Product Description
Building on the success of PROGRAMMING MICROSOFT VISUAL BASIC 6.0, this core reference equips new and veteran developers with instruction and code to get them up to speed with the Web-enabled Microsoft Visual Basic .NET environment. The book demonstrates best practices for porting and reusing existing Visual Basic code in the Microsoft .NET environment, as well as exploiting the object-oriented capabilities of the new version. The book includes a CD-ROM full of code samples in Visual Basic .NET plus the complete text of PROGRAMMING MICROSOFT VISUAL BASIC 6.0 for reference and comparison.Amazon.com Review
Useful for VB developers of all levels, Programming Microsoft Visual Basic .NET offers a massive and comprehensive guide to the new VB .NET. While concentrating on "traditional" programming techniques brought up to speed with .NET, this book also covers essential Web development, making it a solid choice for those making the leap from VB 6.

The sheer size of this volume is its obvious distinguishing feature. Weighing in at over 1,600 pages, it's easily one of the largest programming books ever published. The scope of coverage here is wide-ranging and comprehensive. The author first presents a basic language-based tutorial of the new VB .NET, highlighting basic keywords, data types, and new class design features like inheritance, delegates, and events.

Patient, thorough coverage and plenty of short code examples are the guiding principles here. The tour of object-oriented features in VB .NET is among the best that you can find. Coverage of built-in .NET support for strings, math, date/time, and file I/O classes (and the like) will help you master these essential APIs. At many points, the author highlights what's new and different from VB 6. There's plenty of coverage of "traditional" VB applications, including the new Windows Forms, database programming with ADO.NET, and Win32 support including programming the Windows registry, MDI, graphics programming (with GDI+), Windows services, and the like. Later sections look at deploying VB .NET applications in assemblies.

Only in its final sections does this text turn toward ASP.NET and the Internet, with several solid chapters on essential Web Forms and new features like caching, configuration, and basic Web development techniques. By centering on essential VB .NET language features first and then covering a wide spectrum of programming APIs, this book offers a winning choice for anyone with previous VB experience who wants to work effectively with the new VB .NET. With its extremely rich range of topics, all backed up with plenty of code excerpts, this title offers a nearly unbeatable one-volume reference on what's inside the new Visual Basic .NET. --Richard Dragan ... Read more

Customer Reviews (83)

Great book, with tons of valuable technical info. A+/5 Stars
I'm a fairly new programmer and this is only my second book on computer programming and it is a great find for me. Keep in mind that it is large (1,400+ pages) and this is not the book for someone who's never progammed before or has very little programming experience or computer knowledge. I've only read one programming book before this one but I wouldn't understand A LOT of the topics in this book if I didn't spend hours reading about computer systems in general because he does get pretty technical in this book. But this book was a godsend for me. For example, I spent 2 hours one night trying to find a simple answer through the Visual Studio MSDN documentation and couldn't find an answer so I gave up that night. Well, within 5 minutes(literally) of receiving this book I had my answer and a program up and running the way that I wanted it to. But this book is a must for any Visual Basic programmer.

Great Book!
This book has alot of useful information especially if you are just starting to use VB.Net

My Favorite
My favorite.Well written, understandable, to the point and easy to read.Read sequentially or use as a reference.Covers pretty much everything you need to know.

I prefer referring to his sections on ADO.NET (200 pages) and ASP.NET (330 pages) to using other books on these topics.

A big book that will impress your peers.Can be used for bicep curls and tricep extensions in a pinch.

If this is representative of Francesco Balena's work then I recommend anything he writes.

A Definitive Resource
When compared to other books on the subject, even those in the same MSPress series, this book is unmatched.The depth and quality of information is astounding.

Many programming books spend 500+ pages on basic concepts, fail to establish a foundation of knowledge and leave you in a position that prevents you from exploiting the technology.In many cases, you have read 500+ pages and have learned how to make a clock or a simple card game.Not so with this book.

It is obvious that the author is well versed with every nuance of .NET, as he goes deeper than any other source, while keeping his explanations clear and understandable.Every explanation is concise and useful.

Though the author clearly warns that this book is not for beginners, I have chosen to use it to start from the ground up.Surprisingly, his style has allowed me to understand nearly every concept, and will likely allow me to accelerate my proficiency well beyond my experience.

The author claims that the scope and size of this book could have been separated into several books.I could not agree more.This speaks to the dedication of the author to provide more than a text of useless fillers.Each one of the 1,400+ pages provides useful information.A comment in the Forward suggests that this massive book be read from beginning to end.Though I scoffed at such a challenge, I have found myself doing just that.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to understand Visual Basic .NET.

