Customer Reviews

Teach Yourself Visual InterDev 6 in 24 Hours with Disk (Sams Teach Yourself...in 24 Hours)

5 star:		(23)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

As you can see from my track record, I very rarely publicly endorse any specific book. However, this is definitely a "must have" text for anyone needing to "ramp up" quickly on Visual InterDev (VID). Having read this book cover to cover, I can guarantee you that with this text, you will be writing professional applications in the shortest time frame possible.

VID is one of the most powerful tools in a Web developers arsenal. Veteran developer, Tom Archer, covers the range of VID and Web development topics, and gives them to you in easily-digestible sections with clear and easy-to-understand explanations.

One of the things that I enjoyed most about this book is that you don't get short changed on the most important aspect of Web development: database. To that extent, Mr. Archer not only covers the issues of writing "straight" ADO code, but also fully explains how to use the new Database Environment (DE) and the data-bound Design-Time Controls (DTCs).

In addition, you will receive lessons on topics such as integrating multimedia, creating client and Web server scripts (VBScript & JScript), creating Active Server Pages (ASPs), writing scriptlets, tracking and maintaining user information (using database techniques as well as cookies), creating database queries and stored procedures and of course, Web site security.

If you're just starting out with Web development, or with Visual InterDev, then this book is for you.

Rick Leinecker

This book was the perfect book to getting me started with Visual InterDev! Definitely pay attention to the title, because this book is for beginners (hence the 24 hour title). However, for someone like myself who never understood just how powerful Visual InterDev can be, I'm completely satisified with the hands-on, tutorial approach taken in this book.

In fact, I almost hate saying that this book is a beginner-level only book becuase it does cover some topics (e.g., scriptlets, data environment, etc.) that not even the "more advanced" books cover.

I was especially pleased with the fact that I could pick this book up and without having to read every single chapter, jumpt to the chapters of interest and immediately start writing applications. Two days after I purchased this book, I already had a simple Timesheet and Hour Logging Web application written using Active Server Pages, ADO, VBScript, and scriptlets (for validation).

I definitely recommend this book to anyone that has bought one of those "sold by the pound" books only to subsequently use them as door stops.

Tom Archer's book is probably the best value you can get about VID. The reasons:

Many people who want to learn VID already have experiences using VB, SQL, or other software packages. This book tells almost all the basics you want to know -- setting up a website with VID, cascading style sheets, version control with SourceSafe, ASP, ADO, secured websites -- and this book is concise. It doesn't waste time on fluffy stuff. You can get up-to-speed with VID in a few hours, literally.

Some other VID books boast "in-depth coverage" of VID, but I think they are delusive. You probably need "in-depth coverage" of other specific topics -- ASP, IIS, MTS, JavaScript -- but not of VID. VID is just an editing tool to glue together ASP, CSS, MTS, etc. If you see a VID book thicker than 800 pages, then I doubt the real value of it.

Just a few drawbacks with Tom Archer's book -- Tom also tries to show how non-programmers can pick up VID and create a professional website in a few hours. But do you really believe (or trust) a non-programmer to write an ASP, link it up with a SQL Server, and put it on your corporate web server? Some times I felt Tom lost focus on target audience.

To summarize, this book gives you a good value so that you get the basics of VID in a few hours, then jump deeper into other topics later on -- ASP, IIS or MTS.

This is an excellent book. If you need to learn Visual Interdev, then this is the book to start with the right foot. Covers: JavaScript, VBScript, Introduction to DHTML, Cascading Styles, ASP with VBScript, Database management with SQL Server and some other cool stuff. The book and narrative is good to follow. This is a winner and it will be always with my library.

A great book. It provides you with concise explanations and step-by-step instructions on the basics of using Visual Interdev, as well as an introduction to ASP, ADO and SQL. Tom writes in a relaxed fashion that's easy to read and simple to follow, yet conveys a great deal of useful easily digested information.

Being a developer, I think I have a slightly different take on computer books than the "PhD" that wrote one of the reviews. The reviewer there spoke of thing such as "absence of vocal inflection" and other nonsense. Sorry, but I don't know what that means and don't care to. When I purchase a book to learn a programming language or tool, I care about 2 things: the author's knowledge and his ability to convey that to me.

