Ready-to-Run Visual Basic(r) Algorithms, 2nd Edition [Paperback]

Rod Stephens (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0471242683 | ISBN-13: 978-0471242680 | Publication Date: April 6, 1998 | Edition: 2

All the Visual Basic algorithms you'll ever need and how to use them

This book/CD package arms you with a library of powerful algorithms completely implemented in Visual Basic source code. Just as importantly, it shows you how, when, and where to use them . . . or not to use them. It covers classic VB algorithms as well as the latest VB object-oriented techniques for handling just about any design requirement you'll encounter, such as managing data structures, sorting, searching, hashing, networking, and other important program functions.

In plain English, and with the help of sample code and scads of working examples, VB expert Rod Stephens explains how algorithms work and:
* Describes techniques for selecting the best ones for your projects
* Tutors you in methods for analyzing how they will perform in your programs
* Acquaints you with programming techniques for solving problems as they arise
* Supplies algorithms for most programming situations
* Covers new object-oriented VB algorithms-how they work and how to use them
* Introduces new concepts and techniques for programming in multiple versions of VB.

The CD-ROM supplies you with:
* Source code for all the algorithms described
* Test programs to try them out
* Examples and tests to help you gauge and fine-tune your skills.

Visit our website at www.wiley.com/compbooks/

Visit the author's comprehensive Visual Basic site at:.www.vb-helper.com

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

This guide shows how to extend Visual Basic (VB) with code that handles some advanced programming problems, including algorithms that you can use every day to write faster and more flexible VB applications. After an introductory discussion of profiling algorithms and some techniques to emulate pointers in VB, the author shows how to emulate a variety of data structures, such as linked lists, stacks and queues, and arrays, along with their implementations in VB.

Besides these basic container types, the author also proceeds farther afield into a demonstration of trees in VB, including balanced trees. (Though you won't need these data structures for most programs, it's interesting to see how they can be written in VB.)

More applicable to real-world problems are the sections on sorting, searching, and hashing in VB. (These algorithms can extend the range of the types of problems VB can solve.) This book closes with some network algorithms and some discussion of object-oriented techniques for VB, including some "patterns" or reusable designs for software. With the accompanying CD-ROM, you can use all the author's algorithms or write your own based on the techniques explored here. --Richard Dragan

Review

Read the entire review of this book.

As a student of computer science, I had a fundamental principle drilled into my head time and time again -- languages come and go, but algorithms stand the test of time. A good algorithms reference doesn't need to focus on a particular language; however, those books tend to be crammed with computer-scientists' jargon, and provide less than an ideal starting point for the novice programmer. Rod Stevens' Ready-to-Run Visual Basic Algorithms, Second Edition is an attempt to bridge the gap, to help people who know the rudiments of programming in Visual Basic (VB) experiment with tried-and-tested algorithms and incorporate them into their own programs.

To make sense of this book, you must already be familiar with variables, conditional statements, loops, subroutines, and abstract data types. Even more advanced topics, such as class declarations and static variables, are introduced and used so quickly that a novice programmer will probably need an additional reference. In other words, Ready-to-Run Visual Basic Algorithms is a logical "next step" for someone who has completed an introduction to VB programming, but you should make sure that you've understood at least one other book about VB before attempting to read this one. I applaud this approach, because it lets you concentrate on learning algorithms without getting bogged down by syntactic details. -- Chris Jaekl, Dr. Dobb's Journal -- Dr. Dobb's Journal

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Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 2 edition (April 6, 1998)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471242683
• ISBN-13: 978-0471242680
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 7.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.6 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #857,093 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Must-Have Reference for Serious VB Programmers, September 2, 1999

By 

[e-mail] (Raleigh, North Carolina, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ready-to-Run Visual Basic(r) Algorithms, 2nd Edition (Paperback)

Even if you have been programming in VB for several years, or have taken college-level computer science data structures courses, you need this book.

This book goes way beyond simply providing code snippets that you can paste into your VB apps. The author begins by explaining such fundamental algorithm concepts as time and space complexity analysis and the trade-offs between the two. He really focuses on providing an understanding of the "Whys" in addition to the "Hows".

Simply put, if you are or aspire to be a serious VB programmer, there are 4 books that you must have by your side at all times: this book, Dan Appleman's "VB Programmer's Guide to the WIN32-API", Bruce McKinney's "Hardcore Visual Basic", and Microsoft's "Visual Basic Programmer's Guide".

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If You Program in Visual Basic, You'll Really Like This Book, August 5, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Ready-to-Run Visual Basic(r) Algorithms, 2nd Edition (Paperback)

Stacks, queues, linked lists, sparse arrays, balanced trees, numerous sorting algorithms, and much more. If you are now an intermediate level VB programmer, and then you read and understand this book from cover to cover, you will have raised your level of expertise by at least one level. Great stuff in this book - highly recommended.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars You won't find better for Visual Basic, January 18, 2000

By 

Maxime Bombardier - See all my reviews

This review is from: Ready-to-Run Visual Basic(r) Algorithms, 2nd Edition (Paperback)

It was the first book I took from Rod Stephens and I bought all his other one starting then so it gives you an idea.

It might be one of the only one doing algorithms with Visual Basic, but it's well written and you've got them all like all those C books.

A must at any point in any serious programming.