This book easily ranks #1 on my all-time favorites list.

Excellent
This book and .NET XML Web Services Step by Step by Adam Freeman and Allen Jones have answered virtually all of my questions about building production distributed database applications using XML Web services.If you're interested, you can download a sample of my working code at www.opointe.com ... Read more

Product Description
Explains how to build functional client/server database systems using VB/ADO/SQL-Server/MSDE. This book is an introduction to ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) database library and to the various database productivity tools integrated into Visual Basic. ... Read more

Product Description
This book will help you acquire solid knowledge and many practical hands-on programming skills. It is intended for beginners. The selection of topics is designed to help you learn the fundamentals of Visual Basic .NET programming and Visual Studio .NET development tools. You will learn how to design graphical user interface and program Windows Forms; understand Visual Basic .NET data types and variables; how to use ADO .NET components to program application data access; analyze application error types and ways to prevent them; and how to use Visual Studio to debug applications. Visual Basic .NET is an object-oriented language, thus it is important to understand its concepts. This book provides simple descriptions and explanations of the main object-oriented concepts and their practical uses. Once you have designed and tested a project, you need to know how to install and deploy it on the end user machines. This book shows you how to create setup projects and publish the application using the ClickOnce technology. Each chapter in this book is accompanied by a relevant lab project that will allow you to consolidate your knowledge and practice your new skills. If you are looking for a self-paced Visual Basic .NET fundamentals training course, this is it. When you buy this book you can download lab projects and register for online Visual C#, VB Net programming seminars. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Great book for beginners
I think it's a great book for beginners. In the first three chapters it presents a very detailed explanation of how to use Visual Studio development and navigation tools and gives many code examples. Then the author does a great job explaining VB NET data types and variable creation, which is especially important for beginners.A few large chapters are devoted to application errors and debugging techniques. Here the author explains how to debug applications and prevent coding errors and walks you through each debugging technique. All object-oriented concepts are explained very clearly and with multiple code examples. In the final chapters setup and ClickOnce installation technologies are covered. Overall the book covers all the most fundamental programming topics. I believe that the lab projects attached to each chapter greatly increase the value of the book and make it an excellent self-training course.

Self-training course for beginners
I am a beginner in Visual Basic .NET and was looking for a book for beginners. When I read this book or do lab projects there is nothing left to guess or search in other sources. That's what I like about this book and also a very clear and simple writing style. Another positive feature is that there are plenty of code examples for each and every topic. But the best thing about this book is the lab projects that show step by step how to build the user interface and how to write code and even how to test and debug the application. I definitely recommend this book as a self-training course for beginners. ... Read more

Product Description
The author team of Julia Bradley and Anita Millspaugh remain the guiding light in programming with Visual Basic .NET for countless students around the world. How better to master the most popular programming language than to use the bestselling textbook? To be at the cutting edge of technology start with specific Learning Objectives in themed Case Studies and move on to practice with Programming Skills, Exercises, and Examples. Combine screen captures, step-by-step exercises, and thorough appendices and you can ensure that programming excellence begins here. This textbook is intended for use in an introductory programming course, which assumes no prior knowledge of computer programming. The later chapters are also appropriate for professional programmers who are learning a new language to upgrade their skills. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

Good book for newcomers to Visual Basic
I had to purchase this book for my Visual Basic programming course. It's a good book with lots of examples, and problems and exercises to work through that should help with student comprehension.

If your instructor puts this book down on the syllabus, it's a great classroom book.

Programming in visual Basic 2005
Programming in Visual Basic.NET 2005 2005
I just bought this book based on recommendation from my college tutor.A good tutor will always recomend a good text book.I just studied some chapters of this book and to the best of knowledge, I can say it's very EXCELLENT for any one thinking of starting out at learning VB.Net Programming.I have tried my hands on couples of books but I can say this book stands out.Its very simple to follow, with clear instructions, and step by step guides.
Thomas (Dublin Ireland)

delighted experience
I have ordered couple item from amazon website and I always get the right item as advertised on the internet. Delivery is very good timing. Recommend this website to everyone.

