Customer Reviews

Visual Basic 6 from the Ground Up

5 star:		(22)
4 star:		(14)
3 star:		(10)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(4)

 

 

A word of caution...this is not a beginner's book. The title is misleading in that it sounds as though one can simply pick up this book and "presto" learn VB6. I found this an excellent SECOND VB6 book. I am not a programmer by trade but nonetheless hold several advanced degrees...i.e., I not THAT stupid!. I found the first 200 pages to be easy to follow and very helpful. After this, however, I quickly was lost. Cornell doesn't supply enough examples of when you might use a programming technique. At times the book simply supplies a laundry list of items..i.e., "intrinsic functions", etc. Many other topics are covered in rather vague terms (at least for the beginner). The chapter on databases discusses only DAO, a soon-to-be obsolete technology, instead of ADO. On the positive side, once I learned a bit more VB6 (I read Peter Wright's "Beginning Visual Basic 6.0"), Cornell's book actually became helpful. If one has a reasonable grasp of VB, then the author provides some valuable programming tips, etc. Thus, if already have some experience with VB or another programming language, this is a reasonable book. If you are truly a NOVICE, however, I'd recommend you spend your money elsewhere.

Cornell's book is very detailed and he tries to explain all the concepts well. He doesn't just show you how to program, he tries to make you a good programmer by demonstrating good programming techniques and giving useful tips which I haven't found in other books. The book covers a lot of ground and is good value.

However, he teaches badly. The chapter on variables is confusing, for example the usage of the variable identifier, and how it differs from the Dim statements. The chapters often leave the reader with questions such as "What if..." or "Why doesn't..." although Cornell does seem to explain in much more depth than other writers.

He overwhelms the reader with so much information but gives very little opportunity to practise using fully working practical examples. This frustrated and bored me. He ought to include some examples of how and why you use all the concepts. Sometimes I wonder, "When would I need to use that? Come on, give me a demo project!"

It is a shame that such an informative and detailed book is let down by poor teaching methods and lack of examples. Otherwise it is a very good book.

If given the opportunity, I would have Mr. Cornell go back and make the entire manual flow like the first six chapters. I was fairly confident as I waded through those first chapters because the author proceeded slowly and explained everything. Then, all of a sudden, it seemed like a different writer took over.

The book is also extremely wordy. Not a good attribute for a manual like this. I think the people using this manual want to find information fast and read it fast. Instead, you have to wade through miles and miles of verbage to pick out what you need.

There are also too many tips, notes, and cautions. They get in the way. As a reader, you start ignoring them after awhile.

Mr. Cornell is obviously very knowledgeable. He provides lots of helpful hints to improve efficiency. This is just not an appropriate book for beginners.

I am not new to IT, and I have read quite a large amount of IT books. This is the first IT book that I have paid for, and did not finish.

The beginning is just OK, while it is some basic introduction to VB and the environment. This book is somewhat tried to be detailed, and with lots of info about different controls.

However, it fails. The description (of the control) is not precise, and they are wordy. After reading the description, it is still impossible to understand what it is for. You can only understand by doing experiment on the control.

As a result, this book is long, and very dry. I have totally lost my interest in finishing the book. AND, each page of the is FULL of words. Spacing makes it harder to read. Or otherwise the book might be around 1500 pages with good size of font and spacing.

Yes, I am a MCSE, CCNA and MCDBA. I am also a programmer and an administrator. I mention it because someone might think I can't read IT books. The problem is, it's not a good one for Visual Basic. If someone in Brisbane could be bothered to buy the book, I am happy to sell it. Haha...

I have to agree with everyone else who reviewed this book below. I'm a C programmer new to VB and needed a VB beginner book. A friend of mine who's a VB programmer recommended this one to me. I found it to be one of the best computer programming books i've ever read. Excellent presentation, code examples, and explanations. After reading this book I was able to understand why this author has won the Visual Basic Programmer's Journal reader's choice award. Excellent book!

Employs a wonderful progressive teaching style, wherein one chapter builds logically upon the next. Uses plain English to describe new concepts and doesn't assume too much. Reviewers who can't follow the book may just have to admit they don't have much of an aptitude for programming and seek another discipline to pursue. I picked this book up as a novice and am now working profesionally as a Visual Basic Programmer. Thank you for a wonderful book!!! When I say it's the best Learn VB book out there, that's coming from someone who knows. I've gone through a half dozen and either they're so basic that you never get anywhere or else they assume so much and leave so many gaps that you're lost. This book finds the golden mean par excellence. PS -- I don't know and have never met the author.

After buying the book and spending a lot of time reading,I only picked up some little ideas, alhough I'm not a novice programmer and have been using visual basic 6 occasionally, I find this book un-appealing. Some pages are distorted with icons appearing which makes the page unreadable. The binding is poor, the pages and the book in general is too bulky, and focuses much on graphics object. The book discusses some note on database programming, but it failed to highlight the most important parts like ADO and multiple table joins. If you really need to have a book for self-studying and have lots of money to spend, I suggest you buy Sam's Teach yourself visual basic 6 in 21 days to get your money's worth. Gary Cornell failed to lay out the foundations of Visual Basic to some novice programmers like my friends. I should know because I've been monitoring their progress .

I found this to be a very good book, covering a wide range of VB topics. Beginners beware though, the book is not infallible- Their are errors in both the text and in the code. The downloaded code from OSBORNE.com also has errors in it (some projects are even missing their .frm fils). The erratta posted on osborned site for this book is a joke. It corrects two minor errors, which dont really affect learning, while leaving some larger problems undocumented. Despite this, I would rec. this book, although I would look at half price books for it before paying 27.

I got lost from the chapter about Array - had to seek for helps online in order to continued- again - get lost on OOP , and several later chapters. But eventually - did read throughout the book. It is worth to mention that Mr. Cornell is a nice author for replying all the questions I sent to him via e-mail.

However, this book - or should I say Visual Basic is a great start place for programming. Right now I am learning C++ and at least able to understand what looping, array and recursive mean.

Some suggestions I have to improve this book

1. Capture the screen output and put it next to the code example

2. More code examples and put analysis on each of them- I hate reading definitions alone, want to see some action by running the code :o)

3. Have a Summary at the end of each chapter -

4. Have a CD that contains these code examples (People who don't have access to the Internet can't get these examples from osborne website.)

Perhaps this book would prove useful to an experienced programmer, but for a novice it is not a good choice. Cornell "assumes no previous programming experience", then goes on to write in huge, sweeping generalities without adequate explanations. Also, the code in the book is often written so the reader cannot fathom the type of event the code is associated with, and no explanations are forthcoming in the body of the text.
There really is a lot covered in this book, but unless you do indeed have "previous programming experience", not worth the cash.