Product Description
Visual Basic 2005 focuses on enabling developers to rapidly build applications, with enhancements across its visual designers, code editor, language, and debugger that help accelerate the development and deployment of robust, elegant applications across the Web, a business group, or an enterprise. Now you can teach yourself the essentials of working with Microsoft Visual Studio® 2005 and the new features of the Visual Basic language—one step at a time. With STEP BY STEP, you work at your own pace through hands-on, learn-by-doing exercises. Whether you’re a beginning programmer or new to this specific language, you’ll understand the core capabilities and fundamental techniques for Visual Basic 2005. Each chapter puts you to work, showing you how, when, and why to use specific features of Visual Basic and guiding as you create actual components and working applications for Microsoft Windows®. You’ll also explore data management and Web-based development topics. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (34)

Great book for beginners
I choose this book because I am new to VB 2005 and programming in general. I have done some work with batch files and I thought this book was an excellent choice for beginners. It covers the basics very well and progresses throughout the book. I would have liked to have seen more real world examples of manipulating files but what it does cover it covers well. I would recommend this book to all beginners and upgraders from VB6.

This is a great VB.net 2005 book
There are plenty of examples, and explanation for beginners to follow. The pictures are also very crisp and east to see.

Excellent Book
I have read a number of IT tuturial books and this is by far one of the best. The author communicates extremely well, created very good examples, made each chapter able to be used independently while referencing appropriate sections in other parts of the book, and best of all, seemed to have a sixth sense for anticipating where I might run into difficulties.

First-rate Introduction to VB 2005 book---it delivers, as stated!
A first-rate, terrific job of guiding readers trough the basic features of VB .NET 2005, just like it publicizes.Every single chapter, and every section, includes examples that you can either build on yourself or study from the accompanying CD.

If you're either a totally new programmer or slightly experienced newbie to VB programming, this is the book for you.(Experienced programmers should ensure they read the intro/scope material, as this book is NOT for them.)I breezed through this book, and did all of the examples, in about 20 hours.I should rate this book 5-stars, but I give it only 4-stars, because it would have been nice to also include an additional CD of MS SQL 2005 Server Express and expand a bit more on the chapters associated with databases and dataset manipulation that cover real-life work-related scenarios.Readers like choices so including the option to use MS Access or SQL Server database examples, and adding Access/Sql examples in the book, would have been the ultimate for a beginning programmer's book.Let's face it: One of the greatest strengths of the VB IDE is to rapidly create apps that can consume and manipulate data.

0 to 60 One Step At A Time
I got this book because I had just accepted my first professional programing job and was feeling extremely anxious. Although I have a Master's Degree in IT and a strong background in programming, I have been teaching Special Education for the last five years. I needed something that would knock the dust off of my programming skills allowing me to refresh my basic knowledge of VB semantics. I read this book in a week, working the exercises, and am now feeling like a capable programmer again. I can honestly say that I have nothing but high praise for this book.
It takes the user from the very basics of declaring variables to simple
ADO, ASP, and XML structures. An excellent book for learning the basics. ... Read more

Product Description
An Introductory text on Visual Basic using the freely downloadable Visual Basic 2010 Express Edition. The easiest technical book you'll ever read. Open it up and see for yourself. Join Professor Smiley's Visual Basic.Net class as he teaches essential skills in programming, coding and more. Using a student-instructor conversational format, this book starts at the very beginning with crucial programming fundamentals. You'll quickly learn how to identify customer needs so you can create an application that achieves programming objectives---just like experienced programmers. By identifying clear client goals, you'll learn important programming basics---like how computers view input and execute output based on the information they are given---then use those skills to develop real-world applications. Participate in this one-of-a-kind classroom experience and see why Professor Smiley is renowned for making learning fun and easy. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Great for beginner's..
Keeping it simple:this has been a great book for me.I tried learning various languages in the past, never could completely grasp everything.A lot of things being discussed in this book make sense now, I suspect due to the way the book was written:as though you are in a college classroom.

The book doesn't go far enough for me though, but I'm also looking at more advanced concepts within VB and programming in general.I suspect that this book is a great first jump into the world of programming.If you've already got programming experience, this is probably not the book for you.

I give it a solid 5 stars, although there is some minor errata throughout the book.None of it affect the overall knowledge learned. ... Read more

Product Description
This expert guide covers what you need to know to program with Visual Basic 2008, employ the latest Visual Studio 2008 tools, and operate efficiently within the .NET Framework.In an easy-to-follow style, the book moves from in-depth explanations to practical instruction to real-world examples. Explore basic coding in VB 2008 and learn to build interfaces without coding by using Visual Studio 2008's drag-and-drop visual tools. You?ll get up to speed on LINQ and handle key tasks such as programming TreeView controls, and more. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (8)

Mastering Microsoft Visual Basic 2008
Mastering Microsoft Visual Basic 2008

Very easy to follow and learn. Very practicle...

3 Stars.. average
I rate this visual basic book 3 stars. I purchased this book because it had the "Mastering Visual Basic 2008" as the title. I know C++ but not Visual Basic 2008, so a beginner book was not what I wanted.

The main problem is the code and the information is scattered throughout the chapter. It could be placed in a more methodical order, without needing to flip back and forth.

I would advise to download the code from Sybex and use that as a reference if you are not new to writing code. You do not need the book. Using the book in conjunction with the code from Sybex is confusing as they do not match. What the book says is not presented in the sample code.

I would recommend Murach's VB2008 instead to get the basics down over this book

It has Everything you need!
I've read many books about visual basic 2008, and when the real challenge emerges they lack the knowledge to help you go through it. But this book is different; it goes deep into every issue and makes it easy for the programmer to understand. I would say that if you have some basic knowledge of visual basic, and you are willing to buy another book, this one would definitely be the one that I would take, and you won't have to buy another.

Reference Book Only
I purchased this book based on the good reviews it has received so far here on Amazon. After going through the book I have to say I am dissappointed.

This book gives a very brief summary and example on different subjects while jumping all over the place and not going into to much detail on any specific subject. The examples are poorly formatted and lacking any comments.

Having used older versions of .Net I was able to skim through most of the book with learning very little that is new. The subjects do not go in depth enough for an advanced programmer and not enough explanation for a beginner programmer.

If you get this book, buy the downloadable version and plan to use it only as a basic reference.