I have return this book
How long does it take for me to get refund? I havent received any refund yet from the time i returned it.
-Gempanix-

Bad...Very bad
Without the fact that you have to re-write code over the authors to even get some of the "example" projects to work, ("example" projects meaning that they write all of the code and you basically copy it to gain a better understanding of how it all fits together) after chapter one you are expected to be a wizard programmer that needs only hints as to the hows and whys of the functions discussed in the later chapters.The hows and whys are described but in a disjointed fashion and badly explained throughout the book.The chapter on Arrays is horrible and made more sad by the fact that nearly every program a professional programmer will write will have complex Arrays inside of it.My college will no longer be using this book as of next semester thanks to students like me and an overall poor GPA for the programming class.Bottom line....Buy this book at your own risk.There are much better ones out there. ... Read more

Product Description
Sams Teach Yourself Database Programming with Visual Basic 6 in 21 Days is a tutorial that allows you to learn about working with databases in a set amount of time. The book presents you with a step-by-step approach to learning what can be a critical topic for developing applications. Each week will focus on a different aspect of database programming with Visual Basic. Some of the topics covered are data controls, programming with the Microsoft Jet Engine, and programming with the ODBC Interface and SQL. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (16)

Good Reference Book
This was a good reference book. Especially for the money. I find it helpful to have 2-3 ref. books per language for review in case I need them. Amazon does an awesome job supplying thses type of books at a low price.

Database programming with Visual Basic 6
This book promises much, but delivers little. Both the book and the examples from the CD are so full of errors that it is more of an example in frustration than learning. It is nothing more than a usless piece of garbage

Everything Yet Nothing
This is neither a book for people who know nothing about database programming, nor is it a book for experienced programmers. Not sure where it's placed.

For beginners it's very difficult to figure out what the author is saying about DAO, RDO, ADO. This is exponentially exacerbated by the fact that MSFT seems to change its mind about the standard each time they bring out a new version of Access.

MSFT seems now to have settled on ADO as the standard, so with the bulk of this book focussing on DAO, it's not worth getting. But in reviewing, we must remember that this book was written way back in 1998 - an aeon in programming.

I found the line numbering style reminiscent of the early days of DOS BASIC when every manufacturer had their own version.Ah, the days of my old Spectravideo.

Not a good book.
Although the book covers most of the topics associated with VB and database programming, it is riddled with grammatical errors. The source code listed in the book has errors. You will have to decipher before trying to make sense what the author is trying to explain.

Superb book but you must be a fluent VB programmer.
This is an excellent introduction to using the power of Microsoft's Jet database engine in VB programs. It covers all the basics and provides example coding throughout. Having worked my way through most of it, I can write powerful database programs easily and quickly, in a fraction of time and using a fraction of the code demanded by VB to achieve the same results. I can even understand those dreadful Microsoft Jet Database Help Screens now!!!!!! I recommend the book to experienced VB programmers.

The book is not a 'VB programming for beginners' publication - you need to understand VB before using it. The sample code is full of errors that only an experienced VB user can detect and correct. The authour insists on using the Visdata utility to create SQL commands but does not make clear how to translate these into VB code; a VB beginner would be hopelessly confused and not understand the power and flexibility of this command. Readers also need to understand the concept of relational databases. ... Read more

Product Description
The Win32 API, or Application Programming Interface, allows Visual Basic programmers far greater access to the inner workings of the Windows operating system without having to suffer through the steep learning curve associated with Visual C++ style Windows programming.The book is designed for users with an intermediate-level (or higher) knowledge of Visual Basic version 4 or later and a desire to stretch VB into the realm of Windows system programming. Users do not need to have any background in Visual C++, nor do they need to haveany previous experience with the Win32 API.This book helps VB programmers eliminate the trial and error process that is usually associated with calling the Win32 API from Visual Basic. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

BEWARE OF ORDERING THIS THROUGH AMAZON
I would beware of ordering this through Amazon. I have had to return this book after several attempts of getting the order right. They keep sending me the book without the CD-Rom.. yet the cover and their site states one is included.

Great book for starters
This book in no way is a reference book or a how-to book. This book is designed for people who don't have previous knowledge about windows architecture and windows API.

I find this book as a fantastic tool since it gives me initiative and direction to understand the overall picture. I can use the knowledge that I gained in this book and know what I can do with win32 API. I also purchased the dan appleman's book for win32 api which consists of more examples and it is more a reference book .

If you have not programmed in win32 before --> this is the book for you.

Meticulous survey of ALL Intricacies of WIN32 forVB
This is a very hard book (for VB programmer with no C experience) BY NECESSITY.
Normally, you would like the programming book to have some explanation and plenty of code examples. In the case of Win32 API
for VB programmer, once you get all the intricacies, you just need to find the API function from API viewer applet that comes with Visual Studio.
Why is the book hard by necessity?
C and VB have enough differences (e.g. variable type size differences, signed and unsigned type differences etc) to make the interoperability of languages difficult. Add to this the complexity of the Windows architecture itself and C + VB + WIN32
becomes much more complex, than just C + Win32, which makes me wonder, why use VB at all, if you are planning to make an extensive use of WIN32. Much easier to code in C or C++!
Back to the book.
It does excellent job explaining C + VB + Win32 API interaction
thoroughly. He leaves no stone unturned. If you absorb the book cover to cover, you can consider yourself guru in the area.
You want need anything else than API function declarations.
In short, this is a book for ONLY DEDICATED, serious programmer, intending not just to spice up his code with occasional API calls, but ending up with FULL UNDERSTANDING OF ALL ISSUES.

