Product Description
Programming in DOS is a breeze with QBasic, the streamlined, economical version of the universal BASIC language that's been driving computers for years.Even before the arrival of the IBM PC, BASIC was the language of choice for writing programs; after all these years, it's proven itself to be an enduring way to work in DOS 5.0 or higher.QBasic Programming For Dummies steers clear of highfalutin technical terms and programming jargon.Instead, you build a programming foundation in QBasic step-by-step with this book's clear, easy-to-understand language.From fundamental program organization through advanced topics on data types and arrays, graphics, and debugging, QBasic Programming For Dummies is an invaluable guide to mastering the QBasic programming language. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Great Book. A++++++
This book helped me learn everything I needed to know about Qbasic. The examples were very helpful. I recommend this book to anyone interested in Qbasic.

Great Book!!!!! A+++++++
Its a great book. It allowed me to learn everything I needed to know in a way that was easy to understand. I definatelly recommend this book.

Good Reference, Poor Order
I've owned this book for awhile, and don't find it any helpful. First, the author starts with advanced topics, then uses examples that take much longer than they need to be just to illustrate a point. I think it takes about 5 chapters before the PRINT function, one of the simplest and best to experiment with, is learned. This book is not for beginners,.... Otherwise... I can see why one of the other reviewers could not grasp it. I couldn't, even with some experience. But now I program in C++, and QBASIC is MUCH weaker.

Good starter book. The advanced might find something new.
This book is a good book for the beginners, but the advanced can find something new, as well.

Very good for the absolute beginner.
This book goes through QBasic very thoroughly but does not go very far into the language. If you have no knowledge of QBasic what-so-ever, then this book probably isn't for you. I learned quite a bit from this bookmyself, but I only read it once since the concepts are so simple. There areprobably better beginner books which go into more detail, but I can't nameany. I would probably recommend those more than this, however. ... Read more

Product Description
This Special Edition provides beginning programmers with a helpful format that simplifies the programming learning experience.

• Presents short chapters that illustrate quick learning progress-even through complex topics
• Open and friendly style makes extensive use of icons and illustrations to present technical material in an easy-to-read manner
• Coverage includes an introduction to QBasic language elements, as well as advanced topics such as data structures, subroutines and functions, and disk file processing

Customer Reviews (23)

Worth Purchase
I purchased this product expecting to get it one day, and got it before hand.Book for school, much cheaper than buying it on campus.Always worth the on line purchase.Highly satisfied with book quality (as advertised and expected).Would definitely add this buyer to my favorites list for future purchases.

Book for starters
The book is for starters, those who have never programmed before. I wanted to program Microchip PICs and I wanted to do it in Basic. So I decided to learn Basic first and I did that with this book. I can now program PICs at ease. I feel that I have good background in Basic and that I could move easily onto Visual Basic if need be. To master higher level math you need to have a solid background in math's basics, same is with programming. QBasic and this book sure provides starting point.

review
The math book was in great shape and my daughter is using it in her school work.The book arrived in a timely manor and the cost of the book was less than it would has cost me at her school.

Outdated book, but valuable for some uses
The book itself is the "learn by programming" which works for some people and not for others. The others is mainly looking for answers for there problem which this bokk probably will not give you. However if you are inituative and can see outside the box you learn a lot of programming from the book and it is from the most basic to advanced topics included. The book is totally outdated since qbasic is replaced by visual basic. I however find it useful when I use an old scrapped PC which I build over to control units for all and everything, from alarmsystems to ROV control, even industrial control systems. Is it for the hobbyist... No not anymore, but for those few who still uses DOS machines it is a great tool

A Remarable Book For Young Teens.
Greg Perry makes learning in this edition easy, and very enjoyable for people who want to learn qbasic. Even today there are many people that use the language, especially young teens.

The latest compiler has taken on a new image and GUI from a third party software vendor written for windows, if your not using the program that was provided with MS-DOS and windows 3.1 many years ago. Greg's book clips away functions and keywords that you will learn directly in qbasic. Each chapter takes you through a series of techniques that are common among all computer languages; things such as loops, data sorting, printing, and graphics.

One very good aspect of the book I like is that you can skip to chapters that describe keywords, and use them quickly, without any real knowledge of the language. The general layout in book is pretty good too.All the block print for programming is highlighted in blue, which clearly defines many short lessonsthroughout the chapters, and the rest of the book.

