Customer Reviews

Special Edition Using Visual Basic.NET

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I've been a VB programmer for the past 5 years and was looking for a book to learn the new features of VB.NET. I think the problem with this book is it tried to cover all the areas of VB.NET for all levels of developers. For example, Section II on VB Programming Fundamentals (Chapters 6,7,8) would be of little use for experienced developers. On the other hand, there are some areas that were not covered at all. For example, items like the TreeView and ListView controls were not discussed on how they've been changed in .NET.

On the positive side, this was the only book I found that covered the use of Crystal Reports inside VB.NET, plus working with other applications such as MS Excel and Word. Also, the section on Tips on Conversion from VB6 is a usefull checklist.

Overall, this book is probably better suited for the entry level to intermediate programmer. For more experienced programmers, it would best serve as a quick start guide for the concepts covered in this book.

For someone like me with a VB and ASP background, this book has been perfect. Each subject is first briefly introduced with some basic information and then the author moves forward quickly covering intermediate to advanced stuff, all of the time focusing on practical everyday programming tasks. The author knows what is important and of interest to a programmer, and time and time again, questions that arise in your mind while reading a sentence are answered clearly and straight to the point in the next few sentences. The book is wery well written in a relaxed, friendly style. 5 stars for sure.

This book is easy to read, and it has a lot of useful information, but the fact is that the book sucks for beginers. Hear me out. I've started this book and it immediately jumps into two semi-complex programs that are about a page long with all sorts of stuff that gets NO specific explanation. I thought, okay it will get better. You don't even get to the actualy coding until page 140. The coverage of the compiler is nice and all, but this book goes into advances topics without explaining the basics. You are left dumbfounded as example after example uses functions etc that the author doesn't even try to partially explain. A lot of quick tips are given and small isolated examples of functions, but this book is not a tutorial for a beginner. This book is more of a "pretty good" review of vb.net for an already intermediate visual basic programmer. I'm going to need another book or to find some really good tutorials on the net because this book is just leaving me confused.

Full of typos. Most are obvious (e.g. variable names not matching declarations) and show lack of proof-reading. It is merely annoying that many code samples don't match the hard-to-read screen shots (why show me a screen shot if it is hard to read and not a match?).

They throw in many code items not yet explained. I understand some are inevitable but many are avoidable. The exercises in a good book should reinforce on what is already taught, not confuse the reader with advanced garbage. For example, the "pop-up ad blocker" exercise is chock full of Windows API calls way ahead of the coding explanation. A more appropriate alternate exercise could be imagined. The authors want to impress us with what VB .NET is capable of instead of just grinding through the basics. I can read the VB help files if I want to be dazzled and confused.

They do not give enough guidelines on acceptable coding practice and alternate methods. For example, in an "If...Then" section they use a code snippet that sets a Boolean variable in the block code. Why not also show the If argument can be directly assigned to a Boolean? And then they could make a point of saying this is doable but frowned upon for reasons of clarity?

Also, in general, not enough exercises. I need the drill-instructor approach. Otherwise I just read the text and don't absorb it enough.

The typesetting is acceptable but I am not enthusiastic about their choices.

I am disappointed. There is no way to detect most of these flaws by skimming on the bookstand, only by working through the book.

Special Edition Using... books are usually good, if not dense, reference materials for the computer programmer. As we try to get up to speed with the .NET platform, there are two kinds of books to look at - the step by step instructional books, and then the topical reference books. This book falls into the latter category - it is an excellent informative guide book to grab and refer to when trying to accomplish a task. You're not going to most likely try to read it cover to cover, but you will find yourself immersed in a chapter here and there to help clarify what you are trying to do. The authors take the time to spell out what is new in VB.NET as opposed to VB6 - and there is enough subtle changes to make your head spin. This book is indispensable in the job of moving to a new technology. This deserves a space on most programmer's shelves.

I purchased Visual Basic.NET for my job - they want a database
interface for our intranet. After I bought the software, I went to a local bookstore and spent several hours looking for books on VB.NET. The only book that was worth the money was "Special Edition - Using Microsoft Visual Basic .NET". Brian Siler and Jeff Spotts have put together a clear and informative book that will save me more time than I can imagine. I can't tell you how much I learned in the first week. I have no experience in Visual Basic. I started from scratch and this book has given me confidence and enthusiasm for the projects ahead. Thank you for making this easier.

This I the second book I have read by Brian Siler & Jeff Spotts,both are excellent ,they cover everything and in easy to follow language,there code is great and make it very easy to follow.
This is a must read if you are studying or using VB.net
Great Job!!!

Easy to follow and lots of stuff. More examples and step by step approach compared to visual basic 6 by the same authors. Would be quite difficult for a fresh beginner. I was able to launch my web program using webforms quite fast. Much better than visual basic.net deitel developer series. A very good buy.

I found this book very informative and here are my comments:

The positive points:
* Good coverage of VB.Net features
* There are 'good basic examples' on advanced topics like .Net Remoting, Printing, File Handling, creating your own controls, Crystal Reports etc.
* The source code can be downloaded from the publisher site. So you can always have the author's code for reference (so I did not bother much about typos)
* Database section was well covered in 3 chapters (from a beginner perspective)

Negative Points:
* The section on ASP.Net web programming is ok.
* I wish they had covered in more detail the advanced topics like Remoting.
* Multithreading is not touched in the book.
* Network Programming too is not covered

Overall a decent book to read the first time and to understand the concepts, considering that advanced topics require books of their own :)

This not a VB.NET-Book but a rewritten VB6-book. The authors did not show the new ways to develop .NET-Software.