Sams Teach Yourself Visual Basic .NET in 24 Hours [Paperback]

James Foxall (Author)

Book Description

Series: Sams Teach Yourself...in 24 Hours | Publication Date: January 15, 2002

Teach Yourself Visual Basic.NET in 24 Hours provides readers with 24 structured lessons with step-by-step guidance to real-world tasks. Each chapter also contains exercises that reinforce the lessons learned in each chapter. Tips, Notes, and Cautions provide additional advice from the authors on how to get up-to-speed and programming quickly with Visual Basic.NET.

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

Microsoft's new .NET initiative represents either the golden future of web technologies or an insidious plot to take over the world. Either way, expect demand for titles on Visual Basic .NET, the update to Visual Basic 6 and a major component in the .NET framework. Microsoft's February release of Visual Studio .NET, which includes the new Visual Basic, makes these newer titles a better choice than earlier releases on .NET technologies (see Computer Media, LJ 7/01). The two Teach Yourself titles are characteristically thorough, practical introductions for new VB .NET programmers that include quizzes and exercises for self-paced learning. 21 Days is a bit more extensive in its coverage, especially of the .NET framework as a whole. Both are solid purchases for all public libraries. Assuming familiarity with Visual Basic 6 and focusing on the changes in the new .NET version, Programmer's Introduction is less basic. Programmer's Reference is a useful supplement, containing definitions and sample code for common applications. Each definition features a description, syntax, parameters, returns, code sample, and See also. Unleashed is the most comprehensive of these titles, with more coverage of advanced object-oriented programming and ASP. NET. These titles are more appropriate for larger libraries.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From the Back Cover

Teach Yourself Visual Basic.NET in 24 Hours provides readers with 24 structured lessons with step-by-step guidance to real-world tasks. Each chapter also contains exercises that reinforce the lessons learned in each chapter. Tips, Notes, and Cautions provide additional advice from the authors on how to get up-to-speed and programming quickly with Visual Basic.NET.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 508 pages
• Publisher: Pearson Education; 1st edition (January 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0672320800
• ISBN-13: 978-0672320804
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #621,712 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

James Foxall, President of Tigerpaw Software, has been involved in commercial software development for over 20 years and was instrumental in the development and creation of Tigerpaw's award winning product suite, serving over 28,000 users in 28 countries. In the 20+ years since joining his family's company full time, James has helped transform Tigerpaw Software from a small "garage" business to one that employs more than 44 people and produces business automation software servicing the IT/Networking, Telecommunications, and Systems Integrator industries. In his current role, James provides the vision and management to keep Tigerpaw focused on its customers and properly serving its markets.

James has a Masters degree in Business Administration and a BS degree in Management of Information Systems. These two degrees dovetail perfectly as James is devoted to creating better businesses through technology. James has written 14 books on technology which have been published in over a dozen languages around the world. He is considered an authority on application interface and behavior standards of Windows applications and serves the business community as an international speaker on Microsoft technologies and best practices for automating business processes in the SMB environment. Viewed as a business and technology expert, James has been featured on several television news shows, as well as in various trade publications and newspaper articles. James' goal for the future is to grow Tigerpaw by continuing to provide software and services that allow customers to not only meet their challenges, but to excel in a constantly changing market.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Needed more depth in the language, June 27, 2002

By 

Charles Ashbacher (Marion, Iowa United States) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Sams Teach Yourself Visual Basic .NET in 24 Hours (Paperback)

Your perspective on this book will depend on your background in VB. If you already know the language, then this book will be of no use to you.. This is a book for beginners, those who need their mouse manipulation hand held when they first see the IDE.
From that perspective, the book is minimally adequate, lacking any depth. The basics of the language are covered in a series of short exercises. Unfortunately, the emphasis is on the GUI objects available and there is very little code used in the examples. None of the programs does anything of substance, and there are few programs that involve more than one of the structures available in VB.
While the title emphasizes VB.NET, there is little in the book that is unique to the .NET iteration. Many of the exercises could easily be performed in version 6. The .NET version is the first one to be truly object-oriented, a major change, and yet very little space is devoted to the topic. Granted that it is a hard topic to understand, but given that that is now the fundamental structure of the language, it must be explained in detail.
While you can learn most of the features of VB.NET from this book, it does not cover enough of the object-oriented fundamentals that beginners need to know about the language.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Basics For Beginners, But Get The "Starter Kit" Version, July 24, 2003

By 

David Gurgel (Roseland, New Jersey United States) - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Sams Teach Yourself Visual Basic .NET in 24 Hours (Paperback)

This is a pleasant book (but now the wrong edition) for the beginner with no prior VB experience. Teaching is done via many VERY SIMPLE projects, and these cannot be done without Visual Studio. You want to buy the latest version "Sams Teach Yourself Microsoft Visual Basic .NET 2003 (VB .NET) in 24 Hours Complete Starter Kit" which includes a DVD with a trial version of the latest Visual Studio.

Projects are all for Windows Forms projects including one session on automating Excel (from a Windows form). Visual Basic.NET's most exciting use for many is for the code behind ASP.NET Web Forms when developing applications with a web browser user interface. The author does mention such use very briefly but offers no examples. There are many fine introductory books at this same beginner level on VB.NET and ASP.NET; so if web applications are where you are headed, this book will not be the best choice.

This book might be nice easy step up for someone moving from the Excel macro (VB for Applications, VBA) world into more general applications. If you are a professional but new to VB, the book can be completed in a week end; and you can then pass it on to a kid just getting into programming. As noted by another reader, the description of the language is too brief to give this book value as a reference.

Author James Foxall has many books to his credit and writes nicely. For the most part he eschews the silliness of many professionals writing "down" for beginners. There are a surprising number of editing mistakes, but nearly all of the code runs as presented.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars This book rocks!, July 9, 2002

By A Customer

This review is from: Sams Teach Yourself Visual Basic .NET in 24 Hours (Paperback)

This book taught me how to get going with VB.NET. You won't find anything really hardcore here. but if you're looking to quickly get up to speed on VB.NET, THIS BOOK IS FOR YOU! You'll be creating cool interfaces and programming objects in no time - well, 24 hours at least. lol :)

A+!