If you never programmed before, I would recommend this language, along with Greg's book. I've read and learned programming from titles in C/C++, but qbasic is a real delight. It's not all that difficult, and the syntax is very sparse, unlike C, where the scope of it's variables can go out of range. Semi-colons play a big part in C too, which adds fustration for most people.

The keywords are just like the english language with symbols, which anyone can learn very quickly. In just a few short hours, you can have a full color application up and running with greg's book, it's a truely remarkable presentation in learning to program. If you desire programming with windows, then qbasic will prepare you for Visual Basic which is known for rapid application development, and is gaining popularity around the world. ... Read more

Product Description
REALbasic makes it possible to create full-featured Mac OS and Windows applications. This book/CD-ROM package enables you to learn to program in REALbasic by creating applications instead of reading chapter after chapter on programming topics. You'll focus on developing complete, self-contained projects beginning with an explanation of the concepts and followed by the complete source code. The applications from each chapter can be used immediately, so the rewards of learning are quick and extensive.

KEY FEATURES

* Learn to program in REALbasic while creating projects such as an MP3 player, compression techniques, games, screensavers, and a word processor

* Includes material on third party tools and applications used with REALbasic

* CD-ROM is loaded with source code and projects, and includes the REALbasic 4.5 trial versions (Classic and OS X) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

Not "The" book for beginners , but a good one none the less
I used to program on a trs-80 as a kid, so anything in terms of visual programing like this seems like science fiction at times. I liked this book, it shows how to flex SOME of the muscle of the RealBasic engine in smart and informative ways. I would say the cover price is a little much. That's why used book stores do business with Amazon. If you are new to RealBasic, I would say get the book, but not for $40.

REAL-lotta-errors in this book
REALbasic is a good introductory language that lets you create programs on one platform for multiple platforms. This book, "Learning REALbasic Through Applications" is filled with typos and errors that makes it useless and frustrating for a real beginner. I helped my son through all of the chapters and exercises in this book but we were only able to do it because I already am a programmer and already know REALbasic.

The author, Clayton E. Crooks, is a crook, no doubt, because he asks for money without having done a job of proofing the book or even testing his example code. It reads like he rushed to write the whole book in a sitting and never bothered to actually run the code in the projects or examples from the pages of the book. The result is the code is filled with errors as given and horribly frustrating for the student.

As to the projects he gives, a few of them are interesting but a lot of them are trivially boring. My son was very disappointed with the depth of the projects. They were all extremely short, which makes the large numbers of errors in the code even less excusable. My solution was to expand on each chapter with interesting additions but Mr. Crooks really should have done that in the book. At the very least, in the end of each chapter he should have made suggestions for further activities.

My son and I both found this book to be very disappointing. I got it on sale for $5 and it still felt like a rip-off. The original price of $41.95 is outragious for such a piece of junk.

Not worth the Paper its printed on
This book is poorly written. It is hard to follow along and reproduce the examples. Worse still, some examples do not work as shown. Plus, the book is way out of date. Save your money.... and find yourself another RB book.

This Is a Good Book For Absolute Beginners
If you are brand new to programming, then this is a good book to start with.Think of this book as a RealBasic product brochure with examples.Working through the chapters gives you a quick survey of the kinds of things you can do with RealBasic, and it teaches you the RealBasic programming approach.Once you have worked some of the examples, you will find that you will start having your own ideas for building new programs.If you get a little more serious, then pick up Matt Neuburg's book and look closely at the documentation that RealBasic provides along with the program.The RealBasic tutorials may seem tedious, but they really are excellent for learning the basics of RealBasic programming.

Reading some of the other reviews here would make me think that this book is a lemon.Not so.It has it's place for the beginning programmer, or someone who wants a fast survey of RealBasic.It's not very detailed.It won't help you very much if you want to go beyond the examples, but that's what Matt Neuburg's book and the included language reference are for.

Should be called: REALbad throughout
Out of curiousity, I read through enough of this book in Borders to see that it's in right in line with the [lack of] quality I expect from Charles River Media. Anyone who's mistakenly purchased any book from this publisher already knows what a waste of trees their books are, and now so do you. I give this 1 star because the pull-down menu doesn't have an option for no star at all.