Not another great book from O'Reilly...
First, this seems like mostly a C book, not a VB book as the title implies.Sure, the C structures and function call variables are usually provided w/translations (but not always!).And there is a whole chapter on VB strings.But I got the impression the author doesn't know a ton about VB and why a VB programmer might want/need to concern himself with the API function calls.This didn't phase me a ton because I know C, but I thought a lot of the text wasn't much about VB at all.

First-and-a-half, the author is running Windows NT, so if you're like me and on Win 95/98 you may at times feel like you're being left out.He does go to some lengths to compare and point out the differences between the two OS's, but (again) I felt like he was a C/NT programmer rather than a VB/9x programmer.

Second, even though the intro says its for both VB5 and VB6, I use the former and couldn't get the crucial examples on the CD to run without first hunting down and finding the needed DLL's on the I-Net one-by-one.This was a tedious process because after a program would clear past one error message on startup it'd hit the next one.And so on.This was a huge hassle.It probably didn't help that the one bad spot on my CD was the dll.readme file (maybe all this was pointed out in there) -- I probably should have taken the book back, but then I would have had to wait for them to order another one and for it to come in, go back a third time to get it, etc...

Third, the book is not any sort of complete reference to the API functions.Some of the chapters only mention a couple of the functions relevant to the topic, or at least give you the feeling there's more out there that you might want to know about.The functions that are mentioned sometimes only have one or two of their parameters explained (as if the others don't matter).So if you're looking for an API reference book, this probably isn't it.

At least most of the typos in the book can be found at O'Reilly's website, though a careful reader can find a couple that haven't been flagged.

I expected a better book.At least the writing is clear.

Dated, but good
This book focuses on the Win32 API from a WinNT/9x standpoint, highlighting the differences between the two in a clear and concise way. If you are doing development on a Win2K box, however, then this book is probably not the best resource. The sections on the differences between WinNT and Win9x are largely irrelevant now, but the book is still a good resource for understanding how Windows works behind the scenes. If this book is updated to include current information, I would definately buy it again. ... Read more

Product Description
Visual Basic .NET Programming With Peter Aitken uses a logical and understandable approach aimed at beginner and intermediate level programmers.A revised and updated edition of the successful Visual Basic 6 Programming Blue Book, this book covers all of the fundamental programming tools plus advanced programming with subclassing, and new Web, multimedia, and object-oriented features.Presenting a 3-tier approach to database programming, the book also walks the reader through creation of three databases ranging in complexity.The companion CD-ROM contains source code for the book's projects as well as shareware, freeware, and demo programs. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Better late than never!
I can't believe that I'm actually the first to rate this book! I have a copy of this book and it is only now that I got the time to create a review. The topic on reading XML is quite good and its the technique I employed when reading XML files here at work, although basic, it gets the job done! So many info can be found in thisbook and the way the topics are written will get you to speed in programming VB.net. Highly recommended and i'm still waiting for a 2005 or 2008 version of this book from Mr. Aitken. For beginner to intermediate VB programmers. ... 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 text teaches students the skills and commands necessary to work comfortably in Visual Basic. It includes hands-on laboratory exercises and team projects that encourage learning by experimentation and help students develop an intuitive understanding of the subject. No prior programming experience is necessary, and the material is introduced in a logical progression that provides reinforcement with review questions. ... Read more

Product Description

As you work your way through An Introduction to Object-Oriented Programming with Visual Basic .NET, you'll learn how to analyze the business requirements of an application, model the objects and relationships involved in the solution design and, finally, implement the solution using Visual Basic .NET. Along the way you'll also learn the fundamentals of software design, the Unified Modeling Language (UML), object-oriented programming, and Visual Basic .NET.

An Introduction to Object-Oriented Programming with Visual Basic .NET is logically organized into three parts.

• Part One delves into object-oriented programming methodology and design, concepts that transcend a particular programming language. The concepts presented are important to the success of an object-oriented programming solution regardless of the implementation language chosen. At the conclusion of this part, a case study walks you through the design of a solution based on a real-world scenario.

• Part Two looks at how object-oriented programming is implemented in Visual Basic .NET. You will explore the structure of classes, class hierarchies, inheritance, and interfaces. The .NET Framework is introduced along with the Visual Studio integrated development environment (IDE).