The best by far - simple to follow
OK, I have to back up what the others have said.I've only had this book two days and I'm literally jumping for joy.Finally, a book written so that an idiot like me can follow it.I figure he must have been an elementary teacher along the way somewhere. He actually answers all of those little questions that pop into your head as you're reading, which other books omit to do and, as a result, I get lost by about the fourth chapter.Not this one.I'm swimming through it freely and not drowning.Many thanks Evangelos! ... Read more

Product Description
Experience learning made easy, and quickly teach yourself Microsoft Office Excel 2007 Visual Basic for Applications (VBA)--one step at a time! Work at your own pace through the easy numbered steps and practice files on CD, and master the fundamentals for using VBA to create custom software solutions and automating tasks in Excel 2007--no developer experience required! You'll learn how to automate spreadsheets, write your own functions and procedures, and customize menus and toolbars. You'll discover Excel Objects, including workbooks, range objects, graphics, and PivotTables®. Plus, you'll learn how to chart data from databases and other information sources. With STEP BY STEP, you can take just the lessons you need or work from cover to cover. Either way, you drive the instruction--building and practicing the skills you need, just when you need them! Includes a companion CD with hands-on practice files. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Teach yourself VBA
Went looking for a publication providing practical and easy to follow instruction on the use of VBA. Having already attempted to use an 'O'Reilly' VB & VBA text, only to find that its excellence was clouded by its complexity - it assumed you already knew the basics and did not offer screen based examples of what it was portraying, I was after something friendlier.

This publication fits the bill for the informed but not expert user of Microsoft Office 2007/2010 who want's to take the next step and automate business processes or routines.

It is well written and easy to follow and the author clearly knows his stuff. (although it's possibly not edited as well as it should have been - an early 'typo' gave the wrong instruction as to which short cut key to use to run a macro being developed in the tuition exercise - wasn't hard to realise but here's hoping it is the only one!).

Very good book...
I like this book a lot.But I also bought Excel 2007 Power Programming which I like better.

It is well written and has easy example to follow.

Get them both!

Good book
I bought this book for my husband, the computer nerd.He is delighted with it.Thank you.

it sucks .. the worst book i've ever read
The book is really disorganized, plus i can't find some files in data CD.Instructions are so unclear. How can beginners find the keys and tools that mentioned in the book without prior experience. It doesn't even instruct how to use tools for VBA in Excel. It's like learning VBA codes rather than how to build and use VBA applications in excel. why do we need to write VB in codes instead of using tools ... :( I'll simply say it sucks.

This book is a mess!
I don't quite understand how this book got out of the proof-reading and technical review phase and made it to press. There are so many errors in the code and approaches that don't work, that a true beginner to VBA for Excel could easily get lost.

I would want to say that this book is an okay starting point for learning VBA, but I would be afraid that a beginner would get hopelessly confused. I think a better book for learning Excel VBA is VBA and Macros for Microsoft Office Excel 2007 (Business Solutions) by Bill Jelen and Tracy Syrstad.

While I am sure Mr. Jacobson is probably a decent developer and a nice person, he is a sloppy author. He relies too heavily on recording macros and then reworking them to try and teach VBA coding than actually taking the time to explain coding theory and getting you to think how to tackle the problems on your own. Even the fact that he has you type the code first before he explains why is annoying. I would rather the explanation first, giving me a chance to see if I could work the code out on my own, then have him tell me what the most efficient method is. I realize that this is probably also due to the Microsoft Press Step-by-Step formula for writing these books, but that is another reason why I do not like the series as a whole.

There are many typo's in the text with regard to code that wouldn't make the Macro's run if you didn't catch the error and then there are several things that don't work.

Examples:

In Chapter 5, Jacobson steps you through using the Immediate window to open a file, then moving the sheet to an open workbook, then moving it to its own new workbook (He does point out that Excel will not allow you to move the only sheet of a workbook to a new workbook without the interim step). In "simplifying" the recorded macro, he uses the ThisWorkbook object. This approach works fine if you have the code in the module of the holding spreadsheet you initially want to move the newly opened sheet to, as ThisWorkbook will always refer back to the workbook which the VBA module is in, but executing this in the Immediate window will not work because the command you used to open the file in the previous step caused that workbook to become the Active workbook, and thus the ThisWorkbook object is referring to the wrong workbook and the command doesn't work.

Also in Chapter 5: Working with Excel Tables, Jacobson takes you through how to simplify the recorded macro in order to manipulate the table totals and filters. The way he has coded the macro, the Subtotals do not refresh, so when you filter, the subtotals in the totals row are wrong. You need to F2 each of the cells in order for them to update as a simple F9 will not refresh them. While this may be a bug with Excel 2007 Tables and manipulating them with a VBA macro, this should have been tested and at least mentioned.

On the whole it is disappointing that the books published under the Microsoft name lack any sort of quality control standards and are at best basic. You would think that they would have the best insight into the product and would be the most valuable of learning tools for using the products creatively. But they aren't and as a result, I cannot recommend this book. ... Read more

Product Description
Create professional-quality applications, components, and user interfaces faster and more efficiently than ever with the powerful object-oriented programming capabilities in the Visual Basic 6.0 development system. From Windows® common controls to data access, Internet, and ActiveX® programming, this book covers core development topics for version 6.0—providing insightful explanations and expertly rendered examples for rapid acceleration of your Win32® productivity.• Expedite development with the object-oriented capabilities in Visual Basic 6.0—including events, polymorphism, and object hierarchies• Develop great user interfaces that use the full range of controls in Visual Basic and take advantage of OLE drag and drop, data-driven forms, and advanced Windows API techniques• Build datacentric solutions using ActiveX Data Objects (ADO) 2.0 and 2.1, the DataEnvironment designer, and RDS components for remote activation over the Internet • Master ActiveX technology to create controls, learning advanced techniques such as COM callbacks, multithreaded components and applications, and windowless ActiveX controls• Deploy rich, Web-ready components and applications with Dynamic HTML (DHTML) and Microsoft Internet Information ServerAn electronic version of this book is available on the companion CD. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (89)

A great book for any serious VB programmer
I'm a C/C++ programmer, but for some reason I had to learn VB too. I tried two different books (both with good ratings), but as far as I'm concerned this book is ways better. I recommend it to all those programmers who really want to start using VB as their second (or first) programming language.

Why am I writing a review for this supposedly outdated book
Because Visual Basic 6 remains a very useful programming environment for me.Mr. Balena's style goes way beyond a tutorial through menu creation.He tells us about pratfalls ofthe Microsoft environment ( while writing for Microsoft! ) and useful ways to work around limitations ofthe environment.If you are still using VB6, like I am, this is a useful reference.We might want to start looking at .NET, eh?

Staright forward walk through
Good book for the novice with some experience programming but new to VB 6. Walks through the differences between other versions, and has some nice documentation.
I would recommend.

author shoud be banned from writing programming books
code snippets are fragmented and some variables are used without
naming their types, causing confusion in many cases.

the chapters on classes and objects and databases are worthless:
i'm glad i didn't learn objects and databases from this guy.

many explanations are needlessly lengthy and confusing.

i've documented with profane remarks so many problems in this book that are simply not sharable.

Best VB 6.0 book I own.
This book is a must have for any VB 6.0 programmer period. So buy it.

Not only is this book extremely informative, but Balena writes excellently. The way he communicates the information help's make the info stick in your head.

