Pro VB 2010 and the .NET 4.0 Platform [Paperback]

Andrew Troelsen (Author), Vidya Vrat Agarwal (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 19, 2010 | ISBN-10: 1430229853 | ISBN-13: 978-1430229858 | Edition: 1

Be the first to understand .NET 4.0 and Visual Basic 2010. Pro VB 2010 and the .NET 4.0 Platform provides developers with a complete guide to the new technology, explaining the importance of all the key VB 2010 language features. This edition has been comprehensively revised and rewritten to make it accurately reflect the VB 10 language specification for the .NET 4.0 platform. You’ll find new chapters covering the important concepts of dynamic lookups, named and optional arguments, Parallel LINQ (PLINQ), improved COM interop, and variance for generics.

The first edition of this book was released at the 2001 Tech-Ed conference in Atlanta, Georgia. At that time, the .NET platform was still a beta product, and in many ways, so was this book. This is not to say that the early editions of this text did not have merit—after all, the book was a 2002 Jolt Award finalist and it won the 2003 Referenceware Excellence Award. However, over the years that author Andrew Troelsen spent working with the common language runtime (CLR), he gained a much deeper understanding of the .NET platform and the subtleties of the VB programming language, and he feels that this sixth edition of the book is as close to a “final release” as he’s come yet!

If you’re checking out this book for the first time, do understand that it’s targeted at experienced software professionals and/or graduate students of computer science (so don’t expect three chapters on iteration or decision constructs!). The mission of this text is to provide you with a rock-solid foundation in the VB programming language and the core aspects of the .NET platform (assemblies, remoting, Windows Forms, Web Forms, ADO.NET, XML web services, etc.). Once you digest the information presented in these 25 chapters, you’ll be in a perfect position to apply this knowledge to your specific programming assignments and explore the .NET universe on your own terms.

What you’ll learn

• Discover the ins and outs of the leading .NET technology.
• Learn from an award-winning author who has been teaching the .NET world since version 1.0.
• Find complete coverage of the WPF, WCF, and WF foundations that support the core .NET platform.

Who this book is for

This book is for anyone with some software development experience who is interested in the new .NET Framework 4.0 and the VB language. Whether you are moving to .NET for the first time or are already writing applications on .NET 2.0 or .NET 3.5, this book will provide you with a comprehensive grounding in the new technology and serve as a complete reference throughout your coding career.

Table of Contents

1. Introducing VB 2010
2. Building Visual Basic 2010 Applications
3. Core VB 2010 Programming Constructs, Part I
4. Core VB 2010 Programming Constructs, Part II
5. Defining Encapsulated Class Types
6. Understanding Inheritance and Polymorphism
7. Understanding Structured Exception Handling
8. Understanding Object Lifetime
9. Working with Interfaces
10. Understanding Generics
11. Delegates, Events, and Lambdas
12. Advanced VB 2010 Language Features
13. LINQ to Objects
14. Configuring .NET Assemblies
15. Type Reflection, Late Binding, and Attribute-Based Programming
16. Processes, AppDomains, and Object Contexts
17. Understanding CIL and the Role of Dynamic Assemblies
18. Dynamic Types and the Dynamic Language Runtime
19. Multithreaded and Parallel Programming
20. File I/O and Object Serialization
21. ADO.NET Part I: The Connected Layer
22. ADO.NET Part II: The Disconnected Layer
23. ADO.NET Part III: The Entity Framework
24. Introducing LINQ to XML
25. Introducing Windows Communication Foundation
26. Introducing Windows Workflow Foundation 4.0
27. Introducing Windows Presentation Foundation and XAML
28. Programming with WPF Controls
29. WPF Graphics Rendering Services
30. WPF Resources, Animations, and Styles
31. WPF Control Templates and UserControls
32. Building ASP.NET Web Pages
33. ASP.NET Web Controls, Master Pages, and Themes
34. ASP.NET State Management Techniques
35. Programming with Windows Forms
36. Platform-Independent .NET Development with Mono