• Part Three returns to the case study introduced at the end of Part One. Using the knowledge gained in Part Two, programmers will transform the design into a functional VB .NET application. The application includes a graphical user interface, a business logic class library, and integration with a back-end database.

Customer Reviews (7)

This Book is Excellent!!!
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.

This book is full of errors.
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.

A Great Starter!
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;)

Clear, concise introduction to OOP and VB.Net
This book is very well written. The material is organized well and the information is presented in easily digestable pieces.
The book gives anice 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.

An Intro to OOP with VB.Net
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. ... Read more

Product Description

The topic combination of VB .NET and ADO.NET is unbeatable.VB .NET is the most popular language in which to code.And, every developer needs to understand ADO.NET to allow data to be accessed from a Web site.In this book Developers will be shown numerouse code examples that will illustr4ate how to program database driven applications within the .NET Framework.The book is aimed at both established and new VB Developers.Important topics covered include: Visual Studio development environment, ASP.NET applications, Windows Forms application, using VB .NET with ADO.NET, complex queries, security, COM interop., and application deployment.

Customer Reviews (5)

Incomplete book
I just graduated from college and I am getting ready to start my new job as an analyst/programmer.I bought this book to help review and remember different techniques for visual basic.net.This book as some good examples, however, this book lacks the complete code to make different examples work.There are subroutines missing from examples as early as Chapter 1.This could be a valuable book if all the code was included.

Plagado de errores, los ejemplos no compilan.
Ninguno de los ejemplos compila, uno tiene que revisar los errores del compilador para corregirlos y poder ejecutar el programa.

Unicamente tiene recetas de cocina, uno sigue la receta, corrige los errores y el programa funciona, pero no explica en ninguna parte por qué se utilizó cuál o tal función o método.

No se recomienda en absoluto, es una perdida de tiempo y de dinero.

Good examples, but many errors
First of all, this book is not a reference.It is a book of samples and tutorials.It won't give you details about commands, objects or the nitty-gritty of why things work.It gives you examples of how to do things and only a very general discussion on how it works.It's up to you to learn the details from other sources.So you are best to purchase this with another more detailed reference that will give you the real low-down on ADO.NET.

Second and most troubling is that this book seems to be filled with errors.Some of their examples don't work.After following the steps in the book to the letter, your program won't run and you have to take time (sometimes minutes, sometimes hours) digging through other sources to figure out what this book didn't tell you so you can get things working.

This book answers many questions, but not all.Use it in conjunction with other materials.

Highly recommended
This book covers the material well, especially for those who are familiar with VB.NET and SQL Server as the book is "for the serious developer."There's very little of the book wasted on background material.Rather than getting bogged down in a lot of theoretical discussion, Barker dives right into examples, making the technical points as he illustrates the examples.

The material in the book flows well from a simple bound list example all the way to some complex Windows and Web examples.Throughout the book, the standard Northwind database is used.Essentially all of the code uses the generic OleDB approach so the code would work with either SQL Server or Access; Barker points out the few differences between using the two approaches.

The general approach in the book follows a format of stating a business problem, a Technique section where the approach is discussed, then a series of numbered Steps, a How It Works section that completes any necessary fine points and finally a Comments section for additional information.Scattered throughout are small Note and Tip sections with pencil & light bulb icons - many are real gems, not to be missed.

A great deal of ground is covered in its 500 pages - essentially all the information one would need to build a respectable Windows or Web based application.If you're looking for information to build a robust n-tier application, there are other books which explain how to split the code between the tiers, this book gives a good foundation for that.

I noticed only a few inconsequential typos.The book was a pleasure to go through and presents a broad and reasonably deep coverage of the subject material.

With numerous code examples
The topic combination of VB.NET and ADO.NET is unbeatable. VB.NET is the most popular language in which to code. And, every developer needs to understand ADO.NET to allow data to be accessed from a Web site. In Database Programming With Visual Basic .NET and ADO.NET: Tips, Tutorials, And Code, professional developers will be shown numerous code examples that will illustrate how to program database driven applications within the .NET Framework. Database Programming with Visual Basic .NET and ADO.NET is aimed at both established and new VB Developers. Important topics covered include: Visual Studio development environment, ASP.NET applications, Windows Forms application, using VB.NET with ADO.NET, complex queries, security, COM interop., and application deployment. User Level: Intermediate, 544 pages. ... Read more

