Customer Reviews

Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 Deluxe Learning Edition

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This package is great for beginners and the Step by Step book is great! I only beef was that I felt cheated because I expected the Visual Basic 6.0 Step by Step book to be the same as the Visual Basic Professional 6.0 Step by Step which is sold separately. Instead it has only 14 Chapters instead of 24 Chapters if you buy the book separate! That means No Rich Text Control (can't word process without this!), Multimedia, Internet apps, Windows API and lots more! So I also recommend that you buy Microsoft Visual Basic Professional 6.0 Step by Step and upgrade to VB6.0 Pro or Enterprise!

I was fortunate enough to have my company pay for this book for me. After finding it here for a very low price and then the rebate for owning MS Office kicked the final price down considerably.

I am about halfway through the tutorial segment and so far, I am pleased. Although it gets a bit dry at times, once you suffer through it, it does give you very useful information.

It starts off by explaining the environment of Windows and then moves into the program, itself. It introduces all the tools and windows inside of the program. It walks you through the entire process of building three programs. If you show a large desktop (I used 1024x768) and reduce both windows to be shown simultaneously, you can watch the tutorial for what to do, pause it, and then go over to VB6.0 and do it! What can be more simple than that? You get to learn by doing. That's one thing that scored this program big points with me! Later on, more advanced topics (advanced for a beginner, anyway) are introduced.

Also, since you have all of the tools you need to start programming right away, it is very useful, indeed. There are some features in the Professional and Enterprise editions that are not available in this edition, but I believe there is an upgrade rebate to move from this version to those.

Finally, this set includes the Visual Basic 6.0 Programmer's Guide, which is essentially the Bible of the Visual Basic language. It discusses a majority of topics useful in programming in VB.

All of these components add up for a great investment that is well worth any price mentioned! I started from scratch and purchased this and three other books to get my feet on the ground and this one definitely helped to get me there!

Thank you for your time in reading this review.

--Daniel

If you have been using VB through the years, VB6.0 is simply a great investment and great way to program. BUT... if you are new to VB you are in for a shock. It is not 'simple' anymore. The focus during the last few years has been on professional developers- not the beginner. New users should be aware that they will spend a lot of time learning the complexities of VB6. Beware, before you go out and buy this language, you need to be prepared to take several days just to get use to the programming environment.

That's the beauty of this series. It gives you three volumes that YOU MUST HAVE to successfully enter into the world of VB programming. BUY THIS SERIES IF YOU ARE NEW TO VB PROGRAMMING. Do not buy VB6.0 without the books unless you are an experienced VB programmer. You need the reference materials and if you don't have them, you will almost certainly fail at programming in VB. Good luck and remember: if you work with it and start making small programs, you will be impressed with the results and you will gain confidence in the language.

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!

This set provided a really great learning experience for me. The Step-By-Step book is well written and easy to understand. It doesn't go into a lot of depth but that's where to other book comes in. It is less readable and more technical, but it provides a wealth of information and is still relatively easy to learn from. I was dissapointed that the Step-by-Step book didn't cover the API or Object Oriented Programing topics (like classes), and instead covered integrating with Office, which I could have done without. The Learning Edition of VB itself had some limitations I wish I had know about before hand as well. It can only create standard EXEs (no ActiveX anything) and is missing the API viewer, which provides information on how to declare API functions. But still, that's why it's the learning edition. You can always get the Pro edition later. I definately recommend this to anyone starting VB.

As a former C and C++ programmer, I found Michael Halvorson's approach easy to use and very informative. This set contains everything a VB wannabe needs to rev up to speed in the language. After completeing the course I gave it to my wife. She's mid-way through it now and also very impressed. When you complete the course you won't be a professional VB programmer but you will have a good grasp of the basics of both the language and the development environment.

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.

This set provided me with a great jumpstart into VB 6. Inside of a month I have learned what I need to move on to ASP, COM and DCOM and have also used VBScript to make my web work shine. I used to wonder what everyone was talking about at technet conferences and at work, but now I can hold my own in a conversation. Not to mention write some pretty cool apps. Great Deal !

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.

I had purchased and read a begginer VB book before buying this product. Reading is one thing and doing is another. With a copy of the Visual Basic compiler I am now able to write and test my own programs which has greatly increased my knowledge of VB6. I also found the two books and interactive training course on CD-ROM very helpful. Great package!