visual Basic .NET (2nd Edition).

1. I've gone through only three chapters in this book, but it's already my favorite ADO.NET book. The authors write in an understandable, lucid manner and they don't dumb down the material. They also don't waste time rehashing ADO, DAO, and other (now) legacy technologies. The book is about ADO.NET only and it is obviously written by authors who are truly knowledgable about the material and know how to communicate that knowledge. This is a five star book all the way.



2. This book may be tough going if you are new to Visual Basic .NET but it's worth it weight in gold. You'll end up with a better understanding of connection strings, data providers, data adapters, datasets, dataviews, tables, writing and reading XML, and data binding.
   Anyone can drag and drop tables onto a form. This book teaches you how to write everything in code in addition to using the drag and drop method.
   I'm using the book as the textbook for the ADO.NET programming couse that I'm teaching. Very few mistakes and the sample code compiles without any problems.



3. I found this book to be quite useful, however the subject matter was derived from an early edition of VB.Net and so found some things difficult to translate. The layout of the book is poor with new major topics starting at the bottom of the page, and the quality of the screenshots is very poor to be unreadable at times. I could not get the demo example to work - but this may be due to version conflicts.



4. I was looking for a more indepth look at ADO.NET to connect to databases. I thoroughly enjoyed Holzner's Sam's book ("Teach Yourself Visual Basic.NET in 21 Days"), but this book is awful. First off, it's bound up like a paperback novel, the screen shots barely legible at times. I had to break the binding to get it to cooperate while I worked through the examples.
   The content was put together decent but in a strange order. You'd be right in the middle of putting something together and then the authors would cut away to another project. I also found some of the "tone" to be offensive, talking about "real programmers" and what-not. I highly suspect that to be the co-authors voice, Bob Howell, but there's no way to know for sure.
   Don't waste your time on this book. Seriously, I'm not just being picky here. I've never thrown a book away before but I'm considering doing that, either that or donating it to my library.

1 comments about Visual Basic for Dummies Quick Reference.

1. Sometimes you just need a quick glance at a list of properties, constants, function names, etc. without having to shuffle through over 1000 pages of material to find it. This book does that. It isn't meant to be all things to all people and will disappoint those who bring unrealistic expectations to something with the words "Quick Reference" in the title. A sensible spiral binding lets you lay it open and keep it handy while going about your business. Chances are pretty good that a quick read-through will be a source of picking up a few good tips you weren't aware of.

5 comments about Hardcore Visual Basic: Version 5.0.

1. Hardcore Visual Basic is a fantastic title - one that any experienced VB developer should have at least read (if not OWN). Now that it is out of print (and MS has taken it off the MSDN CDs), locating a copy will be harder than ever but keep your eyes open. McKinney has a great writing style and pulls no punches. Not all of it is immensely practical, but if you want to deepen your understanding of VB and really sink your teeth into some technical detail (which VB so often hides from you) this is the book for you.



2. I've been a VB programmer ever since VB 1.0 and a C/C++ programmer before that. With all of the "Teach Yourself xxx in 7 Days" books for beginners and the regurgitated help files with 80% of a 1000 page book taken up with code samples, Hardcore Visual Basic is hands down the best book ever written about programming with Visual Basic. Yes, it doesn't cover specific targets in depth (e.g., database programming, Internet programming, etc.), but it gives you the tools and the knowledge to really utilize the language and environment to its full potential. I haven't released a commercial or internal product without the VbCore.DLL and the Win.TLB support since I bought the book. If you don't have this book yet, be sure and get it while copies are still available. It is a true shame that it is going out of print...



3. When I first picked up Hardcore VB, it sat on my shelf for a good three months next to the other 5 advanced VB books that I wanted to read first. Like anyone else, I thought I should read the less advanced stuff first. In retrospect, I realize that I probably could have started with Hardcore VB - and then tossed most of the other books in the trash. Bruce McKinney cuts through the fluff and assumes the reader can hold his/her own. His book covers the basics of COM, callback functions, subclassing and multithreading with awesome clarity - like no other VB book to date (perhaps Matthew Curland's new book is a close second). For intermediate and advanced VB programmers, this book is truly foundational - if not absolutely essential. Bruce McKinney's jovial approach makes all of this material that much more palatable than any technical book I've ever read. For my sake (and yours!), I hope Bruce chooses to continue writing technical books. Ten thumbs up from me and my colleagues.