As for the informative part Balena covers all the major bases in depth and some of the more obscude/advanced topics to get your feet wet. He also shows you different and more efficent ways to write code.

If I had one complaint is that his code is not the most readable, Balena seems to center more on condensing his code and making it as efficent as possible rather than making it readable. He attempts to offset this with comments.

But that is also a postive about the book Balena covers different ways to write a statment to make it most efficent. ... Read more

Product Description

Combining the Deitel™ signature Live-Code™ Approach with a new Application-Driven™ methodology, this book uses a step-by-step tutorial approach to explore the basics of programming, builds upon previously learned concepts, and introduces new programming features in each successive tutorial. Updated throughout for Visual Studio 2008, Visual Basic 2008 and .NET 3.5.

Audits presentation of Visual Basic against the most recent Microsoft Visual Basic Language Specification. Covers GUI design, controls, methods, functions, data types, control structures, procedures, arrays, object-oriented programming, strings and characters, sequential files, and more. Includes higher-end topics such as database programming, multimedia and graphics, and Web applications development. For individuals beginning their mastery of Visual Basic Programming.

Customer Reviews (10)

Excelent shiping.
I use it for my college class, shipping in a week (regular shipping), and new.

satisfied
just what i was looking for a great price that couldnt be beat anywhere else and the shipping was timely, communication was timely and informative as well

Get Up and Coding in VB Quickly With This
I have been away from Visual Basic since version 6.0.I used this book as a VB refresher and to help me to get up to speed with VB 2008 so that I can take an advanced VB 2008 class at the local community college.I found that I was able to quickly absorb the material and to get going again with VB.This text does not go into great detail on any topic, but that served its purpose well.

If you are looking for a guide to get you started in Visual Basic, this book will allow you to do just that.It is also valuable if you are wanting to get up back to speed with the current version of VB.If you want a book that will give every detail about VB, you will want to look elsewhere.

If you want to learn programming, this is the best book I've seen.
I've always wanted to learn programming and have looked at a myriad of books. I was always told the best languages to learn from are scripting languages like Python and Ruby. I checked out books on those scripting languages and was put to sleep. They usually spend a few chapters explaining object oriented programing, high level languages, and the importance of open source code. Then they jump into a boring "hello world" program and thought you'd be excited about it. Usually from there, the books jump off into more complicated topics and quickly goes over your head, or you just lose interest regurgitating code for worthless programs.

This Deitel book is totally different. It comes with a copy of Microsoft Visual Basic Express edition, so there's nothing to buy, and there's no license or expiration period. The software is good forever, no 180 day trial.

Many of us get excited about learning something when we can see the results produce something we are familiar with - we're highly visual creatures. Well, the Deitel book starts you off creating GUIs, with buttons, text boxes and labels right away. Of course, the GUIs don't do anything, but it gets you excited about something you're familiar with as a computer user. After you set up GUIs, then they take you through step by step adding the code to make the event driven applications actually do something.

Basically, every chapter introduces a new concept, then walks you through tutorials, and at the end of the chapter, there's exercises (where you're on your own) that re-enforce the concepts you learned that chapter.

Don't bother with other programming books, these are the best I've seen.

Very Good beginner book
I think it is a great book if you are new to programming or Visual Basic.I have taken a class using VB soI skipped by the first couple chapters which dealt with setting things up and the IDE although there were a few useful tips that I founds while skimming through. I would defintely recommend this books to others. ... Read more

Product Description
In Starting Out with Visual Basic2008, Gaddis and Irvine take a problem-solving approach, motivating students to understand the logic behind developing quality programs while introducing the Visual Basic 2008 language. As students become familiar with each programming concept, they will learn how, why, and when to use various controls, constructs, and features of Visual Basic 2008 through concise, practical example programs.Tony Gaddis's accessible, step-by-step presentation helps students with no prior programming experience understand the important details necessary to become skilled programmers at an introductory level. Gaddis motivates the study of both programming skills and the Visual Basic(R) 2008 programming language by presenting all the details needed to understand the "how" and the "why"--but never losing sight of the fact that most beginners struggle with this material. His approach is both gradual and highly accessible, ensuring that students understand the logic behind developing high-quality programs. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (7)

Falls short from a beginner's perspective
This has been my first semester in college doing programming. Prior to this semester, I had zero experience with programming. Visual Basic always seems to be the go-to beginner course to start off with from an academic point of view. We've just started with chapter 6 of this book in my Intro to Visual Basic class (2 months into the semester) and I have to say I walk away more frustrated using this book than I do with clear and concise understanding of just what is going on. As a complete beginner, I can't recommend this book to anybody who's just starting out and has no prior programming experience and this is why....

The tutorials are nice. They give a simplified example of applying new concepts introduced with new chapters. These new concepts are, more often than not, given almost as a "Webster's Dictionary" explanation of what it is. There might be a short paragraph with an example of code being used, but it's never very elaborate. I feel there is a HUGE lack of giving clear, simplified, dumbed down explanations and examples for using what you're learning. Then you get the tutorial in a chapter, which has a basic approach to using the new concept. And then you're hit with Programming Challenges where you have to use advanced mechanics of these concepts that you may be lucky if the tutorial hints at how to approach a particular challenge. I understand they're "challenges" for a reason, but zero hints are given to point you in the right direction about how to even start the codes needed to run the various ins and outs of the program you're building and you're basically at the mercy of your instructor to explain how to go about doing these very advanced codings (I say very advanced, but think of the definitions as pre-algebra and the actual coding needed as Calculus II). This book should be able to coherently explain/teach how to do these things, and the instructor should, obviously, teach these concepts, but not be expounding upon these concepts as much as is required to get these challenges to work. If you got this book on a whim outside of a classroom setting, I'm quite certain you'd be completely lost. On weekends when I'm doing these programming challenges, I shouldn't have to run to Google to do a search on how to do simple things that this book should have already explained. The book should be THE go-to for me as it's my textbook. That's what textbooks are supposed to be for. Not give you the answers outright, but at least point you in the right direction. As another reviewer mentioned, there's also NOWHERE in the book where you can check your work (or simply let's call it an answer key) for these programming challenges. I did a search on their website for some kind of help or answer key and discovered that in order to view/download the answers for the programming challenges, you have to be an instructor at an institution and be confirmed. So once again, if you're not in an academic setting, you're once again shafted.

I'd give this book a lower review, but I feel that if you were already familiar with Visual Basic or other programming languages, you probably would be able to follow along without as much difficulty as I've had, but as I said previously, as someone who is a complete beginner to programming of any form, this book just isn't a viable solution for learning how to use Visual Basic. I've had more frustrations learning from this book that I feel is merited for the price and lack of giving simplified and concise direction. If you're a complete beginner to programming, I'd highly recommend you look elsewhere for learning Visual Basic, particularly the Wrox series. I've found better more precise explanations and examples with their book that clearly educate the reader.

