Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition For Dummies (For Dummies (Computers)) [Paperback]

Richard Mansfield (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 12, 2005 | ISBN-10: 0764597051 | ISBN-13: 978-0764597053

• This valuable and inexpensive resource is ideal for anyone who is new to programming and wants to learn the basics of Visual Basic without being overwhelmed by the complicated Visual Studio integrated development environment
• This back-to-basics book covers getting started with the featured "Starter Kits," learning practical programming , and developing applications
• Also shows how to use VB Express Edition with database and Web Programming

Editorial Reviews

From the Inside Flap

Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition on CD-ROM

• Begin developing applications today with a fully-functional version of Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition!
• Find out how to build cool Web sites quickly!
• Design fully-functional Windows applications!
• Add new skills to your toolbox by discovering how to program in Visual Basic

A For Dummies exclusive!

Special Getting Started CD-ROM includes

• More than 8 hours of video-based training that shows how you can build applications, including an RSS reader
• Additional references and resources to help you use VB Express
• Card Game Starter Kit
• Amazon-Enabled Movie Collection Starter Kit

A unique resource available only with this book! Everything you need to start building Web sites with Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition is right here!

From the Back Cover

Catch on quickly even if you're a novice programmer

Use cool VB Express tools to design databases and Windows® applications

If you just want to begin programming, not create a new deep space probe, this book is the place to start. VB Express was developed for novices, and this book explains the language in a language you'll recognize — English. In no time you'll be building professional-looking applications, creating Web pages, testing and deploying your programs, and more!

Discover how to:

• Use IntelliSense®, My object, and DataView
• Work with variables and arrays
• Organize data with tables, rows, and columns
• Take advantage of VB wizards and shortcuts
• Build Web sites that work

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 336 pages
• Publisher: For Dummies (December 12, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0764597051
• ISBN-13: 978-0764597053
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,588,588 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Very Simple Way to Start Programming, January 13, 2006

By 

John Matlock "Gunny" (Winnemucca, NV) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition For Dummies (For Dummies (Computers)) (Paperback)

Visual Basic has had a long and somewhat torturous history from being a simple clean language when it was introduced to becoming part of the .NET Framework (whatever that is) and getting much more complex. The Express Edition, as used in this book, seems to be an attempt to go back to their roots and make a clean simple language again.

This book is intended to be an introduction to programming for a complete beginner. It intends to take the beginner from plugging in the CD to getting a working program doing something. The applications he uses as examples are quite simple. They don't do much, but then again, they are intended for the complete beginner. And while simple they do discuss some things like interfacing to the web or to a database that can become parts of fairly serious applications.

The book is supplied with two CD's to assist in the programming challenge. Some of this is software, some of it is instructional video.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Battle Lines Are Drawn On This One!, December 7, 2007

By 

Bruce Kirkpatrick (the worktable on my boat) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition For Dummies (For Dummies (Computers)) (Paperback)

You know when you find a book with only very high and very low reviews that you are likely to love it or hate it. Most programming books are very detail/left brain oriented. Not surprising as the majority of programmers are as well. A few are right brain/big picture based. Either can be written at an introductory or advanced level. The problem is that if a left brain person reads a right brain type book they will hate it and vice versa. This book is one of the big picture/just what you need at the moment right brain books. This had also been the orientation and market positioning of VB since it's inception until .net and had made it the most used programming language going. Along the way the author does take many pot shots at Microsoft moving VB so far away from it's roots with .net. This move has indeed caused VB to lose ground in the market. Programmer thinking would appear to be "If the new VB is this hard to learn, I might as well work in another language that pays more." If shots at Microsoft bother you, you will have a problem with this book. The author feels that Microsoft has moved VB back towards it's roots with the Express edition. This would appear to be true.
One major slam this book has gotten is the lack of full blown line by line projects. Given the orientation of the book, this is probably a valid complaint. A right brainer might be oriented towards "Just give me the main building blocks, let me put them together the way I want, and discover the others later when I need them." This approach would likely leave everyone else stuck.
As someone who taught programming for over 10 years and now works in industry building data mining tools (primarily using MS products), I am very impressed with the content that WAS included in this book.
I believe that the addition of a couple more short end to end examples early on and a bit of moderation of the MS bashing (though justified) would have greatly expanded the position of this book as a mainstream "one stop shopping" introductory text. As it is, it is a great suppliment to one of the more dry "cookbook" type offerings that are out there everywhere.

Bruce Kirkpatrick
MCSE, MCSD, MCDBA, OCP, ...

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars No Examples?!?!, April 17, 2007

By 

Bizzle - See all my reviews

This review is from: Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition For Dummies (For Dummies (Computers)) (Paperback)

The book is great a explaining the items, but there are no examples to practice what you learn. I have always liked for dummies books, but this one lost my respect.