Product Description
The first part of this book covers playing-field design, creating and moving objects using the Windows BitBlt API, detecting collisions, and adding sound, with example code given with each topic. Part 2 covers in-depth everything that game developers should know to create addicting action games. Part 3 contains several game projects. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (10)

awsome
i have not yet read the book but from what i have heard it sounds like it is just what i need to make my first vb project

Extremely basic primer for new Visual Basic programmers
I would recommend this book as an excellent introduction to Visual Basic.It covers a lot of fun subjects, including sprites, backgrounds, animation, sound effects, scrolling.But it is not at all advanced enough forseasoned programmers.Newcomers to Visual Basic might appreciate itscoverage of a few basic Windows API functions, but there are really nogeneral-purpose wrapper functions that are suitable for building a gamelibrary.Indeed, the book covered each subject separately, when it wouldhave been more useful to build upon previous subjects.As a result, I wasdisappointed to find at the end of the book there was no "gameprogramming library" like I expected.I really wanted a function togenerate the "mask" images for animating sprites, instead ofhaving to draw the masks manually.The book discussed this, but I couldnot find a good working example that I could use.However, building thelibrary in VB from all of the examples on the CD (the book covered 16-bitVB3) I was able to paste together a shoddy game library.All in all, greatintro to VB...poor coverage of game programming.

Excellent book (mainly for VB4.0)
When I first got this book, the latest edition of VB was 4.0.This book was anything and everything you could possibly need.Without this book, I would never know VB like I do today!!If you are planning on buying thisbook now and you are using a 32-Bit version of Windows, then you will needto change some of the lines of the API code, but otherwise this is anexcellent book!!

Buy It for yourself and for a beginning Friend!
Well, this is just about as good as they come.It gives code AND examples. One word describes this book: Perfect

Awsome!
This book is essential for any beginner to slightly advanced programmer! Everything about it was good.Don't Listen to others who say the code doesn't work, Yeah AFTER you add some gibberish to it it won't buteverything works and the book is GREAT ... Read more

Product Description
Start at square one with Visual Basic .net Programming. Visual Basic is a widely accepted programming language and is used for creating both stand-alone and Web-based applications. VB.net supports multi-threading that enables you to write applications that execute using separate threads and supports both structured and unstructured exception handling. This Absolute Beginner book is a fun approach to this difficult topic. You'll create games using VB.net as you learn the fundamentals of the language. The CD contains games and trial versions of Paint Shop Pro, Cool Edit 2000, DarkBASIC, BlitzsD, and more ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

This book is now obsolete.
Well, I bought this bought and quickly discovered that I was wasting my time and money.Microsoft has now introduced Visual Basic 2005 Express.You can download it free from Microsoft, along with some good documentation on learning.

At this point, there is no point in working on VB.Net.Go right to the newest (free) product for programming.

If you want a good book on Visual Basic 2005, try Michael Halvorson's Microsoft VisualBasic 2005 Step by Step.

But don't waste you money on this book...as I did.

Not for (any kind of) beginner
As several reviewers have pointed out, this is NOT a book for beginners to programming. It is NOT a book for beginners to Visual Basic programming. It is a book for Visual Basic programmers who want to learn about .NET programming. The book is not a bad introduction for programmers who want to learn Visual Basic .NET. The author should not have allowed the book to be published in this series. The title is false and misleading. I won't buy another book in the series nor another book by Jonathan Harbour.

microsoft visual basic.net programming for the absolute beginner
This book was terrible.I would use it better to start a camp fire or to burn the trash.
There is absolutely no way a beginner could get through this book and harvest any meaningful information to assist them in VBA use.
Do not buy this piece of crap!!!!!!!!!!!

Very limited applications
I am a beginner and believe me this book was not for me.If I only wanted to develop a tic tac toe game program then this book would be for me.It covers beginning topics but barely scratches the surface.It was useless for the applications I was wanting to learn and didn't even mention most of them.Spend a little more money and get a book that is about 20x thicker so you actually have the info necessary to complete a project.

Seen Worse, Found Better
I purchased this book based mainly on the reviews written here at Amazon.com.While I would not say I am dissapointed, I do think this book (and every other "beginners" book I have read) could be alot better.

This book starts off well enough giving pretty detailed information on what is going on and why, however, as soon as you think you are beginning to get a grasp on the material, the author seems to forget that you are a "beginner."About half way through the book, you begin to feel as though you are simply writing the code that is presented and not actually learning what is going on.