If you're already a crack programmer in some language (any at all), get Matt Neuburg's book (O'Reilly). If you're more of a novice to application programming, start with Erick's For Dummies book. ... Read more

Product Description
Contemporary in approach and highly accessible novice programmers, this challenging guide uses QBASIC to help users learn the fundamentals of computer programming. Written from an engineering point-of-view, it requires no prior computer experience or knowledge of specific engineering principles. Offers focused discussions on what kinds of data computers can manipulate, how to organize those data, what kinds of operations the computer can carry out, and how to instruct the computer to do the right operations in the right order to accomplish a particular task. Presents clear explanations of all DOS concepts and commands with numerous examples, and contains case studies to highlight the important applications of programming concepts and techniques. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Lots Of Good BASIC Programming Programs To Enter.
All the programs in the book are a really good help in learning BASIC programming for the first time and entering code. ... Read more

Product Description
QBasic Programming 101 teaches QBasic from a beginner's point of view. It provides step-by-step instructions on how to program in QBasic, with dozens of examples to show the reader how to utilize what is covered in the text. Provides complete coverage on the art of debugging. Features an active style of learning by having the reader write answers into the book. ... Read more

Product Description
Part of the highly successful Shelly Cashman Series, text teaches students how to design and write programs that will be error-free, reliable, and easy to modify. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Painfully boring, and introduces bad habits to boot...
Stay away!I used this in a course I took, but there has to be a better QBasic book out there than this one.

The positives:If you've done any BASIC programming before, you can probably skim a lot of the book instead of having to actually (try to) read it.

The negatives:This book makes programming confusing and even induces bad habits if you're going to be programming in other languages later (such as Visual Basic).Many variable names use dots (such as Pay.Rate$), which will make it confusing when you get to Visual Basic and find that dots mean something else entirely.The variables also use the obsolete symbols for declaring variable type (such as $ for string and % for integer), and most variables are declared in-line rather than explicitly, which is a bad habit to get into.(It's not that the authors don't know Visual Basic, as there's a short intro to Visual Basic at the end of the book.Hence it's that much more puzzling why the book doesn't introduce programming habits that can carry forward into VB.)

Besides serious concerns like this, the simple fact is that this is an incredibly boring book.The color scheme is ugly; the layout is irritating.You can't read more than a paragraph or two without having to skip your eyes all over the place, as the text is constantly interrupted by tables and charts and illustrations and other such garbage.The book uses more different font types than a sixth-grader trying to spruce up his first term paper.Trying to go through one chapter can bring on a migraine.

If you have to learn QBasic, look for some other book; if you use this one, don't say I didn't warn you.(And if you're taking a course which uses this one, point out your concerns to the professor/instructor, as I plan to!) ... Read more

Product Description
QBasic in a logical, easy-to-follow format! This excellent tutorial will have readers performing advanced programming techniques such as drawing graphics and adding music in just a few short weeks.

• Features Q&A sections to help answer common questions users have about learning QBasic
• Includes a comprehensive glossary that provides definitions for key programming terms

Customer Reviews (6)

poorly laid out book
Asa teacher, you would not present material in the order that this book does.For example, math operators are not introduced until pg 83 and yet there are numerous examples in the previous pages that use the math operators.In another beginning programming example, the author uses a dice throwing program (p49)to illustrate how variables are used and created.Unfortunately, the INT and RND commands that he uses in the program are not explained until pages 477 and 471, respectively!!Unless you are already a QBASIC programmer you would not understand many of the illustrations in this book,and I think that the purpose of the book is to teach the user QBASIC programming from scratch.This book is obviously written by someone who has never taught before, or is a lousy teacher.I don't recommend this book to anyone who would like to learn QBASIC.I doubt that I will purchase any of the "SAMS Teach Yourself..." books in the future because I would be wary that they are not laid out logically.

Great step up book to the programming world of Q-Basic
This book, is great for even the most inexperianced programmers. Even with my background of other "basic" programming languages, this book put my knowledge over the top. My group, ordered this book, for anupcomming contest, and from the information, we will have the advantedge. Ireccomend this book to beginers and experts alike. This one is a must!

Good Book
I recently bought this book, and it is a big help! I would recommend this to an intermediate programmer, although it could be suitable for some beginners. It deals with the basics, strings, variables, data, graphics,and sound. If you're a QBasic programmer, you should probably buy it.