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Andrew Troelsen is a partner, trainer, and consultant at Intertech Inc., and is a leading authority on both .NET and COM. His book Pro C# 2005 and the .NET 2.0 Platform won the prestigious 2003 Referenceware Excellence Award and is in its third edition. Also of note are his earlier five-star treatment of traditional COM in the bestselling Developer's Workshop to COM and ATL mirrored in his book, COM and .NET Interoperability, and his top-notch investigation of VB .NET in Visual Basic .NET and the .NET Platform: An Advanced Guide. Troelsen has a degree in mathematical linguistics and South Asian studies from the University of Minnesota, and is a frequent speaker at numerous .NET-related conferences. He currently lives in Minneapolis with his wife, Amanda, and spends his free time investigating .NET and waiting for the Wild to win the Stanley Cup. You can check out his blog at AndrewTroelsen.blogspot.com.

Vidya Vrat Agarwal, a Microsoft .NET purist and an MCT, MCPD, MCTS, MCSD.NET, MCAD.NET, and MCSD, works with Lionbridge Technologies (NASDAQ: LIOX), and his business card reads "Subject Matter Expert" (SME). He is also a lifetime member of the Computer Society of India (CSI). He started working on Microsoft .NET with its beta release. He has been involved in software development, evangelism, consultation, corporate training, and T3 programs on Microsoft .NET for various employers and corporate clients. His articles can be read at ProgrammersHeaven.com, and he also reviews .NET preparation kits, available at UCertify.com. He has contributed as technical reviewer to many books published by Apress, including Beginning VB 2008 Databases: From Novice to Professional.

He lives with his beloved wife, Rupali, and lovely daughter, Vamika ("Pearly"). He believes that nothing will turn into a reality without them. He is the follower of the concept "No pain, no gain" and believes that his wife is his greatest strength. He is a bibliophile; when he is not working on technical stuff, he likes to be with his family and also likes reading spiritual and occult science books. He blogs at http://Dotnetpassion.blogspot.com. You can reach him at [e-mail].

Product Details

• Paperback: 1800 pages
• Publisher: Apress; 1 edition (October 19, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1430229853
• ISBN-13: 978-1430229858
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.5 x 2.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 5.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #502,749 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Andrew W. Troelsen is a partner, software developer, and trainer at Intertech, Inc., a Minneapolis-based training firm that specializes in education for Enterprise Web Developers. Troelsen is a Microsoft Certified Solution Developer and holds the Master of Technical Training (MTT) designation. He has presented at various technical conferences, and is also the author of Developer's Workshop to COM+ (1-55622-724-8).

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Comments on the book, October 31, 2010

By 

Brian - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Pro VB 2010 and the .NET 4.0 Platform (Paperback)

Since I often read Amazon reviews to decide what to buy, I thought I would contribute a review of this book. First, I have experience in both VB.NET and C#, and I have been testing VB.NET 2010 for myself since it was in Beta (and absolutely loving it!). I wanted to get a really good reference book on VB.NET 2010, so I preordered this one on Amazon based on my like for the book "Pro C# 2010 and the .NET 4 Platform" written by the same author as this book, Andrew Troelsen.

I want to start this review by going over all my criticisms. First, the book was delayed by about a month (so I waited for my preorder much longer than I anticipated), and to be completely blunt, it should have been delayed by the publisher for a little longer to allow for more polish by the author. To be specific, there are many places in the book with horrible grammar. For example, Chapter 3 of the book is a polished, generally well written chapter. Chapter 25, on the other hand, has grammar that progressively gets worse throughout the chapter.

The code samples could have used some polish too. There are a couple of the predictable spell-checker errors in code (Eg: "For Each I As Integer in myInts" when the author meant "For Each i As Integer In myInts" -- p.138). Also, some of the code samples have awful (unintended by the author) formatting (Eg: The location of "For i=0 To 5" in the sample on p.185).

