Microsoft Visual Basic 2008 Step by Step [Paperback]

Michael Halvorson (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0735625379 | ISBN-13: 978-0735625372 | Publication Date: January 27, 2008 | Edition: 1 edition

Teach yourself the fundamentals of working with Visual Basic 2008 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 2008 and rapidly build robust, elegant applications. Each chapter puts you to work, showing you how, when, and why to use the latest features of Visual Basic guiding you each step of the way as you create actual components and working applications for Windows. You ll also explore data management and Web-based development topics. PLUS get practice files with sample code and data sets on the companion CD.

Key Book Benefits

Covers the latest enhancements and features of Visual Basic 2008

Provides step-by-step guidance on how to use Visual Basic 2008 with Microsoft Visual Studio® 2008 to create smart-client and Web applications

Features easy-to-follow, logically planned lessons in the popular STEP BY STEP format ideal for anyone with fundamental programming skills

Includes a companion CD with data sets and code samples

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Michael Halvorson is the author or coauthor of more than 30 books, including Microsoft Visual Basic 2005 Step by Step, Microsoft Office XP Inside Out, Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 Professional Step by Step, and Learn Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 Now. In addition, Michael is an assistant professor at Pacific Lutheran University.

Product Details

• Paperback: 546 pages
• Publisher: Microsoft Press; 1 edition edition (January 27, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0735625379
• ISBN-13: 978-0735625372
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 7.4 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (35 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #170,234 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #97 in Books > Computers & Technology > Microsoft > Development > Visual Basic

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 37 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Read., February 25, 2008

By 

dillyboo "dillyboo" (Toronto) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Microsoft Visual Basic 2008 Step by Step (Paperback)

I'm not new to the visual basic language (I've done some work with VBA) but I was new to visual studio. I just have to say that this book is very easy to follow, it's very detailed, and it's a great place to start learning the language and the use of the IDE.

The author guides the reader in a very easy to follow style of writing. He also goes into detail to make sure that you understand what it is that he either wants you to do or wants you to understand. He also makes no assumption regarding your skill level and basically writes so that anyone can understand.

The only thing that I wasn't crazy about was that he sometimes repeats the same things over and over in every chapter. For example, "If the form is not visible when you load it, click on it in the Solutions box to make it visible." He'll say that for every project that you open. I guess it's ok because these little things really get pounded into your brain, but I found it just a little annoying.

Finally, he does demonstrate a lot of new features in Visual Studio 2008, so the book is great even for experienced users.

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Michael Halvorson Does It Again!, April 22, 2008

By 

fosterdee "Original TADWG Editor" (Owings Mills, MD) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Microsoft Visual Basic 2008 Step by Step (Paperback)

Michael H. is now an old hand at producing VB Step by Step books, and it shows. His treatment of the subject is thorough and to-the-point, as you can see by looking inside the book at the Table of Contents (above). His style is easy to follow, and your confidence level at the end will be high if you carefully follow his lead through this book. If his "Database and Web Programming" section at the end of the book doesn't pique your interest, nothing will. By inserting this section he shows you where VB 2008 is headed.

My biggest complaints are minor: 1) he wasted too much ink telling us how things were done back in the days of VB 6.0. Programmers have had about four years to get over that, Michael, but thanks for an otherwise very useful book, and 2) a few menu calls were to menu functions that don't exist. (That's inevitable when a book is based on pre-release software. None of the errors were difficult to overcome.)

26 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good but limited, February 14, 2009

By 

J. K. "Avid Reader" (Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Microsoft Visual Basic 2008 Step by Step (Paperback)

I have now read the complete book. The good things about this Step by Step book are:
- It is written in good English.
- The lay-out is pleasing.
- The book is fairly compact having 544 pages.
- All the program samples work and the programming code in the book are correct.
- The book comes with a CD.
- It is suitable for a complete novice.
- It covers many areas of the Visual Basic programming.
- The chapter 20 about the web page programming is good.

The cons in the book are:
- In the beginning of every chapter there is too much repetition.
- Mr. Halvorson does not explain the underlying principles of the VB language or syntax. He only explains (in a limited way) the commands that are used in the specific examples but not how to access the full power of all the commands. Yes, this would have been somewhat outside of the scope of this book but now the reader is left hanging. The reader will learn some Visual Basic but not that much.
- The book and the examples are all done in the Microsoft Visual Studio environment which I consider a limiting factor.

In a summary: This is a good book but not excellent. It serves as a stepping stone. I am fairly pleased with it. Furthermore, I think that in general readers give books far too many stars. The extra-ordinary good text books reserving five stars are very rare.