Visual Basic 2008
The book is in great condition.The only problem I had was that it came with 1 disk instead of 2 and that detail wasn't included.Other than that, I am happy with the purchase

Great Book for learning VB
I love this series for learning programs. The tutorials are well laid-out and easy to follow, and the instruction plan is very much as you will use VB in regular work. They teach you to use the GUI of VB Express 2008 when it's more convenient, and then how to tweak the code professionally and efficiently. The book includes a 120 day free trial for VB Express, perfect for a semester of learning!

Great Book!
This book teaches with many tutorials in each chapter. It has question sections throughout the chapters and at the end of each chapter there is a list of vocabulary for that chapter, chapter summaries, and challenge questions in which you apply what you learned in the chapter.
The chapters are easy to understand and the easy-to-follow tutorials allow you to put into practice what you read which reinforces the learning.
This book is an easy fun way to learn programming in Visual Basic for the beginner or anyone wanting to reacquaint themselves with it.

Good Quality
Product came on time and in excellent condition. My only complaint is there wasn't a notification of shipment, but that may have been on my end. ... Read more

Product Description
If you want to learn the fundamentals of programming, don't get bogged down with pages of technical jargon that most books on the market offer! Instead, explore Clearly Visual Basic: Programming with Visual Basic 2008, an innovative book that prides itself on teaching the basics of programming through visualization and application. Designed for beginners with little or no previous programming experience, this resource emphasizes solid programming principles and teaches the Visual Basic language in the process. By putting standard concepts, like input, output, selection, and repetition, at the forefront, instead of focusing solely on a specific language, readers will gain knowledge and insight that is easily transferable to other languages. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Good book for beginners
I have only done 5 chapters so far. What I have discovered is to this point the book is very informative. It walks you through step by step. Being a true beginner that was important to me. I might be boring to someone who has some knowledge of VB. The really cool part so far is that you also get video demos to look at, so you can see the written text actually put to practical work. Every textbook should have this feature!!!!! On a scale of 1 to 10 so far I would give it an 8. Always room for improvement.

Programmer's Dream
This book covers programming from the basics of no knowledge of programming and builds up to a very well-structured teaching method for the basics of programming.Using the knowledge obtained from this book can greatly help with future programming languages and furthering knowledge in Visual Basic. ... Read more

Product Description

Visual Basic 2010 How to Program is appropriate for all basic-to-intermediate level courses in Visual Basic 2010 programming.

Created by world-renowned programming instructors Paul and Harvey Deitel, Visual Basic 2010 How to Program, Fifth Edition introduces all facets of the Visual Basic 2010 language through a hands-on approach with hundreds of working programs. This book has been thoroughly updated to reflect the major innovations Microsoft has incorporated in Visual Basic 2010 and .NET 4.0; all discussions and sample code have been carefully audited against the newest Visual Basic language specification. The many new platform features covered in depth in this edition include: LINQ data queries, Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF), ASP.NET Ajax and the Microsoft Ajax Library, Silverlight-based rich Internet application development, and creating Web services with Windows Communication Foundation (WCF). New language features introduced in this edition: object anonymous types, object initializers, implicitly typed local variables and arrays, delegates, lambda expressions, and extension methods.

Students begin by getting comfortable with the free Visual Basic Express 2010 IDE and basic VB syntax included on the CD. Next, they build their skills one step at a time, mastering control structures, classes, objects, methods, variables, arrays, and the core techniques of object-oriented programming. With this strong foundation in place, the Deitels introduce more sophisticated techniques, including inheritance, polymorphism, exception handling, strings, GUI's, data structures, generics, and collections. Throughout, the authors show developers how to make the most of Microsoft’s Visual Studio tools. A series of appendices provide essential programming reference material on topics ranging from number systems to the Visual Studio Debugger, UML 2 to Unicode and ASCII.

Customer Reviews (1)

Poorly written
This book borders on unintelligible. Multiple concepts are dumped into the same paragraph and are poorly explained or not explained at all. There seems to be an ignorance on the part of the writers to the idea of pacing the information so individuals new to programming can digest it and learn to apply it in a functional environment. My class has discovered inaccuracies in the exercises and we have not even passed midterm yet. It's one of the worst text books I have ever had. Even the layout and design of the book itself contribute to its illegibility. The book is physically small, the text is crammed together and the use of color (just blue and black) makes everything look like one big run on sentence. The PowerPoint slides that accompany the book offer no new information or explanation. They are the book made into PowerPoint and even use the same art and graphics. Just awful. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

required for school
Only reason I read this book is for school and it seems to teach bad habits.
You could tell it was written by former VB 6 and earlier programmers since they use old VB prefixes for all their variable names. Also not enough code examples. Only 1 complete runnable program per chapter. Didn't feel like I learned VB 2005 after reading this book. Too simplistic.
Good things were easy to read lots of use of screen captures. End of chapter projects.
Printing code that actually works.
Snowman program in graphics chapter. ... Read more

Product Description
Intermediate and advanced coverage of Visual Basic 2010 and .NET 4 for professional developers

If you've already covered the basics and want to dive deep into VB and .NET topics that professional programmers use most, this is your book. You'll find a quick review of introductory topics-always helpful-before the author team of experts moves you quickly into such topics as data access with ADO.NET, Language Integrated Query (LINQ), security, ASP.NET web programming with Visual Basic, Windows workflow, threading, and more.

You'll explore all the new features of Visual Basic 2010 as well as all the essential functions that you need, including .NET features such as LINQ to SQL, LINQ to XML, WCF, and more. Plus, you'll examine exception handling and debugging, Visual Studio features, and ASP.NET web programming.

• Expert author team helps you master the tools and techniques you need most for professional programming
• Reviews why Visual Basic 2010 will be synonymous with writing code in Visual Studio 2010
• Focuses on .NET features such as LINQ, LINQ to SQL, LINQ to XML, WPF, workflow, and more
• Discusses exception handling and debugging, data access with ADO.NET, Visual Studio features for Visual Basic developers, Windows programming with Windows Forms, ASP.NET web programming with VB, communication interfaces, Windows workflow, and threading

This Wrox guide presents you with updated coverage on topics you need to know now. ... Read more

Product Description

Beginning Microsoft Visual Basic 2008 is designed to teach you how to write useful programs in Visual Basic 2008 as quickly and easily as possible.

There are two kinds of beginners for whom this book is ideal:

• You’re a beginner to programming and you’ve chosen Visual Basic 2008 as the place to start. That’s a great choice! Visual Basic 2008 is not only easy to learn, it’s also fun to use and very powerful.

• You can program in another language but you’re a beginner to .NET programming. Again, you’ve made a great choice! Whether you’ve come from Fortran or Visual Basic 6, you’ll find that this book quickly gets you up to speed on what you need to know to get the most from Visual Basic 2008.