If you are more of a visual learner, as I am, I would suggest a membership to LearnVisualStudio.Net instead of purchasing any more books. (No, I am not affiliated with them) After only two days of watching videos from that site, I have learned more than I did reading the entire Microsoft Visual Basic .NET Programming for the Absolute Beginner book. ... Read more

Product Description
Accelerate your productivity with Microsoft Visual Basic .NET 2003 with guidance from a leading author and expert in the developer community. This definitive reference offers coverage that’s both broad and deep, fully up to date with Microsoft Visual Studio® .NET 2003 and Microsoft .NET Framework 1.1, and packed with expert insights, practical code samples, and best practices. Get the information you need to quickly create powerful Win32®–based applications and scalable solutions for the Web, including working with the common language runtime, multithreading, Windows® Forms applications, GDI+, Microsoft ADO.NET, Microsoft ASP.NET Web Forms, and XML Web services. Examine best practices for porting and reusing existing Visual Basic code in the .NET Framework, as well as exploiting the language’s advanced object-oriented capabilities. And extend your expertise with all-new coverage on Remoting, enterprise services and COM+, code access security, Web services extensions, and more—along with a wealth of optimization tips. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (28)

Just what I was looking for
I am an experienced developer but fairly new to VB.NET.This book is not for beginners but it is great for someone like myself who knows what they want to do and just wants some good examples and tips. It's a great reference book and a good alterative to Google. The English is clear and to the point. The book is a sturdy hardback and the pages are well laid out. It's easy to read afters hous of staring at a screen. To sum up, I'm glad that I brought it. It has saved me time and money and you can't ask for much more than that :-)

Great Book
There is a lot of information in this book, covering a broad range of subjects. It is well laid out and easy to reference. The CD comes with the current version of the book as well as the author's previous book on VB6. Not really a beginner's book as there are more intermediate and advanced topics. I had not used .NET and hadn't touched VB6 in a couple of years. I needed a resource to help jump from rusty VB6 skills to .NET - this book did it perfectly. It is also filled with advanced topics that I am not currently using but now know where to go when the need arrives.

Great quality
Fast service, great quality... What more can you ask for. I recommend this seller.

Great for all levels
I bought this book few years. It is an excelent source of information and writers style is very clear. I just came back to see if Balena has book for C# 2005. Looks like I found something. I am going get that one. However, present book is quite good, check if there is a newer release you may want to get that one.

Wonderful learning tool and reference
This was the first .NET book I purchased, and in many ways if I hadn't bought any others it would have been sufficient.It has thorough coverage of the .NET environment, with lucid code examples in VB.NET.I found the chapters on ADO.NET and the framework internals to be most useful to my job as an ASP.NET developer, but the coverage is deep enough that a person with very little programming experience could read this book and come away as a well-rounded .NET programmer.Even if you're writing in C#, as I am, the book is worth the money.I would also recommend Dino Esposito's Programming Microsoft ASP.NET for more depth if you're a web developer. ... Read more

Product Description
If you think that programming is only for gurus, take a look at Dummies 101: Visual Basic Programming. Follow the step-by-step instructions, and before you know it, you'll be using this popular language from Microsoft to create your own custom applications to customize interfaces of standard applications so that everyone in your organization can work more efficiently. Plus, on the book's bonus CD-ROM, you can find example files that you can examine, experiment with, and even adapt and use as the foundation for your own programs. With authors Wallace Wang and John Mueller as personal tutors, you can be a Visual Basic programming pro in no time. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Pretty Good Book for Programming
I read this book and it really helped me learn how to program in visual basic.If you don't believe me then go to your local library and check it out. That's what I did, and because I liked it so much I went out andbought. Although I have told you that I like it why should you believe me? This is why, I dislike reading books but when I read this I couldn't put itdown.After every fasinating page was another.As a result I am now avisual basic programmer. ... Read more

Product Description

Praise for The Visual Basic .NET Programming Language

“There is no substitute to getting the inside scoop directly from a book written by the father of a programming language such as Bjarne Stroustrup for C++, James Gosling for Java and Alan Cooper for the original version of Visual Basic. Paul Vick, the father of Visual Basic .NET, explains the whys and hows of this exciting new language better than any other human being on the planet.”

Topics covered: How to program in VB.NET, with emphasis on the core language itself rather than on any development environment or specialized API. Sections address basic and complex data types, operators, and exception handling. About half the book is a clear, example-driven explanation of object-orientation under VB.NET. An appendix deals with difference between the old Component Object Model (COM) and the new Common Language Runtime (CLR). ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

A Developer's View
I try this to be as honest as I can.


The Good:
You see less talk and more how VB.NET works.
The sample codes are usually good and clear.

Book tries to cover many topics on VB.NET.


The Bad:

The book is more like a reference book,
Lots of topics are explained in less than half a page.
The examples given for the topic is not enough.