4. Even though this book is out of print, I would like to review it. Better late than sorry. This is the best book about VB I have ever read, and a tremendously inspiring book about programming. Even though VB is not my preferred programing language, this book really gave me a kick and I started to appreciate VB in a way that I had never done before.

   Bruce McKinney does not only reveal all those sneaky details about VB that you whish you had known long before, but also teaches you a lot of useful stuff about the windows API, type libraries and COM. It is not a book for beginners, but should be read as soon as possible after passing the beginners level. Read it carefully from cover to cover, because it will reveal important details about windows and programming that you don't find in other books about advanced VB.

   Unfortunately, this book is about VB 5.0, which means that it has lost its relevance in the ever changing world of Microsoft Visual Basic. It's a shame that Bruce McKinney did not write a programming book about a more stable programming language. With his knowledge, passion and inspiring writing style I'm sure it would have been a classic book about programming.




5. I learned BASIC as a child, and needed to upgrade to Visual Basic as a teen. I learned it from two sources: Learning Visual Basic in 21 Days, and this book, Hardcore Visual Basic. I learned some very simple things from the former, but the latter taught me what the compiler was actually doing and how the programs were structured.
   
   It's not a book for those that are beginners with computers, but for someone already familiar with computers, this book is invaluable. If you already understand Visual Basic (4, 5 or 6, but not .NET) and want to learn how to make it do something difficult, you are the target audience. I suspect I was unusual in using it as part of learning the language, but it worked. Either a good working knowledge of a computer or of Visual Basic are required to get much out of the book, but it works with either to work on the other.
   
   The reason the price is devalued is that Microsoft included the text in many versions of their MSDN documentation. Not all version include it, and those released over the last few years no longer contain it. I learned from the online copy, but have now picked up a hard copy as they are far nicer to read.

5 comments about An Introduction to Object-Oriented Programming with Visual Basic .NET.

1. To me "introduction" books are always an interesting venture. Some
   are great experiences, and others are nightmares. Overall this book
   was a pretty good experience, although there was a major bump in the
   road (and a couple of minor ones). In the chapter summary below I will
   go into a little more detail on the positive and negative points.

   Chapter Summary:

   Chapter 1: Overview of Object Oriented Programming
   This chapter starts with a very brief overview of the history of OOP.

   Brief is good. It also has brief definitions of OOP characteristics;
   Objects, Abstraction, Encapsulation, Polymorphism, Inheritance, and
   Aggregation. It ends with a blurb about the history of VB.

   Chapter 2: Designing OOP Solutions: Identifying the Class Structure &
   Chapter 3: Designing OOP Solutions: Modeling the Object Interaction
   These chapters go into UML and things like Use Cases, Class Diagrams,
   Sequence Diagrams, Collaboration Diagrams, and Activity diagrams. This
   seemed exciting to me because I never really get into anything like
   this on the job, and I wanted to know a little more about it. Well,
   while interesting this ended up being a bump in the road for me.

   The Author says to either do the exercises with a UML Modeler you can
   download from the net, or creating the diagram by hand. I wanted
   to try the tool he used in the examples so I downloaded it. At this
   point just let me say that you should be prepared to spend a lot of
   time figuring out the tool if you decide to try it. It is not easy.
   The directions for doing the exercises don't quite flow with actually
   using the tool either. The author does state that it is pretty tricky
   to use, but I really feel that the directions for these exercises
   should have been better. I managed to get through some of the examples
   in chapters 2 and 3 after a couple of hours.
   
   Chapter 4: Designing OOP Solutions: A Case Study
   This chapter talks about the process by which one would design an OOP
   solution with a case study. The Author goes into good detail about the
   actual steps needed, and does a good job explaining the methodology by
   which this is accomplished. He also gives some good advice on how to
   avoid some of the more common pitfalls of designing an OOP solution.

   Chapter 5: Introducing VB .NET
   This chapter gives an overview of VB.Net as well as the .Net
   Framework. After the overview it gives you a hands on tour of the
   Visual Studio .Net IDE. Of course, you will need to have the IDE to do
   the tour. This tour shows you many of the screens, option settings,
   and menus of Visual Studio .Net. The second exercise shows you the
   debugging features of VS .Net. At his point you will need files that
   you can download from the Apress web site. I may have missed it, but I
   never saw any mention that downloading files was needed for the
   exercises. It certainly was not at the beginning of this exercise, and I
   think their should be some kind of direction about it present.