Finally, the author commits, a couple times, the most annoying error possible in a VB.NET book (in my opinion). The error is to copy/paste C# remarks and code into a VB.NET book, but not convert them to VB. A good example of this egregious error occurs on p.232 regarding inheritance in VB. The author says:

"As you would guess, there are many more details to inheritance that you will come to know during the remainder of this chapter. For now, simply keep in mind that the colon operator allows you to establish base/derived class relationships..."

Hmm, no colon operator in VB for inheritance....

Having said everything above, a reader of this review might think I hate the book. Absolutely not! To the contrary, I love the book, and I am giving it a full five stars. While I find grammar errors annoying, I didn't buy the book to be a fine piece of literature. The book description clearly states it is intended for an audience with some experience in programming, and such an audience will easily recognize and easily overcome any of the small coding and formatting errors in the examples. Finally, the occurrences of C# in the book are exceedingly rare, and I suspect they will be easily recognized by the intended audience.

I did buy this book for content, and it is with the content that this book absolutely shines. The content of the book is well planned, and proceeds in a logical fashion. The explanations given in the book are excellent, and the purpose of the code samples are always clear (and there are tons of code samples). Above, I mentioned the poor grammar of Chapter 25. Nonetheless, the chapter, which introduces the reader to WCF, gives the best and clearest introduction to WCF from a VB standpoint that I have read anywhere, and I truly appreciate the chapter (I would have even loved to see more on WCF).

I would absolutely recommend this book to any programmer serious in VB.NET. I consider it an invaluable resource, and I always have it handy as I am programming. I also consider it an absolute steal for less than $40 on Amazon.

Does the book cover everything? At about 1800 pages, it gets close - check the book contents for yourself. There are inevitably things that are left out. One of my favorite features in VB.NET 2010 is XML literals (this is not a feature of C#). Combining XML literals with Linq is very briefly mentioned in the book, and at that, the book does not address the really cool advantages of this VB only language feature. Rather, the author approaches XML and Linq in a fasion similar to what would be done in C#, which is a shame. Nonetheless, the book would definitely leave the reader prepared to learn more about this feature (for example, see the video "How Do I: Get Started with LINQ to XML?" at the Visual Basic Developer Center), and for that I give the book credit.

Bottom line is this: The book is fantastic, and in my opinion, it is the best VB book out there. It isn't perfect - no book could be, and the imperfections of this book are easily overlooked. I think the book is a steal for its price, and it is the book I think a VB 2010 programmer should have handy and at his/her side.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Short review, May 17, 2011

By 

Almir - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Pro VB 2010 and the .NET 4.0 Platform (Paperback)

Even though I have been learning VB for almost 2.5 years mostly following to recomendation from many different sources, I finnaly got the book that fullfill all my expectations. It's really well defined and concept of the same is very good. I would recommend this book for everyone without any hesitation. Good spent money...

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, Does Have Issues Though, November 14, 2011

By 

Keith Thompson "Keith" (Aurora, CO United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Pro VB 2010 and the .NET 4.0 Platform (Paperback)

I bought this book a few weeks ago based on the good reviews here.

I do like that the topics include information that would not be intrinsically obvious from just running Visual Studio, unfortunately I find the attention to be excessively focused on "another way to do this is..." rather than on "the most productive way to do this is..."

For example the first chapter on WPF: The authors explain two different ways to write WPF applications, in some considerable detail, before arriving at "the recommended way". Just not my cup of tea to read through two different "you aren't going to do it this way" subchapters before getting around to "and here is what you will use".

And what is with all of the console application examples? Not that console apps aren't useful, but they aren't what someone would seek out _Visual_ Basic for.

Which brings me to: Perhaps it was the intent of the authors to write a nice reference manual on how the technology works rather than on using the technology to accomplish things?

The coverage of the technology appears to be well above average, I encourage anyone wanting to brush up on how the technology works to give this book a try. I would not encourage anyone who wants a book showing how to put the harness on the beast and have it put in a productive day's work to seek out this book first, or exclusively.