Teach Yourself QBasic in 21 Days ROCKS!
I could not put it down, it is a masterpiece of computer knowledge. I loved it so much, I actually finished in 20 days!!-L. Berzai

How I Became A QBasic Genius
I bought this book a little after it came out, and as I was reasding it I had the urge to program a text based RPG. I made the RPG in under 6 days. I got on the internet and sold the RPG and made a lot of money. It is sointouch. It gets straight to the point. Thanks Namir Clement Shammas. Yougave me mt 15 min. of fame. ... Read more

Product Description
Much of the publicity around .NET has focused on using .NET to build Web-based applications and Web services. Many developers, however, are using .NET to build traditional Windows-based applications. Microsoft has provided a package called Windows Forms, or WinForms, which makes the development of these apps easier and faster than ever. Chris Sells has written the definitive book to help experienced Microsoft developers master the use of this powerful toolkit. Based on the experience he has gained developing with and teaching WinForms for the last two year, he goes beyond other books currently on the market. Chris has a critically acclaimed writing style that allows him to keep the material concise and easy to follow. He concentrates on what you won't find in the documentation, giving developers the information they really need. While this book is basically similar to his book on WinForms for C# developers, Chris has brought in Visual Basic .NET expert Justin Gehtland to make sure that the style and content of this version are fully optimized for the needs and concerns of Visual Basic coders. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

This book is terrible, and every time I use it - I'm let down.
Chris Sells book on window forms programming is a huge let down.I kept hearing it was the defacto book on Winforms develpment; I bought the 1.1 version and the 2.0 versions.
After doing considerable 1.1 programming, and trying to use his book; I couldn't believe how terrible it was.

The section that is dedicated to data grids and data binding is all combined and co-mingled.It stops after it tells you how to populate a grid.With no discusion of how to access the data, use the data in a n-tier database update application, and with no hint as to validation of the data or an of the miriad of incidental programming tasks you MUST perform on a data grid.I have very seldom, if ever, have found what I needed in this book.

Please don't buy this book, and please don't recommend it to anyone.For 1.1 there is a much better book by Eric Brown, Windows Forms Programming C#, if you can get it.It took me months to get mine on Amazon - but it was worth the wait... I love it.

VB 6.0 Veteran Makes The Switch
I have been programming in Visual Basic 6.0 for over 7 years now. I have often thought of making the switch to [VB], but could never find the book that would help me make the transition. Sure I read all of the books I could find. It wasn't until I was surfing around Safari Books Online and I came across this book. I figured this was going to be another boring, hard to read technical book on Visual Basic programming. I almost passed over it, but then I thought, "No. I'll take a look." I had the book on my Safari bookshelf for a long time and I used it FREQUENTLY to answer questions that I had come up while learning [VB].

I just recently was able to obtain a hard copy of the book and I have it sitting here next to my computer. I can sure find the answers a lot faster in the hard copy. :-) And what I have discovered is that the information that Chris Sells gives in this book is good for any version of VB.NET. I'm looking forward to giving it a try when Visual Basic (..) 2005 comes out in November. Then we shall really put Chris to the test. LOL. Of course, he had better work on getting a revised edition out because there are a lot more new controls and features in 2005 that I want to see him cover so that I can upgrade my copy of his book to help with that as well.

Awesome Work Chris. Don't ever stop writing books. At least not as far as the Visual Basic (...) books are concerned. (...)

Seasoned in VB6 Prg. I was stuck with VB.NET until this book
I was a little frustrated with myself in trying to pick up .NET development.After all, I could code VB6 w/o effort, but I was struggling to find a book that would be more than a beginner's guide but that would help get me locked into solid .NET development using Winforms.Chris Sells', Windows Forms Programming in Visual Basic .NET, was the book I was looking for.From learning the basics of the new .NET Winforms, Controls, and IDE to more advanced concepts new to VB programmers such as inheritance, multithreading, and useful tips and hints, this book covers a great deal.I especially enjoyed the straightforward style of writing used in this book that avoided unnecessary commentary, rants, or other footnotes that many authors feel the need to add but that don't help much with learning the concepts at hand.This is a great book and I would highly recommend it both for the beginner and the experienced looking for a great presentation that will help in your quest to learn Smart Client development using VS.NET.

