Customer Reviews

Microsoft Visual Basic 5.0 Programmer's Guide (Microsoft Visual Basic 5.0 Reference Library)

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

 

 

VB5 is truly significant in that, for the first time, the deep and rich object-based roots of Windows 95 are exposed to Visual Basic programmers. No short course nor book can reveal this depth, and Microsoft's 900 pages afford little waste in covering the points. From their current version of object-oriented terminology ("OLE out, ActiveX in") to the subtleties of project management, this book maps out the full scope of VB5 with enough depth to assure that you won't miss out on any of the system's significant new capabilities. Beware: this book is for the seasoned programmer. Its programming examples are designed only to demonstrate specific points, and otherwise provide no tutorial for developing your own applications. The good news here is that this book is authoritative in showing you the Microsoft vision of how VB5 is ideally intended to be used. The only bad news is that VB5 is not ideal in all ways, and you shouldn't depend on this book to point out the pitfalls or workarounds.

While this book is a fairly good reference, it certainly is dreadful as a programming guide. Little things annoy throughout, such as the author constantly mentioning new topics only to cop-out and say "see Chapter X for more details". Some sections have this at the end of every paragraph, which makes is read like 'stereo instructions'. Also, while most programming books are quite dry, this one takes the cake for most 'sleep inducing'- it is a stream of information with no mention of possible uses or implementation. As an ASP/VBS developer I thought it would be easy to move from VBS to VB, but not with this book. Avoid if you are new to visual basic!

For a Microsoft manual, this book is extremely well-written. I think had the author penned this for any other publisher, it might well be a best seller.

The book tackles the major new features of VB5 using some humorous examples in some caes to make its point.

I teach VB for a living, and I think for the money it's a valuable resource. I recommend that my students read it within the first few weeks of class.

Also it doesn't have many pages, but it does contain many useful concepts and information.