Customer Reviews

Learn to Program Visual Basic Examples (Miscellaneous)

5 star:		(27)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

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).

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.

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.

I thought I had found most of the bugs in VB, but was I ever mistaken! John Smiley's book sure will save me a lot of heartaches... not to mention midnight oil! And doing it in a radio call-in show format... I loved it! I almost thought I was reading one of those best selling novels and here I was learning even more about VB. Pure pleasure, what a great read!!!

If you're not familiar with John Smiley's style of teaching than you're in for a treat! He uses a call-in cable TV show as a setting for 100 of the most common Visual Basic questions asked by beginner and intermediate users alike. This book is unlike any other that I've read on the subject. While many authors will try to cram as much info as possible into their book, Professor Smiley has a much more laid back approach. He explains the answers in easy-to-understand language without "talking down" to you or filling your head with a lot of jargon. The best that I can say about this book is that I've learned more from "VB 6 Examples" than I have with any other VB book that I've ever read. Highly Recommended!

I purchased this book and the Learn to Program Visual Basic 6 together as a package deal. These were some of the earliest books that I purchased while I was trying to learn Visual Basic 6.0. Both of these books are good for the beginner or for developers coming from either an earlier version of Visual Basic or another language. This book is made to augment the Learn to Program Visual Basic 6.0 book. You should read most of that book before attempting to read this book. This book targets specific examples of how-to-do things in Visual Basic.

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).

I will again add mine to another list of great reviews for one of John Smiley's books. As I mentioned in my review of his initial work "Learn to Program with Visual Basic 6", I was not familiar with John's writing until I read that first volume of the LTP series. But I am now hooked on "Learn To Program". "LTP Visual Basic 6 EXAMPLES" is another gem by this author. He is the first, in my opinion, to put great effort into anticipating all the questions novice programmers will ask as they write their earliest programs. As a result, the reader finds himself asking "Why can't other authors and their distributors be this thorough? I can actually learn this all on my own."

So many programming writers and their publishers seem interested in only "Rapid Publication Development" with their titles. Guess it says something about how interested they really are in helping the average person flatten the programming learning curve. Gee! $$Wonder$$ what their real motivation is. Well wake up and smell the coffee all of you. Take a page from John Smiley's book/books and truly learn how to write a self-help guide. He is the best author in this sector of the technical books market - by far.

I admire the way Prof. Smiley, teaches us the art of programming using VB. I believe that this book in this format actually adds an additional interest to learning. Putting myself as a listener or viewer to the show, I actually found myself answering the questions with " how could you ask that question if you read his first book" or sometimes even worse commentary. I found that I learned some things that aren't mentioned in other books and I learned them without even knowing I learned it. I guess Professor Smiley has a precious gift, the ability to teach (what I believed to be difficult) material and make it fun and interesting. I strongly endorse this book for any beginner level or intermeditate level programer wanna be. You need this in your library! I only wish his TV show was actually aired!!!

Many times I wish there were books that gave various examples of what a typical programmer encounters. Examples are many times small independent programs. I like the ability to do each example independly. When I have only a few minutes I can look up an example and do it. They can be written and debugged very quickly. I am always on the lookout for examples on various subjects. I wish there were more books written in this format to assist progammers. The examples in this book are common to most new programmers. Professor Smiley's presentation is outstanding and it makes you feel as though you were part of the TV audiance. Well written and presented.

I have taken Learn to Program With Visual Basic 5 parts 1 and 2, and enjoyed both courses. Looking forward to taking more of his classes through ZDU.

I am also looking forward to Professor Smiley's new book due out in August about databases.