Wow
I must say, Chris Sells is the most enjoyable CS author i have ever read.This book was actually recommended by Carl Franklin of franklins.net and i must say that i haven't been happier.Chris communicates on levels that some of us rarley go.Chris starts off with here is console app, and then scales all the way up into windows apps, custom painting, printing, threading, etc.Chris you are one gifted author, and when .NET 2.0 comes out, i'll be the first to order your book.

A master work!
Should be considered *THE* reference for any Windows Forms developer for .NET. This book covers everything from intro material to details of threading and security, and covers it all well. Keep it nearby when developing. ... Read more

Product Description
This is the book that you want to read if you have knocked around VB 6 for a couple of years and you've decided to move up to .NET. ... For the target audience, technical books don't get much better than this.

— Dan Mabbutt, Visual Basic Guide on About.com

In Programming VB .NET: A Guide for Experienced Programmers, authors Gary Cornell and Jonathan Morrison carefully explain the exciting new features of Visual Basic .NET. Since VB .NET is, for all practical purposes, a whole new language even for the most experienced Visual Basic programmers, developers need to think differently about many familiar topics. Cornell and Morrison are there to help you with careful discussions of each topic.

All experienced programmers wishing to take advantage of the amazing new powers of VB .NET will benefit from this book's careful treatment of fundamental topics, including inheritance, interfaces, and exception handling, as well as all the powerful new features, such as stream-based I/O and true multithreading.

Cornell and Morrison write from the point of view of the experienced programmer, with constant references to the changes from earlier versions of VB. Developers learn how to use VB .NET for database programming through ADO.NET and web programming through ASP.NET. After reading Programming VB .NET: A Guide for Experienced Programmers, developers will have a firm grasp of the exciting new VB .NET language and its uses in creating powerful .NET applications.

Customer Reviews (23)

Will help you make the transition from VB6 to VB.NET
The book is primarily designed for experienced Visual Basic developers making the transition to VB.NET. However, it can also be appreciated by other experienced programmers regardless of their programming background.

The book begins with an introduction to the differences between VB.NET and VB. The next chapter introduces you to the new Visual Studio .NET integrated development environment (IDE). You will get a tour of the main windows, and learn how to compile and debug your VB.NET applications. Chapter three teaches the VB.NET syntax. You will learn the VB.NET expressions, operators, and program control flow. The next couple of chapters form the core of the book. These chapters cover object oriented programming and inheritance. VB.NET is the first truly object oriented programming version of VB, and a solid understanding of these new features is essential in taking full advantage of VB.NET's new powers.

The next few chapters go on the cover important topics such as, event handling, error handling, building user interfaces, input/output streams, and multithreading. The final two chapters give a brief introduction to database access with VB.NET using ADO.NET, and a brief overview of ASP.NET.

The book provides clear and complete coverage of all topics. It includes many real world code examples which help the reader to better understand all the concepts presented.

Good for the Beta but a little long in some chapters
This is a pretty-good book if you base it on the Beta. The chapters on OOP (Chapters 4 - Classes and Objects and 5 - Inheritance and Interfaces) are very long. Chapter 4, 5 and 6 (Event Handling and Delegates)form the heart of this book, but I would have broken them down into smaller chapters. The information in those chapters provide a good introduction to OOP. At times, I felt the authors were hard to follow and found myself re-reading several pages especially in Chapters 4 and 5. Overall this book probably is about 3 1/2 stars. I am hoping that in the next release of this book that the authors would follow their own advice and break the chapters down into smaller parts. ...

Well written and hard to put down
I bought this book and several others to prepare myself for the transition from VB6 to VB.NET.I wish they would have covered the disconnected datasets, ADO.NET and ASP.NET in more detail.I would have given it 5 stars if it had.

Other than that, I feel that it is an excellent resource to prepare a programmer from any background for VS.NET.It does a good job of covering the OOP, Inheritance, Overloading, and multithreading subjects in a concise manner.

The book also has a web site for errata and source code.Gary Cornell is a good author and it shows in this book he co-authored.

I have a few Wrox Publishing Books, but my library is starting to collect more an more APRESS books because their style and format is what I expect from a book.

Wrox does publish some good books also:
I would also recommend .NET Enterprise Development in VB.NET from Design to Deployment, ISBN 1861006179, (Wrox Publishers)

Misleading title
This book simply doesn't have enough information to be named "a guide for EXPERIENCED programmer". It is rather a quick overallintroductions. So don't get this book if you need to get some serious work done.