Even though the book covers VB, there is nothing visual,
It DOES NOT COVER FORMS. Which is an integral part of VB.
Handling and transferring data between forms is one of most confusing topics for VB6 and those who learn VB.NET. So even if you read this book 100 times, you most likely won't be able to make a standard VB.NET program which has more than oneform.

It also does not cover VB.NET controls.

The proper Title for this book should be:

"Writing Console applications with VB.NET."

Also please note that this book is not for beginners. It does assume that you have some advanced programming knowledge.

Examples are pointers, classes.

There are better books out there for learning VB.NET. I do recommend this only as a reference for experienced VB.NET programmers.

---------------------------

This is my additional feedbackafter I put more time into this book.

This book Does not deserve even 2 stars but only one.
Keep away from this book!

Not like any other Visual Basic book on your shelf
This is distilled expertise on Visual Basic .NET - concise, complete, and correct. Anyone from beginner to pro will learn new things about VB concepts and syntax.

I use this book when I teach introductory Visual Basic .NET. It is the best way for a student to zero in on a single topic. They can find a brief but complete exposition, and an example that strips away all irrelevancies to illustrate the concept at hand.

But I also learned some things that I didn't know from this book, and that's after 4+ years working on VB.NET (back into the betas) and writing several books of my own.

Don't buy this book to learn how to build complete applications, or to learn a lot about the .NET Framework. There are other books for those needs. But if you live in the world of Visual Basic, this book is an essential resource.

The book to read if you want to understand VB.NET.
I love this book.

I've been programming in VB for ages, well, the better part of ten years anyway. I've also been in VB.NET since the early betas, and I'm passionate about where the language is today and where it is going. I also think I know my way around the language pretty well.

So, I picked up this book mostly to see if I wanted to recommend it to beginning or intermediate programmers. What a surprise when I found myself learning, or at other times remembering forgotten details of the langauge. Paul has a great style, and hits the right level of detail and history. It isn't overwhelming, but he isn't afraid to get deep into the gritty details either.

This book is all VB.NET. It talks about the framework where the framework matters to VB. He talks about history when it helps explain something about the way VB is built. Beginner's may want to read it yearly for a while, and I doubt there is any VB programmer who could read this book without learning from it. For me, that combination in a readable format is as good as it gets.

Excellent Book
An excellent reference book for Visual Basic .NET!

There are a lot of good things about this book:
- It is precise but not terse.
- Examples are short and designed very carefully.
- There are a bunch of notes on historical or design aspect of the language. These notes brings the things into context. These are informative as well as entertaining.

The organization of this book is great. Especially if you are an instructor, its so easy to structure your course around this book.

Great Book
This book is one of the best Visual Basic references I have read. ... Read more

Product Description
A comprehensive, practical guide to Visual Basic Programming covers such key topics as creating a form, setting properties, writing code, mastering the Basic language, responding to user input, creating menus, mouse programming, and more. Original. ... Read more

Product Description
Complete guide to the 32-bit Windows API functions and programming techniques every Visual Basic developer should know. Paper. DLC: BASIC (Computer program language) ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

Don't Buy This Book!
This book is a great waste of paper. All functions, constants and structures declared can be found in the win32api.txt file that comes with VB. This book is a little handy for describing the what each argument means in an API declaration but it could definatly use ALOT more examples if not at least 1 for EACH function and not just 1 or 2 for the whole chapter (that would actually make it valuable). Knowing the meaning of each argument in an api declaration does not mean you automatically know how to use it. I bought this book to help me out on a project and it turned out to be a great waste of cash. Great reference book if you ALREADY know how to use the api.

Visual BAsic
I have owned this book for about 3 weeks and finally started using it.I would give this book my best rating.

I had no idea, before buying this book, that you could find / do and use so much of the API in Visual Basic.

Pappas and Murray have opened a whole new dimension for me as a Visual Basic programmer.

Detail?
I got this book so I could learn how to get to Windows functions.It divided the Windows API into many chapters then gave example code for the functins in that chapter.

If the authors were restricted to 600 pages, they did a pretty good job of covering the important details.

The good thing about this book for a student is that the functions from the API are listed in the book.I mean - who has a computer with them all the time?I can go to the library and write code, because I have this book - I don't have to have my computer.

If I had any complaint it is that there weren't even more examples.But I can't complain overall - it is a good book for people just getting started with the API

Worth a tree and a half
This book explains the WINAPI and how to attach VB programs to it.I was having a lot of trouble with this concept until I got the book.

Murray and Pappas showed me, by example after example, how to write the kind of code I bought the book for.

Glad I bought the book
Buying this book lead me to find the win32api.txt, which I now use in place of the book (its much better). ... Read more