Visual Basic 2008 offers a great deal of functionality in both tools and language. No one book could ever cover Visual Basic 2008 in its entirety—you would need a library of books. What this book aims to do is to get you started as quickly and easily as possible. It shows you the roadmap, so to speak, of what there is and where to go. Once we’ve taught you the basics of creating working applications (creating the windows and controls, how your code should handle unexpected events, what object-oriented programming is, how to use it in your applications, and so on), we’ll show you some of the areas you might want to try your hand at next. To this end, the book is organized as follows:

• Chapters 1 through 9 provide an introduction to Visual Studio 2008 and Windows programming.

• Chapter 6 provides an introduction to XAML and Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF) programming.

• Chapter 10 provides an introduction to application debugging and error handling.

• Chapters 11 through 13 provide an introduction to object-oriented programming and building objects.

• Chapter 14 provides an introduction to creating Windows Forms user controls.

• Chapter 15 provides an introduction to graphics in Windows applications.

• Chapters 16 and 17 provide an introduction to programming with databases and covers Access, SQL Server, ADO.NET and LINQ.

• Chapters 18 and 19 provide an introduction to ASP.NET and show you how to write applications for the Web.

• Chapter 20 provides a brief introduction to XML, a powerful tool for integrating your applications—regardless of the language they were written in.

• Chapter 21 introduces you to web services and the Windows Communication Foundation (WCF).

• Chapter 22 introduces you to sequential workflows using the Windows Workflow Foundation (WF).

• Chapter 23 introduces you to building applications for mobile devices using the Compact Framework classes.

• Chapter 24 introduces you to deploying applications using ClickOnce technology.

• Chapter 25 provides some insight on where to go next in your journey to learn about VisualBasic 2008.

• Appendix A provides the answers to chapter exercises.

• Appendix B introduces the Microsoft Solution Framework.

• Appendix C provides some background on security.

• Appendix D provides insight into Windows CardSpace.

• Appendix E compares the differences between the latest versions of the .NET Framework.

... Read more

Customer Reviews (3)

easy to fallow
To start learning visual basic 2008 it is very useful,easy to fallow forthe beginner point of view. This book it is complete withtopics and examples of the language, it isall you need to make it to the next level.

Falls far short of a good book
I have to say, overall I'm very disappointed in this book. Here are the main problems that I see:

1. It does not explain a lot of important concepts, instead it just tells you to do something this way, and that's that. At times, I felt like I was just typing the program in, letting it run, and on to the next program.

2. It's one of those books that uses a lot of concepts from later chapters in the early chapters, creating a total confusion at times. For example, classes aren't explained until chapter 11, but several concepts are used in chapter prior to that, without much of an explanation.

3. The book is written from the perspective of: let's build Windows Forms (and WPF at the same time!) program, then explain the controls a bit, then move on. As such, you don't get a good programming foundation at first. I actually liked this approach in the beginning, which is why I picked the book up. Unfortunately it became difficult to understand "why" things are happening, and what's behind the scenes.

4. The style of writing could not be more dry and boring. Would it hurt to throw one or two lighter comments here or there, etc?

5. And finally, almost complete lack of exercises. Each chapter has one or two, really basic ones, that most of the time are just rehashes of the same program in the chapter. I like books that give multiple exercises of varying difficulty, to spend some time on the subject.

All in all, this book could've been so much better. I have now found a used copy of the Visual Basic 2008 How to Program by Dietel and Dietel (new is crazy expensive), and while not perfect, is a much better book to learn from.

Best Beginner's Book For Visual Basic I've Found
Programming is not my cup of tea. I've been forced into it through my decision to use asp.net to develop my website. This stuff is difficult. I've tried several VB books and this is clearly the best for me. It provides plenty of exercises, is well written and it provides alot of information. Given the languages complexity I think you're better offwith a nice hearty text and this is.

It's not perfect - I have yet to find a book that doesn't quickly plunge the reader into the deep end - but it gives a laymen like me my best chance of mastering this subject.

I must agree with the other reviewer, though; this book introduces important conceptsfar too late in the book. For instance you're already using classes and objects long before you have any idea what they are or how to formthem. This means you are essentially just copying the text - making it mind bendingly difficult to figure out what's going on.

However it seems to me that every VB book I've read does this! And that this is the best of the bunch with regards to clarity - as muddled as it often was. I think most authors forget that the most difficult part of learning to program is simply figuring out what to put next. One you figuring what kind of code should go next (function, method, constructor, etc.) learning how to write actually write it is fairly simple. I'm really surprised at how little most authors anticipate the needs of their readers. All the books I've read have failed fairlymiserably in this regard.

The vaunted Murach books with their rather regimented structure and large print simply don't provide the room to walk you through a series of examples. They're fine organizational tools but for me, at least, they really lack as teaching manuals. This book is more about training and I'm surprised the Murach books get so much more attention than it does.

I would love to check out Deitel - they're just too expensive for me. ... Read more

Product Description
Filled with the ingredients developers need—code samples, instructions, and solutions to common problems—this book is the logical place for developers to start building projects and learning more about Visual Basic .NET. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (22)

Great text for vb.net 1.1.
This book save me in school.The professor would issue their own text, that really didn't explain all the tools that the homework required.This was my supplement.

The text provides very simple uses and after effects of a great deal of items in the language.Microsquishy put in many useful items in this text.

Casual programmers handbook
Whenever I want to do something in VB, if I haven't done it many times before, I will check this book because it most often has a "recipe" for my problem.Used my neighbor's book so often I bought one for myself.

Excellent VB.NET resource
I found this VB.NET reference of tremendous help to me.The content covers a wide cross-section of topics and addresses the needs of varying skill levels.Easy to use.Had just the information I initially needed to parse and manipulate XML files.I am very pleased with this book.It is proving to be an excellent resource for now and the future.

Programmers Cookbook
The book was new as presented and came very quickly in the mail. Thank you

Great recepie book.
Book has a lot of practical suggestions, especially for rudimentary string handling operations.It stands out over most other books of this genre on the topic of .net.

Even after i switched to c#.net, this book was still handy.
... Read more

Product Description
Teach yourself at your own pace how to program for all versions of Windows® with Visual Basic 6.0—and find out what’s new in Visual Basic .NET.Amazon.com Review
In 24 easy-to-follow lessons, Microsoft Visual Basic Professional 6.0: Step by Step covers all of the fundamentals of programming with VB6. The book breaks lessons down into clearly defined steps and concise discussions that assist in creating demonstrative sample programs.

A companion CD-ROM contains 84 projects, organized into 24 folders to match the chapters in the book, plus an extras folder. The sheer number of projects and abundance of source code provide a valuable resource that will help beginning programmers get started quickly.

Though it contains a complete introduction, the book avoids or simply briefs on some advanced topics like multiple document interface (which, of course, advanced programmers would need to be familiar with, though it receives only a one-page sidebar).

