18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Has Its Flaws, But Overall A Good Reference Book, October 12, 2000
I read John Smiley's Intro to Visual Basic book and found it very informative and a fast read (rare for a programming book). So I picked up his Examples book to get an even better understanding of Visual Basic concepts.
Of the 100 examples listed, I would say about 20% of them cover concepts that Smiley goes over fairly thoroughly in his Intro book, 10% are incredibly stupid concepts (i.e. why does an underscore in a variable name disappear when it is in the general declarations portion of the code - the separator bar covers it up), 10% are questions cleverly designed to promote either Smiley's other books or books written by his friends and 60% provide very good Visual Basic tips that could come in handy to programmers from time to time.
It is these 60% (or 80% if you haven't read the Intro book, but are familiar with the basics of VB) that makes the book worthwhile. I actually was working on an assignment for a VB class I'm taking and got hung up on a concept in a program I was assigned to write. It so happened, I was reading this book at the time and I happened to come across an Example that solved my problem. So there is a lot of good stuff here.
A lot of people who post negative reviews of Smiley's books criticize the storytelling way Smiley uses to communicate the material he presents. Sure, the international TV show concept used in this Examples book is pretty hokey, but it is a more relaxing way to learn the material and I think helps the reader grasp the concept better than almost any other programming book. With other books, the author tries to cram so much information into the book that a reader (especially a beginner) can get overwhelmed and just give up. Smiley's approach doesn't do that.
I'm not crazy of Smiley's constant shilling for people to buy his other books and especially his blatant attempt to promote other authors by using a question on a concept not meant for a beginning VB programmer. That's why I go four instead of five stars on this review. I think Smiley could have easily come up with 100 unique situatiuons that were (1) not already in his Intro book, (2) not incredibly stupid and (3) were for beginning and intermediate VB programmers.
I will say that I did have fun trying to guess the famous people he was using as the callers to his show (i.e. Jimi from Seattle, Abe from Springfield, IL). I do wish that in the fictional part of the book that he spiced up his relationship with Linda, his TV show producer. Instead of coffee and donuts after the show at the local pastry shoppe, they should have had wine and a nice aged brie at the local motel. But that's another book!
Overall, Smiley's books are a good way to learn VB if you are open-mined to a new approach to textbook teaching and don't expect to gain all the knowledge needed to be Microsoft certified (as many seem to expect).
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12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Making Visual Basic Fun!, February 11, 2000
This was my 4th book on Visual Basic, and I liked it so much that I immediately bought all 4 of John Smiley's books on VB. He takes an interesting but dry subject matter, and makes learning it fun by using a "virtual" TV show to answer common questions and problems. The book is full of examples to help the user understand what is happening within VB, and the reader ends it with a better understanding of the elements of programing. The key to this book, and what makes it so entertaining, is the conversational method that he uses to reinforces the concepts he is teaching. This conversational method makes the reader feel that they have sat in on a question and answer session, and have 'understood' the material. A very good second book on VB, as it will reinforce the main concepts, and make them a resource that you will understand.
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9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Learn to program with visual basic examples, July 13, 2000
Just wanted to take a moment to say I have all of Mr. Smiley's books. I have yet to say thanks to Mr. Smiley. These books are written in a manner that relaxes on while reading. He has a program (the China shop) that you follow along with throughout his series. This book (Examples) is the exception to that series. Mr. Smiley does a dialog as if he is on a TV show where he will answer caller's questions. I am working on several programs for my college and I can not tell you how many time I have used this book as a reference. It answers many common sense questions. If you are a beginner, get this book. Thanks, for your effort John.
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