Murach's Visual Basic 6 [Paperback]

Mike Murach (Author), Anne Prince (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 1999

In section one of this book you will learn how to develop a substantial Visual Basic application. By the time you have finished the first four chapters, you will know how to develop, test and debug applications with multiple document interfaces. In section two you will learn how to develop database applications the way the best professionals do. At the same time you will learn how to use the best new features of Visual Basic 6 for developing those applications. In the last section, you will master other skills that a professional programmer needs, like how to distribute an application and how to create and use ActiveX components as you develop systems.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Fantastic book for beginners and intermediate programmers. Also great for database programming. I give it a 5-star rating." -- Joe Rohrbach, VBCode.com, May 1999

"I can recommend this book without hesitation. If you are new to Visual Basic or new to database programming, then this book will not only have you up and running in just a few days, you'll really understand VB and database programming." -- Matt Hart, Matt Hart's VB Help Page, June 1999

"If you have to choose just one tutorial on Visual Basic 6.0, this book should be it. It does a great job of demystifying ADO." -- Susan Sales Harkins, VB Zone at DevX.com, Book Review of the Week, June 1999

"There's a lot to like about this book. The authors have for all practical purposes taken a beginner book and database book and boiled them down to the essential data. Then they present these essentials formatted in a manner that promotes quick learning." -- Visual Basic Web Directory, May 1999

About the Author

Ed Koop, Anne Prince and Joel Murach

Product Details

• Paperback: 617 pages
• Publisher: Mike Murach & Associates; 1st edition (January 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1890774049
• ISBN-13: 978-1890774042
• Product Dimensions: 9.9 x 8.1 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (39 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,665,726 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Sometimes I love it! Sometimes I hate it!, June 5, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Murach's Visual Basic 6 (Paperback)

It took me 6 chapters to decide whether or not I would keep this book. I decided to keep it! Since the exercises in this book are geared toward developing real world applications, I have found them to be quite challenging. In spite of my difficulties I am learning many new skills. I have submitted numerous e-mail help requests. Each response was answered promptly by one of the authors who have consistently provided the information I need to complete a project.

I am writing this review from the perspective of an almost absolute beginning programmer. (I have completed John Smiley's Learn To Program with Visual Basic for Absolute Beginners. If I would not have already completed the exercises in Professor Smiley's book I would have been completely lost with this book.) Although this book states on the cover that it is "A True Beginning Book", I disagree with that statement. In my opinion, it is directed toward a Visual Basic Beginner who already has programming experience in another language. If you are an absolute beginning programmer, work through the Smiley book first, THEN work through this one. If this book is your introduction to programming, you will probably be lost and frustrated.

I am giving this book a 4 star rating rather than 5. Although the material coverd in this book is first class all the way, I have difficulty with the teaching style. The authors take a mostly aduitory approach by telling you what to do (through the written word of course), frequently omitting a visual reference of what the completed code should look like. As a visual learner (those of us who learn by being SHOWN rather than being TOLD), I find this quite frustrtating. With more visual references of the completed code, in the book, on a CD, or on a website, this book would be a more beginner friendly experience.

If you are serious about becomming a professional Visual Basic Programmer you owe it to yourself to get this book and DO the exercises. It may not be easy, but you will learn alot. For $45 you can't go wrong!

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Not such a great book..., November 30, 1999

By 

Eric Desgranges - See all my reviews

This review is from: Murach's Visual Basic 6 (Paperback)

I bought this book based on the high rates given by most of the readers, however I kind of feel disapointed with its content. The first part (which I like the best) guides you very quickly through the use of the Visual Basic IDE and language syntax, and I believe it is just what someone already proficient in another programming language needs. However someone new to programming will miss the lack of source code samples. My deepest regret here is that the explorer-type interface (how to create an application in a single window in two or more panes -- as the Windows Explorer application types) was not developed ("This type of interface, however, isn't presented in this book": just too bad, most developpers who want to develop a commercial application will need it!).
The second part of the book, related to database programming, starts with an introduction (too many pages to my taste) to the concept of relational databases. However, if the first part of the book was easy to understand, this one will confuse any beginner and annoy confirmed programmers. Note that all samples are given for a user who can connect to a company client-server style database as MS SQL Server or Oracle, i.e. not really everybody! Developpers for stand-alone commercial applications for PC's won't find anything interesting because the code samples are so simple you'll only be able to develop some "scripts" whose old-looking user interfaces will only serve as personal purpose.
Here we are reaching the page 435 and there are only 130 pages left, which I haven't read but don't seem really exciting.
I am returning the book, however I must say that I really liked the layout of the book: on the left page you'll find the "course" and the screens shots and outlines on the right page. I wish all books were so neatly presented!

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Pretty good VB6 book which isn't THICK, January 20, 2001

By 

Eric Liew (Malaysia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Murach's Visual Basic 6 (Paperback)

Compared to most VB6 books in the market, this one stands out quite well, in terms of thickness and price (I got the lower priced Asian edition). Somehow, I did get to download the source codes from the website and in fact got an update on one the database examples because it used an older DB format. Quite up-to-date don't you think?

I'm not sure if I agree with the others, but for me it was good at going straight into real world projects rather than starting off with hundreds of pages just on explaining the IDE, which to me is an absolute time waster. It just really depends on what you really want to get out of the book.

If you want to start with the absolute basics, then you might prefer another book which probably is much thicker but turn you off halfway through. John Smiley's books are pretty good at starting you off and doesn't choke you with too much code, just to let u know.

Otherwise, this book is pretty good at teaching what you need to know when building real applications and that's the whole aim of the book. The others think its too difficult, but it depends. I have an intermediate programming background in other languages not VB6, but it didn't really bother me that much.

In conclusion, just have a skim thru to see if you like it. It'll definitely help you if you're enrolled in a VB6 topic and doing database programming.