The discussion of object linking and embedding, while a tad Microsoft Office-centric, adequately introduces and explains a potentially difficult subject. The book also contains lessons on current topics, including DHTML and file transfer, a pleasant surprise as Richter gives these topics their due.

For those looking for a complete, hands-on introduction to Visual Basic programming, this book will provide a valuable resource. --John Keogh

Topics covered: Using the Visual Basic development environment; forms and projects; properties; exiting Visual Basic; creating a new project; running a program; creating an executable; using controls; menus and dialog boxes; variables; mathematical operators; conditional and looping code; debugging; printers and error handlers; graphics; drag and drop; file operations; modules, functions, and procedures; collections; static and dynamic arrays; string functions; text files; simple encryption; using Access databases; launching OLE-aware Windows programs; OLE Automation; the Windows clipboard; ActiveX controls; integrating sound and video; monitoring your systems memory; downloading files using FTP and HTTP; using Internet Explorer to display HTML files; working with DHTML; creating an HTML page that supports DHTML; using ActiveX controls in DHTML pages; brief discussion of preparing a DHTML project for deployment as an HTML file and DLL; ActiveX Data Objects; FlexGrid; using the CD-ROM. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (100)

good basic book
Covers evrthing to get started and a little more. Use this book to teach students VB6.

Good
It addresses learners at different levels in Visual Basic programming. Learners will find it a good resource for learning VB programming. Recommended !

Excellent book!!
Very good examples. Even comes with CD so you can run the program and look at the code real time. The solutions are everyday answers to problems.

Worth every penny
This is a great reference book.
I found the sections on serial communication particularly helpful.
I'd especially recommend it to someone who is just starting out with VB6.
It may help you to avoid some bad programming habits.

Cheers.

Guided "stepping"
I'm only on page 78, and already I can tell that I'm going to enjoy and learn from this book. Not being familiar with Mr. Halvorson's work, I was a little leary when I noticed that this book was published by Microsoft Press. Dreading page after page of nearly non-human jargon and wording, I was most pleasantly surprised when I began my journey through the easy-to-read pages. If you can follow a recipe, you can learn from this book. Heck, even if you can't follow a recipe, you can still learn, as long as you're willing to do the exercises. Being a beginner in the programming field, I can heartily recommend Microsoft's and Mr. Halvorson's version of VB 6.0 training. ... Read more

Product Description
In this lively, eye-opening, hands-on book, all you need is a computer and the desire to learn how to program with Visual Basic 2008 Express Edition. Featuring a full edition of the software, this fun and highly visual guide walks you through a complete programming project a desktop weather-reporting application from start to finish. You ll get an introduction to the Microsoft Visual Studio® development environment and learn how to put the lightweight, easy-to-use tools in Visual Basic Express Edition to work right away creating, compiling, testing, and delivering your first ready-to-use program. You ll get expert tips, coaching, and visual examples at each step of the way, along with pointers to additional learning resources.

Key Book Benefits

This dynamic, full-color, highly-visual book is designed to help novice programmers build fundamental programming skills for Windows® quickly and easily

Provides a quick-start, project-based approach!

Provides complete software for Visual Basic 2008 Express Edition and all the instructions needed to understand and put those tools to work right away

Features a complete desktop application that can be easily modified and reused a great learn-by-doing example ... Read more

Customer Reviews (14)

Visual Basic 2008
Overall, this is a useful product for intermediate users. The book does not clearly state that the CD included is actually a DVD, which is a slight inconvenience. It's not worth the 20 bucks new, but definately worth the cost used, being that it's already almost 3 years old. My advice is to first check and see if there is something better and more recent before purchasing this product.

Avoid this book!
It starts breaking down around the end of the 6th chapter.One of the instructions tell you to perform an action that Visual C# doesn't support.The companion material (which isn't on the disk, you need to download it) has errors.Upon loading one of the "completed" projects a list of errors popped up.Sad, if the writer can't get his own material right how are we newbies going to get it?In a later chapter you are suppose to debug a file but according to Microsoft's website that file isn't "bugged", it works correctly, so they tell you to skip that project.So instead of fixing the companion material they just tell you to skip it.Sweet.

Admittedly I have not finished the book but so far I've learned very little.The author doesn't really explains any of the terminology (methods & such) but later uses the lingo as if you're an old pro.

I wanted to like this book.The layout & pictures are attractive.The idea behind it - "learn while doing" - is fantastic.Unfortunately, true beginners will probably end up frustrated.

Visual Basic
Easy to read and fairly informative about Visual Basic. The programs are free to download from Microsoft.com but having a disc with all them on it that comes with the book is very helpful! :)

Not an intro to writing Visual Basic code
I bought this book hoping to learn how to write Visual Basic code.After thoroughly reading it, I now realize that it is really more about the Visual Studio Express 2008 environment and has very little to do with writing event-handling code (or any other kind of code, for that matter).

To be fair, it does cover a number of features that will probably be of interest to experienced VB developers.It contains a large number of internet links to other resources for more information.It does a fair job of explaining the basic visual design elements.If my goal had been to build the minimalist custom browser interface the book walks you through building, it would have been okay.

When all is said and done, though, I have little more idea about how to write Visual Basic code than when I started.The book should have contained more "how-to code" information and linked to it less.And I am already well supplied with perfectly good and far more functional browsers, thank you very much.

This book is certainly not well targeted for the beginning audience it claims to have been written for.Frankly, I'm not sure what audience would have really benefitted from it.

I wish I had a recommendation for a better book, but unfortunately all I can do is to recommend that beginning programmers stay away from it.

Good at explaining the program, but bad at explaining code.
This is a very simplistic book.The author does a descent job of explaining the features of the program Visual Basic 2008 Express Edition.If you are buying the book for the software, you can get the software for free on the Microsoft website.For those buying the book to learn Visual Basic code, I don't recommend buying the book.I've read through about half of the book and it is very light on VB coding. Other than teaching you how to use the features of Visual Basic 2008, most of what you are taught is normally covered in the first two chapters of other books.It's a good book for learning the features of the program, but other than that the book is a major let down.There are also some errors and contradictions in the book.

At the beginning of the book she tells the user that lines of code HAVE to be on the same line.I read this and was like "WHAT!"Then later on she contradicts herself and says that the line of code can be continued onto a second like with a space and an underscore.I've programmend in VBA for years.She should have stated from the beginning that you can continue lines with a space followed by an underscore.

Another error I saw was in one of the projects where she runs a For...Next loop to display integers in the 2nd textbox.The 2nd textbox is Textbox2, but yet in the code it states Textbox1.

Also some of the comments are placed at bad spots. When I downloaded the program from the disc, the RSS feedlink doesn't work.Then you get a message in the program window stating how you can change or update the link.But you aren't told until a page or two after the fact in the book that you have to expand all of the options so that you can actually see the setting that you need to change so that you can change the link.

The book seems to have a number of simple errors that should have been caught in the editing phase.I'd recommend that they actually work through the book and projects themselves when editing it.