   Chapter 6: Creating Classes
   This chapter is all about classes. How to restrict them, access to
   them, creating methods, overloading methods, using constructors to
   name some topics. This chapter too has exercises you complete with VS
   .Net. They all seemed to work fine for me, and were very easy to
   follow.

   Chapter 7: Creating Class Hierarchies &
   Chapter 8: Implementing Object Collaboration
   These chapters discuss things like inheritance, polymorphism,
   interfaces, delegation, error handling, shared properties and methods
   to new a few. These two chapters also have multiple hands-on
   activities so you can continue to learn how to operate VS .Net as well
   as learn more concepts of OOP. These activities are well documented,
   and I had no problems completing them all without incident.

   Chapter 9: OSO Application Revisited: Implementing the Business Logic
   This chapter helps bring together all the ideas you were introduced to
   in chapter 4. From there it goes into data access by talking about
   stored procedures, ADO.net, sqlclient namespace, and many other
   details. In order to do the examples you will have to have SQL Server.

   Chapter 10: Developing Windows Applications
   This is a fun chapter that talks about windows forms, event handlers,
   dialog boxes and different types of bound controls. This chapter is
   full of hands on activities that are well done.

   Chapter 11: Developing Web Applications
   This long chapter deals with web forms, server controls, server
   control inheritance, server-side event processing, ASP.net, state, and
   many other things. It is all about designing an application for the
   web. The activities are easy to follow, and work.

   Chapter 12: Wrapping Up and Reviewing
   A quick summation of what the book covers and some tips on where to
   focus next.

   Appendix A: Fundamental Programming Concepts
   This appendix is basically a primer for beginning programmers.

   Appendix B: Exception Handling in VB .NET
   A quick 4-page explanation of how exceptions are handled in VB.Net

   After finishing this book I had a hard time deciding what grade to
   give it. I ended up giving it a 7 out of 10. The many problems I had
   with the UML activities using the UML modeler were just too painful
   and frustrating to give it higher than a 7.

   I will admit that the rest of the book was great and would be very
   useful to a beginner trying to become more familiar with VB.Net and
   VS.net. The VS.net activities were flawless, and gave good hands-on
   experience that beginners would love. The UML material was actually
   good as well, but the problems with the modeling tool activities
   really influenced my final judging of the book.

   In summation, this book is without doubt a beginner's book. Do not buy
   this if you already basically familiar with VS .net or UML. If you are a
   beginner and do the UML activities with pen and paper I believe it will
   be a great learning experience.




2. This book is very well written. The material is organized well and the information is presented in easily digestable pieces.
   The book gives a nice overall background of OOP then shows how to implment it (on a very basic level) in VB.NET.

   I highly recommend this book for VB programmers who have never incorporated OOP in their programs.




3. I have several OOP books that I put aside because they became fustrating and/or clumsy. This book has made it possible to pickup those once forgotten books.

   A big plus for this book is that all the examples work and you can download the chapter examples from Apress! The user friendly analogies make it an easy read. The only resistance I experienced was the free personal UML modeler that was referenced in the first part of the book. The first pass through these chapters I followed along by creating the diagrams by hand. After reading the rest of the book, I spent half a day learning the software and completing the chapter examples.

   For me, this author paints a pretty good big picture of OOP! My other books are now helping with the details;)




4. If you are trying to learn the concept of OOP with VB.NET, this is a good book to start with. If you are trying to learn how to program OOP in VB.NET, I would look else where. I found the book to be full of errors. You can download a list of errata from Apress, but don't expect to be able to fix all of the errors with this. I spent more time trying to figure out why the code did not work than I did learning OOP. I know fixing errors will help you learn what the code does, but that is not why I bought this book. If I could do all over again, I wouldn't buy this book.



5. This book is excellent for beginners. If you've never programmed with OOP before, this will give you a good overview of the project, including planning, from start to finish. It was this book that gave me the basic overview i have today. I wish i know of something that went even more in depth. If you already know VB.NET, UML, and OOP this book is for the very beginner. But as a starter, it is excellent. I also liked Sams Teach Yourself Object Oriented Programming in 21 days. It is also great. It explains OOP concepts in more detail. This book teaches you how to do the programming, the Sams book teaches you the reason for OOP. If you are beginner these two books would be great to start with. Don't pay attention to the Java in the Sams book. It is not really a java book. It really is an OOP book.

No comments about Microsoft Visual Basic .NET BASICS.

3 comments about Microsoft Word 97 Visual Basic (Step By Step (Microsoft)).