A wonderful book, clear and to the point
Of all the books I bought to learn VB NET, this is the one I find myself turning to repeatedly for information on object oriented programming. The author' treatment of inheritance and delegates/events are models of clarity.I also found his treatment of mutithreading to be clearer and far easier to understand than the new Wrox book which was supossedly devoted to threading. If you want a book on the VB NET language you can't do any better than this one! ... Read more

Product Description

Beginning Object-Oriented Programming with Visual Basic .NET 2.0 is a comprehensive resource of correct coding procedures. Author Dan Clark takes you through all the stages of a programming project, including analysis, modeling, and development, all using object-oriented programming techniques and VB .NET.

Customer Reviews (6)

Highly Recommend this vb.net oop book
If you are not real OOP developer, you have to read this book.
The author explains many oop knowledge clearly and easily to understand.
This is the only book that really combine oop theory and ve.net. The important thing is you can understand it and you can do it.
I try to contact the aurhor to know the next step book what I need to read.

A gem!
I thought the first 4 chapters were boring, but in fact the idea was to build your skill before you code the application! This book was written in a way that readers should already be familiar with OOP terminologies because it does not go into detailed explanation like those for dummies books do.Instead, it shows you how to analyze a problem, draw the diagrams and design the application! This is so far the best book i've read about object-oriented programming using VB, toppling Deb Kurata's or Alistaire Mcmonnies' books on my list. This book will teach you how to do UML/USE CASE so you can design a robust application. This is not a beginner's book on object oriented VB. I've had some knowledge in Java object programming and I know a little of object programming, but reading this book the first time has confused me as the author seemed to have tried to squeeze the discussions in short chapters and programming codes are not explained well, delving right into OOP design and techniques. As the author mentioned in the book, he doesn't know the skill level of a 'beginner', so he added some short intro to programming at the back of the book (Appendix A), so I believe the audience of this book are those 'beginners' to OOP but not to programming. I applaud Dan Clark for the way he laid out the teaching concept of this book, and how I wish he would follow this up with an advanced book with lots of case studies and applications starting from analysis to coding again. Highly recommended!

Book in very good condition
This book is in very good condition.Shipping very fast.Overall I'm very satisfied with my purchase.

I thought I got the shaft, but then discovered the gold.
I performed some programming in Visual Basic 6 a few years ago and then my job was changed so that I was maintaining a Unix program for a few years, which entailed putting fires out each day and very little programming of any type.A few months ago I was fortunate enough to get transferred to a great job programming web sites and some Windows applications. I've been able to write some fairly complex programs, but I knew I was missing some large piece of the puzzle. I'm really a novice programmer.I wasn't creating classes and I wasn't doing a lot of things that were efficient.If my programs needed to do more or scale, they were very difficult to adjust.During these months I've purchased a lot of books, and they had good stuff in them, but I still wasn't able to put things together.I would see things like "WithEvents" and ask what was that for.I had to do some threading and succeeded, but only by trial and error and I didn't understand the "why" of why it worked. For that matter, there was a lot that I didn't understand the "why" about.

I then thought that, even though I was using objects, that I didn't really understand object-orientated programming enough.I looked on some User Group sites and saw this book listed as a good one.

I held high hopes for this book. It's my first book from Apress.I started reading the first 4 chapters, which were on how to design and plan an OOP program.I'm convinced his information is important but ugh!It was horribly boring!I was mostly through the 2nd chapter when I thought I'd committ suicide .I had to quit reading chapters 2-4 and tell myself I'll get back to that later.Yes, it's that boring.It's worse than hearing your girlfriend talk for hours about makeup and dresses!So I skipped to Chapter 5 which gave basic instructions on using Visual Studio.I thought, "Why put this beginner's crap in this book".If you need to know the basics of VS, then get a beginner's book on VS. It shouldn't have been here.
By this time I'm thinking I bought a book of garbage.But I went on to Chapter 6, and I'm glad I did.It finally got to the point and started talking about OOP and classes, constructors, overloading - and I was getting some of the elusive "why" explained!Chapter 7 got into inheritance, derived classes, overriding and overloading, etc with more of the "why".Chapter 8 got into the stuff like "WithEvents" and delegates, and how delegates work with threading.You will need to use threading and you will see "why".In geekspeak, threading is cool!Chapter 9 shows how to work with Collections (arrays, dictionaries, etc).This chapter didn't explain much "why" but when I need Collections there is enough to be able to implement them. Chapter 10 starts explaining some "why" regarding databases, such as connected versus disconnected data access.The examples use SQL Server.Chapter 11 looks at forms in a different light from other books, looking at them as objects instead of just sticking controls on them, and works with using databases more.