And I wish in some ways that Microsoft Press would have stayed with the simplistic style of instructions like they do in their Plain & Simple series of books for their 2007 Microsoft Office products where there are numbers and arrows.That say, Click here, select this, etc.The author gets wordy and this could have been simplified. ... Read more

Product Description
Programming with Microsoft Visual Basic 2008, Fourth Edition by the best-selling author, Diane Zak, is designed for a first course in programming. Using the most recent version of the software, Visual Basic 2008, this book teaches individuals how to use Visual Basic applications as they would in a real world setting. Students with no previous programming experience learn how to plan and create their own interactive windows applications. GUI design skills and Object-Oriented Programming concepts are emphasized throughout the book. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Cheaper but the same
College is expensive.It is nice to know there is another option.Spent 25 dollars less than what I would at the bookstore.The book was brand new and arrived with in a week -- Just in time for class.Good seller

This text makes two assumptions about you
You have no instructor.
You have never seen a computer before.
If either of these are true, you are going to enjoy this format (for the first time only)

Everyone else (everyone that has a use for programming any language) will find that the entire book is needlessly bloated and that the painstakingly boring tutorial method is a chore.Concepts and information that do not take more than 5 minutes to implement will be covered over 30+ pages.The totalitarian instructions leave you waiting awhile for the next concept to be taught, so you will be skimming...a lot.To the credit of course technology, they format these books (I have two of them) so that you can skim to the bold instructions without reading every single mind numbing paragraph. Unfortunately, some topics are important enough to read, but like the boy that cried wolf, you'll be apathetic towards the book's attempt at warning you. There are so many screenshots of what is going on, you could go through this book without ever sitting in front of a computer with Visual Studio.The whole thing is better suited as a video or power point tutorial, so that means you'll be rubbernecking between each step for hours.
Yes, hours.
If you do read everything, you will spend hours creating a program that adds two numbers.This example takes minutes to create, and minutes to learn with text books in different formats.

If this method were effective at teaching the programing of Visual Basic, I would praise the level of detail.But it does not teach you programming at all.It teaches you how to use a Microsoft program, much the same way as a tutorial book on Word.It is an instruction manual, not a textbook.You will not retain knowledge of programing VB.You put no stake into the learning process, your hand is held and you are spoon fed a load of needless crap mixed in with a few important details.Also, the text will serve as a god awful reference because of the format.God help anyone that must suffer this book for a class.If your professor requires you to do the tutorial projects, you are going to hate your class, I guarantee that.

Stay away from this book if you have even a very minimal understanding of programing languages or have a minimal level of comfort using Microsoft applications.If you know nothing, this book will not change that too much either.

Lose! Lose!

Review - Programming with Microsoft Visual Basic 2008
I'm using this textbook for an online course I'm taking at a local community college. This is excellent for beginners either as a textbook or for someone trying to self teach the language. I am very impressed with the format, layout, intellectual level and accuracy of the lessons.

This textbook seems perfectly designed for someone with a solid understanding of high school / community college level math logic and a working knowledge of typical Microsoft Office products such as Word, PowerPoint and Outlook.

This is not a higher / highest level textbook for learning or referencing a comprehensive knowledge of the language.

To even partially benefit from the book you will need Microsoft Visual Basic available and running on a computer 75% of the time you are studying.

Excellent teaching tool
I purchased this book for a college class and was impressed by its readability (my buying it for a college class is also why it only received 4 stars instead of 5).Zak believes that it is better to learn by doing, so each chapter is set up in the following manner: Section A is typically just reading so as to first acquire an understanding of the practicality of what will be taught and overview the upcoming materials.Section B and C are a combination of tutorial and instruction.At the end of each section, there are key terms, review questions, and exercises to complete.

I like the learn-by-doing aspect of this book since it allowed me to become accustomed to using Visual Studio and Visual Basic before receiving homework assignments.One drawback of the book might be that it is not specifically set up for studying.Because the sections are so full of tutorial, it might be hard to use for a quick reference.However, each concept does have its own "header" and the key terms are in bold: a lot of material is in this book, though, not just terms. But, if you take notes while you are working through the tutorials, you should be fine.This book could also be used as an instructional method outside of the class room, so if you are looking to buy a book for your own reference/learning, this would be a great one for that!

Not enough info...
Ordered book for class, professor told us book should come with CD? Bought this book brand new. No CD inside. How you supposed to take a class with no software? Very dissatified!!! :( Book doesn't say it comes with a CD or not? Posting should of had more information and if it was new should come with the CD.


AMBURLINGAME ... Read more

Product Description
With this book, you can learn the skills of a professional programmer in just 692 pages. Because of its self-paced approach in the first 7 chapters, you can do that whether you're new to Visual Basic.NET or you're upgranding from Visual Basic 6.

From that point on, you're ready for rapid progress as you learn how to develop sophisticated GUIs, how to use the .NET classes for a wide variety of purposes, how to work with XML, how to develop database appplications with ADO.NET, and how to develop web applications with ASP.NET.

To insure success, this book includes 18 complete business applications so you can see how the forms, controls, and code of Visual Basic applications work together. Applications like these should be a standard part of all programming books. BUT NO OTHER VB BOOK DOES THIS. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (32)

Great book ! Easy read.
The format of the book is unique, left page for explanation and right page for coding. This might be great for programmers who prefer coding than reading, since the explanation is brief and direct to the point. This is very different from the Deitels book that explains things over and over again in many pages - the reason for the bulkiness.

I've read 4 chapters now and excited to write this feedback, since i've learned a lot from the book, unlike any other. The book is not trying to spoon feed the reader but just enough hand holding is done so as not to make the beginning programmer rely solely on the book and not use his own logic. There are quite a number of good vb.net books out there but this one will be sitting right beside my computer for quick learning and easy reference. I plan of supplementing my learning with another good book as suggested by colleagues, the mastering book by petroutsos and the step by step book my halvorson.

Better than I thought
I just re-read this book.Much better than I initially thought.I think it is better if you have a little knowledge of VB.Net beforehand.

Know it for what it is
What this book is, and I think it does a very good job of it, is a book for the absolute beginner.The person how has never coded in a windows environment and needs a place to start.The author introduces a project that grows and as new topics are added or expanded upon the project grows likewise - so you see the code and your thought process develop.

What this book is not, is a reference to help experienced VB6 developers make the leap to .NETIf you are an experienced windows developer, trust me this is not for you.I purchased the book several months ago to tackle my fist .NET application.Granted the application I choose to undertake was far too sophisticated for a fist .NET experience, but all the same, even if it was much simpler, I still seriously doubt that the book would have been of any relevant value.

As we all know authors use the word introduction / beginning for more marketing value than to reflect content.In this case the author calls it for what it is - If you are an absolute beginner, this is the right, can't go wrong choice.