1. The book covered Access very well. It could have covered VBA better. For example, the VBA exercises would have been improved if they were at a more specific level.



2. As a visual basic programmer, I was hoping this book would concentrate on how to do interesting things in Word. Instead, this book spends 80 pages on an intro to VBA, and there are just a few examples of interesting things you can do in Word. So I'd recommend this book for someone who has never programmed in VBA before. I'm thinking of ordering an advanced Word book instead.



3. My background is in Word Perfect Macro Language 5.0 and 5.1. I'm not a professional programmer, but I was able to learn and become quite expert in the WP macros. I stress I am talking about the language and not simple keystroke macros. This book gives no real conceptual overview to the reader, introduces new terms into every definition without prior notice., and gives what I feel are incomplete explanations. A measure of how bad the book is is that when I go back a chapter or so to see how something I I've read fits in, I'm more confused rather than. less.. The examples of macros are inane... Using the book has been frustrating and anger inducing.. A waste of money. in an expense of shame (to paraphrase the Bard). .

5 comments about The Art of Programming With Visual Basic.

1. By following Mark's advice you can avoid months, even years of the blood, sweat, and tears he's already been through creating- and the more importantly- maintaining code. How much would you pay for that? This rich book is well worth the meager price



2. I really enjoyed this book which is more than I can say about most of the programming books I read. The author is humorous while his is delivering his message about responsible programming. He reminds us of the need to be consistent and sensible about the way we code - in the real world, other people eventually have to deal with our code and it can sometimes be very painful. In fact, we can save ourselves the pain of going back to work on code we wrote months ago only to find we can't understand it now. Follow the techniques in this book and save yourselve and others a lot of grief.

   The copy of this book that I have is for VB 3 and I don't know if it has been updated, but it really doesn't matter, because the main points apply to all versions.




3. While dated in specific VB examples (it was written for VB3), this book is far more important in what it teaches you about the programming industry in general. It teaches how to write clean, structured code, and what to expect as a professional programmer. Anyone who writes code for a living should buy this book immediately, regardless of whether you're just out of school, or have been in the industry for years.



4. Mark Warhol has given us a book full of very sound advice for writing real, maintainable applications. The programming tips are applicable to any language; I work mostly in Tcl/TK and Perl where Mark's advice holds just as well as in VB. It's a darn shame this one is now out of print. A note to Wiley & Sons: bring it back!



5. This and Code Complete are my favorite programming books, and I have read a bunch. This book is hilarious, his stories are out there. Covers a good number of real world difficulties that other books don't cover. I wish this guy would write more, he is a genius.

5 comments about Visual Basic 5 Bible (The Secrets Series).

1. This is an excellent book whether you are an absoloute beginer or you just want a reference book for the things you don't yet know. A recommended buy.



2. The book is one of the most clear, comprehensive, and practical programming language books that I have read in my twenty years in the industry. This book is especially ideal (but not exclusive) to people making the transition from other programming languages.



3. Calvin Trillin once warned against eating at any deli with New York in its name; I've learned not to buy any programing language books with "days" in its title. This book employs a teaching technique I consider ideal: assume the reader knows nothing. In the hands of a clear and thoughtful writer such as Hergert, even advanced learners, who may space out occasionally, never feel talked down to. I've skimmed the sections I feel competent in and pored over the areas in which I have difficulty. In both cases, I've obtained the security of knowing that what I've learned I know thoroughly. The index is skimpy and keyword list incomplete; though you can make do with VB help, I recommend a reference book as a supplement. I use the VB Superbible (only because I bought it to use it as an instruction manual first). But as an instruction manual, I consider the VB Bible unsurpassable.



4. You can't learn to swim by reading about it and the same goes for Visual Basic. In the end, you have to write some code. And that's often the rub. What can you develop if you have no clue about how to start? Hergert gives interesting, small apps to practice on that become increasingly more complex. My approach is to type in his code, watch the results and learn to understand the how-to's and the why's. Then I do the whole thing all over, solo. That's how I find the gaps in my understanding of the project and the language. This book is ideal. Thanks Doug!



5. This is a very good book. There's something the author could improve on in the next version. Examples in the book don't seem to encourage good programming practice. E.g., two consecutive if-blocks should be combined into one if-elseif-block for performance reason because only one IF is valid judging from the context. Some identical processing is done on the WHILE line rather than before the loop. Performance shouldn't be a concern for a beginning programmer but if it doesn't take much to teach, why not? Other than this, this is a very well written book.