Now I feel better about going back to the first 4 boring chapters as I will now have something to build with.

To a complete beginner, I would say to first get a basic VB.NET beginner's book and get familair with VB and Visual Studio. If this is your very first book you will be very lost.The book is made for a novice.

This book is one of the most important I have read.I am making progress very quickly over the last week or two, while previously I sputtered for several months.I've tried to convey how I felt, and if you feel similar, you must get this book.

Not exactly Like the title says
I have to admit, has some interesting stuff and information on how to make the theory of Classes to Programs, but I can not agree that is novice to professional, in my opinion I would say just novice.

Leaves many un-answered questions.

But can work as a reference. ... Read more

Product Description
Stressing good programming skills, this is intended for introductory programming courses using BASIC. It introduces the features of the language and includes an extensively revised chapter on graphics. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Good for Beginners
I would say that this book is good for beginners. It teaches the basics of programming using a simple programming language. It provides a solid foundation for any beginner programmer. ... Read more

Product Description
* This friendly, easy-to-use guide shows experienced Access users how to use
* VBA (Visual Basic for Applications) to build Access databases and applications, but also covers programming fundamentals for nonprogrammers
* Includes practical, ready-to-use VBA code examples that readers can type or copy and paste from the Web into their own database projects
* Explains basic VBA skills and concepts for nonprogrammers, such as procedures, variables, and loops
* Covers more advanced topics, such as record sets and other programming activities that are unique to Access programming
* Author has written more than ninety computer books and has been working with databases since the early 1980s ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Access VBA for Dummies Review
The book is an easy read. It can be used as a starting guide for beginners or even a reference book for a little more experienced users. It can be read in full or in pieces, it is a great reference to have on hand while beginning and continuing projects. No complaints. I only wish there were some exercises in the book to go through.

Great if you stick with it
Have used Excel for a number of years but never knew how to do a macro.Then started an application where a program might make the job easier.Had done Fortran programming years ago and hoped Excel macros could do the same thing.Well it can - arrays, "do" loops, if/then, subrutines etc.This book required careful reading and review.It takes time to get thru the material so that you feel you can really write a program (macro).But thru examples and entering programs yourself, you slowly get the hang of it.There remain times when I wish I could ask a real question.Lacking that, trial and error and Excel help let you muscle thru the process.I would recommend this book to anyone with a bit of a programming background and a real desire to get something programmed.You begin to write macros very early in the reading process.It just takes time to get to the point where you've learned enough to apply it to your particular problem.Good news, in the end, you will learn a good deal about macro programming.Once you've done one, the door is opened for more.

Good overall, though not perfect.
"Access VBA Programming for Dummies" definitely helped me in breaking into the world of Access VBA programming.The first half is especially good at explaning things in such a way that most anyone with a basic level of understanding of Access could benefit.I did run into some problems with some of the code which I used as templates for my database project, however.The solution I found suggested that the book should be using the '&' sign for combinations rather than the '+' sign, which appears to cause problems in some situations.Thus, it seems to have some mistakes in it.

Takes Work to Use Example Code
This book has lots of code snippets, but so many of them are out of context of actual usage (within class and standard modules) that the beginner is really left to READING about things rather than trying them. This is a mistake on the part of the Dummy editors. The authors need to give the beginning Dummy the ability to play with the code. It does no good to explain controls and then not provide the code to create the form or even provide the form for the reader to play with and practice. There are some sample files included, but they are far from useful and don't even follow the book. For example, the Chapter 6 Sales Tax form isn't included. I'd look for a book that gave you more examples for practice. Failing that, it's not a BAD book; it may take another book or two used along with this book which really defeats the concept of a Dummy book. Dummys need practice, not reading material.

Visual Basic Even I Can Understand
I love the Dummies books. They're clear, fun, and make great reference books. This one is no exception. If you're trying to learn VBA, I highly recommend this book. ... Read more