Hope this helps,
HabWorks

Beginning Visual Basic .NET
If you're an absolute beginner, you might find this book helpful.Otherwise find another book.If you've worked with VB6, almost everything covered in this book (with the exception of the very brief coverage of ADO Net) is almost intuitive.

What irritates me most is the poor grammar.Practically every paragraph has a sentence starting like "Then,...".The "Then" phrase is not needed and the comma is erroneous.

I do use it, however, for a quick reference regarding file IO.

If you want to know how to write a (useful) class, generate and handle events, and other slightly more advanced concepts, this book won't help you.

From Beginning to... Well, Some Tough Stuff!
This book is very well written, and the facing page style of instruction is a great method.

I found no errors; there was no evidence of "author fatigue" towards the mid-end of the book; and Ms. Prince is able to anticipate and address the logical questions that come next in the student's mind.

Beginning with the basics, this book then progresses (very logically) to more difficult concepts such as multi-dimensional arrays, structures and collections, and parsing and reading/writing data to/from files; including xml. The final six chapters deal with databases and web projects.

I highly recommend this book... but be ready to work because the chapter exercises, though sometimes difficult, really drive home the concepts. ... Read more

Product Description
The 2008 version of Visual Basic is tremendously enhanced and introduces dramatic new concepts, techniques, and features to this popular object-oriented language. Written by an elite author team, this comprehensive resource provides a clear and concise approach to using VB 2008 in the ever-expanding .NET world. This book focuses on using the latest and most powerful tools from the Microsoft arsenal within your Visual Basic solutions. You?ll examine everything from the .NET Framework to the best practices for deploying .NET applications to database access and integrating with other technologies. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Slightly Disappointing
I am a windows forms application programmer.I have been doing VB business objects for over 10 years, and serious VB.net for the last 3 years.I am working on my first project that requires printing.This book won't help you with such things as manipulating graphics objects and printing.Perhaps I should have read the table of contents more closely before I bought it.

Great professional walkthrough
I just finished upgrading my classic ASP skills to ASP.NET with Beginning ASP.NET 3.5: In C# and VB (Programmer to Programmer). With my newfound comfort in .NET development and urge to develop for more than just the web, I picked this book up.

I think the fact that it's targeted at "Professionals" might be intimidating. It's a thorough, well-constructed guide through every aspect of VB programming. It doesn't pull punches, but it is also wonderfully easy to read.

I recommend this book to anyone looking to beef up their VB.NET programming skills.

Great Book, but it is for Professionals
I certainly have not gone through all 1420 pages of this book, but I did go through several chapters in detail. As an example, I went through the chapter on SQLCE. This was an excellent presentation for someone familiar with Visual Studio and VB.Net but would not be good for a beginner.

The book is excellent if you are a seasoned programmer and not good for those starting out. The book's title says it all! I f you want to learn the more advanced features of VB.Net and have a good understanding of the basics, this is the book for you.

Lots of information for the money
As a completely self-taught programmer I have reached the point where the beginners' books have no new information for me but I still have gaps in my knowledge. I found this book to be the perfect gap filler. It is loaded with tons of information written in a style that I personally find very easy to follow.

Many books as large as this one get much of their size from constantly repeated code, much of which is not needed in the first place. This book has code where it counts and very few repeated lines.

When I finish a book I write a rating (0 - 10) on the bottom of the title page. This one got a 10. ... Read more

Product Description

Customer Reviews (2)

Excellent upgrading
Excellent book to help the VB 6(VB 98) users to come closer to the Dot Net programming.

The practical side of "know how" and "show how to do it" is the best.

The Ultimate Guide to VB Migrations!
This book was developed by the Microsoft PAG (Patterns and Practices) Team and ArtinSoft.It contains the most comprehensive and up to date guidence on how to approach a Visual Basic 6 Migration/Upgrade project.From how to set a busines case all the way to the smallest details.

If you are considering moving your VB 6 code to .NET I highly recommend this book!
... Read more

Product Description
For beginners, Visual Basic is easy to learn. For veterans, its power is impressive. Small wonder, then, that it's the world's most popular programming tool. And this kit is arguably the simplest, most convenient way for beginning programmers to learn this important language. The MICROSOFT VISUAL BASIC 6.0 DELUXE LEARNING EDITION gives aspiring programmers the complete Learning Edition of MicosoftVisual Basic and all the outstanding proven tools that programmers can apply and combine to fit to their particular learning style.

Includes: The Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 Learning Edition on CD-ROM MICROSOFT LEARN VISUAL BASIC 6.0 NOW, the popular CD-based interactive program for hands-on learning MICROSOFT VISUAL BASIC 6.0 STEP BY STEP, the acclaimed book that provides clear modular lessons you can complete at your own pace MICROSOFT VISUAL BASIC 6.0 PROGRAMMER'S GUIDE, a rich reference for everything from programming fundamentals to optimizing and distributing applications The MSDN Developer's Library on two CDs

Now you can learn how to program for Microsoft Windows(r) the easy way. Get MICROSOFT VISUAL BASIC 6.0 DELUXE LEARNING EDITION. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (13)

Good
I bought this 8 years ago, and don;t use it anymore. It's an old version and I am looking forward to an update. No. I will not hold my breath. haha.

Is Amazon Pulling a Fast One?
Surprise! I'm reviewing Amazon. Your reviews for Microsoft Visual Basic 6 Learning Edition discuss the compiler that comes with the books, so people would naturally assume the compiler is included with the used books you're selling. It is NOT INCLUDED. Site visitors must click on details to learn that. Look, I know you don't have nearly enough billions yet to satisfy you, but play fair. Tell visitors on the review page that the compiler, the most important element in the reviews, is NOT part of the package.

Excellent Resource
This package has EVERYTHING that you will need to learn V.B. 6.0 and compile executable programs on your own.The step-by-step manual goes at a good pace for someone with little programming experience.The programmer's guide book and MSDN Help Library have the information necessary for those going beyond the 'Basic'.

An Excellent Resource for Those New to VB.
I found this book extremely helpful.I am a professor at Houghton College and purchased this book to write software for the genetics course that I teach.I had no prior experience in Visual Basic, although I have just taken a course in C++.The Step by Step guide is very helpful to orient users toward the visual basic environment, and has chapters on the syntax of the language itself, which is something I really needed.There are numerous helpful programs that come on the CDs, and I found the book extremely readable.In short, I highly recommend this book for its clarity and thoroughness.

Excellent starting point!
Although finding and reading a good Visual Basic book is an excellent start to ones Visual Basic career, I cannot over emphasize how important it is to get ones hands on a copy of the Visual Basic compiler. With both the book and the compiler you can quickly become comfortable with the Visual Basic Development Environment by typing in some of the source code in the book and test running it for yourself. Eventually, when you feel comfortable with your knowledge of Visual Basic you can begin writing and running your own programs. Visual Basic Deluxe Learning Edition will allow you to do just that.

A highly recommended set of materials! ... Read more