I have to give this book 5 starts because Mr. Archer definitely comes through in both those areas. How can I say that this book is that good? I use a very simple yet effective barometer. After reading this book, did I know more than when I started? The answer is a resounding YES! When I first cracked this book, I didn't have the first clue as what Visual InterDev even is. To give you an idea of how good the book is, I have just completed my THIRD Web site in two months using what I've learned from this book! I don't mean to brag but personal experience is always the best testimonial!

The only caveats I'll add are these: 1) Some samples don't work. I didn't take "points" away for this for the simple reason that Mr. Archer was extremely patient and helpful in guiding me "one-on-one" to get them to work. 2) This book is a *Visual InterDev* book. Therefore, it will get you started in the use of things like DHTML, CSS, script, etc. with regards to VID, but obviously to cover every technology that can be used with VID would take about 3,000 pages! Therefore, except in a very elemenatry fashion, the book only covers those areas with regards to how to make them work within the context of VID.

Having said all that, in summary I would say that if you are a beginner to Visual InterDev and want to ramp up quickly on the subject of creating Web sites and Web applications, then this is the book to purchase. (My clients can surly attest to that :) Then as you go through this book, you can decide what other technologies you'll be using extensively in your Web development and purchase more advanced books focusing on those technologies.

The author describes himself as a good programmer, not a good writer. He's half right, at least. There is no indication that Archer has the minimum necessary skills to teach any subject. For example, he'll start off a subject with hands-on steps (which I think are required for a book like this), then he'll give up half way through and just describe the rest(in a confusing way), without any tutorial instructions.

I just finished Hour 3, and the first Quiz question at the end of the chapter is "How are layouts and navigation bars related?". That's a good question, but I couldn't answer it because Archer says nothing about layouts in this chapter.

As for teaching bad things, he shows us a CodeGuru page and asks us to notice "how the underlining of key text helps draw attention to it." Underlining should be reserved for links, not "key text"!

Although I'm a Microsoft fan (especially their UIs), Archer's cheerleading for how cool VI is gets tiresome.

Introductory books need to be written by people who are good at teaching, as well as knowing the product well enough to offer nonobvious tips. I haven't yet seen any of the latter, but the former is sadly absent.

(I hate reading a negative review that doesn't offer suggestions for better books, but this is the first Visual InterDev book I've read.)

I didn't expect much from a "24 hour" book, but after browsing through it at the store and not finding another VID book that covered what I cared about very well (ASPs and database) I decided to take a chance.

My findings: Very well done! The tag line for the book is a bit silly ("When you only have time for the answers"). However, the author's no-nonsense approach to getting you from point A to point B very quickly is *exactly* what I needed. I learned more in a couple of hours from this book that I did in days with the Visual InterDev Bible and the Visual InterDev Unleashed book.

Definetely recommended!!

As a developer using VB And VC++ from Visual Studio 6 I purchased this book to get a quick start on the Interdev product and IDE. The book starts out pretty good. Introduces the VI IDE, projects, functions, basics and how to use with good effective lessons quickly. Chapters/Hours 1 thur 8 pretty good and accurate. Good Forms, Scripting, Handlers/Events, ClientSide/ServerSide lessons and they do teach and work you out using the VI IDE.. About Chapter 9 and 10, errors and non working lessons start creaping in. Never could get the Dynamic Menu Bars(Ch 9) to work, or WaterMarks(ch 9), or Scriptlets(ch 10)... as they were written... The debugging and database(ADO) chapters/lessons start working again so you pick up some benifit there, but again not exactly as the example is written... Over all, about half are skills expanding lessons that work... others are a bit exasperating and require debug due to syntax and editing errors/omissions. Must say I'm on Win 2000 Server with IIS 5... The CD install didn't work correctly on 2000(hangs in a loop), and some syntax doesn't work( like using vbCR in write method). It did teach and get me using VI... but needs clean up of accuracy, editing, details and better lessons in the last half... Should really give it a 4 cause it got me about half way with VI for a reasonable price...

Excellent book. This book goes right to the point without any unnecessary stories. As an experienced VB & VC++ developer with an MCSD, I needed a book that could teach me VID in a very short period of time and I am totally satisfied with it.Another good thing about this book is its portable and starts from ground zero to give you all the basics with plenty of short examples. I strongly recommend this book to anyone new to the VID.