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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Unequaled!, January 17, 2002
By A Customer
This review is from: Mastering Visual Basic .NET (Paperback)
I've been trying my hand and programming for a couple of years now, and have picked up the basics of Perl and Delphi. I was always tempted to use VB6, mostly due to the massive volume of books and other resources dedicated to it -- but I never found a newbie book that I could read all the way through. The books I tried typically covered specific concepts well (i.e., syntax, controls, events, procedures, etc.), but failed to tie everything together to show me how to build a sophisticated application. Couple that with code errors and writing that failed to "grip" me, and I was left with several half-read volumes and no real desire to use VB. With this book, and the incredible changes to VB that come with .NET, all that's changed. This book starts with an awesome overview of the IDE, including in Chapter 2 a walkthrough of two relatively simple programs that demonstrate how applications are built in VB .NET. The author walks you through the creation of a loan calculator, then a math calculator, all the while explaining the components used, how to code them, and how to run, debug, and build your project with the VS .NET tools. If that weren't enough, you learn to combine these projects in a multiple form solution in which you create a separate form that can call the forms created in the first two projects. Finally, the author shows how to create the loan calculator project as a web application. This is all pretty amazing stuff, and it's all in Chapter 2! While some concepts aren't thoroughly detailed, the author notes where you can learn more about each topic in subsequent chapters of the book. So, if the material in Chapter 2 is too difficult to grasp the first time around, jump to Chapters 3 and 4, where the VB .NET language is introduced, and then come back to Chapter 2 after you've learned more about the language and how it works. This book is a masterpiece -- it is clearly written, and all the code samples I've tried have worked. Although the text claims that some programming experience is required, I think a smart, curious reader will be able to learn how to program from this book -- the above-described Chapter 2, for example, teaches more about programming in VB than some entire books on the subject. If you're a complete newbie and the material is daunting, try one of Greg Perry's beginning programming books to get your feet wet, then come back to this to learn VB .NET. I agree with other reviewers who say that web apps get slightly short shrift -- web apps are covered, but this book is definitely geared more toward desktop apps. For me, that's no criticism, and I agree that web programming in VB .NET could be a separate volume all together. In short, this book is one of the best I've ever seen on programming in general, and I've yet to see a better volume on VB .NET, especially for beginner to intermediate programmers.
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent place to start for experienced VB6 programmers, March 13, 2002
This review is from: Mastering Visual Basic .NET (Paperback)
By listening to all the Microsoft hype about how easy the transition would be for experienced VB6 programmers, I was sorely deceived about how steep the learning curve would be. This is a whole new language! After struggling to get oriented using the documentation that came with Beta 2, I gave up and went to the bookstore. Of the many books that I perused, this looked like the best. I went straight to Chapter 21: Building Database Applications with ADO.Netm and what a relief! The author leads you from the simple to the complex. The writing is very clear. I have not needed to resort to the sample code on the CD. The author clearly understands what typical Windows applications need to do. His examples are exactly what you want to do in the real world. For example, on one form, the user enters part of a customer name in a textbox. The adjacent listbox is immediately populated with matching customer names. When you click on a customer name in the listbox, the first data grid shows orders for that customer. When you click on an order, the second data grid shows the order details for that order. Every detail of creating the connection, data adapter, and datasets is included, both using the wizards and doing it in code. How to populate the data grid from the data set, how to synchronize all of the controls. Terrific stuff! The author is very helpful in providing further suggestions about real-world applications. For example, he cautions you when using data sets that you must limit the results returned to the client (and he shows you how to do that). He advises on error handling steps that are needed. He points out weaknesses in the tools. Very helpful advice for when you move beyond the examples in the book, which are simplified by necessity. I'm not sure how good the book is for absolute beginners. But it is very thorough. Chapter 20: Databases: Architecture and Basic Concepts explains the fundamentals of databases, SQL queries, stored procedures, just an excellent overview. Yes, the book is lite on Web applications, but it has an "HTML Primer", covers development of Web app's, database access, and XML. Plenty to get you started. And, you really do need another whole book to learn the details of ASP.Net. And, yes, there are some errors in the book, and as of mid-March, there is zero in the publisher's errata page. But this is so typical of programming books. And, I haven't run into any problems that I couldn't figure out. So, if you already have some experience with VB6, I can heartily recommend this book as the place to start for VB.Net. Just an excellent book.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Put this one back, July 10, 2003
By A Customer
This review is from: Mastering Visual Basic .NET (Paperback)
I found this book to be riddled with errors both in the text and the programming examples. The exercises left out key information and required additional debugging and programming just to make them work correctly. Several of his screen examples did not display the correct information and were misleading. Other screens examples might have been semantically correct, but were not correct within the context they were presented. In my opinion the book also presented the information backwards, the concept of creating custom controls and such was covered in the beginning of the book while database access and file access were covered at the end.
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