Visual Basic.NET: A Beginner's Guide (Beginner's Guide) [Paperback]

Jeff Kent (Author)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 0072131209 | ISBN-13: 978-0072131208 | Publication Date: February 26, 2002 | Edition: annotated edition

More than three million Visual Basic users will be seeking fundamental knowledge of Visual Basic.NET, a major overhaul to the language. It contains extensive coverage of the .NET integrated development environment, including Web services, object-oriented programming, debugging, and more. It contains a step-by-step learning tool for all the core topics - and helpful information on migrating existing projects to Visual Basic.NET. It delivers hands-on learning for the programming skills necessary to succeed in the e-business community.

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Essential Skills for First-Time Programmers

Discover the essential truths of programming languages, and take advantage of the particular benefits of the Visual Basic .NET development environment. Understand fundamental programming concepts such as variables, operators, control structures, loops, procedures, and arrays, then incorporate these concepts into a sophisticated graphical user interface. Learn to combine rapid application development--long a staple of Visual Basic--with complete object-oriented programming support. Explore advanced topics such as debugging, file access, and databases. Visual Basic .NET: A Beginner's Guide will give you a complete working knowledge of Visual Basic .NET, an essential component of the Visual Studio .NET suite.

This Beginner's Guide is Designed for Easy Learning:

• Modules--Each concept is divided into logical modules (chapters), ideal for individualized learning
• Goals--Each module opens with the specific skills you'll have by the end of the module
• Ask the Experts--Q&A sections throughout are filled with extra information and interesting commentary
• 1-Minute Drills--Quick self-assessment sections to check your progress
• Annotated Syntax--Example code annotated with commentary that points to the particular technique illustrated
• Projects--Exercises contained in each module show how to apply what you are learning
• Mastery Checks--End-of-module reviews that test your knowledge using short-answer, multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank, and simple coding questions

About the Author

Jeff Kent (Los Angeles, CA) is an assistant professor of computer science at Los Angeles Valley College. He teaches a number of programming languages, including Visual Basic, C++, and Java. In addition to teaching and other college duties, Jeff also manages a Windows NT network for a Los Angeles law firm and writes applications that integrate programming language applications, such as the Microsoft Office suite and Internet technologies. Jeff co-authored with David Jung Osborne's Visual Basic Annotated Archives.

Product Details

• Paperback: 422 pages
• Publisher: McGraw-Hill/OsborneMedia; annotated edition edition (February 26, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0072131209
• ISBN-13: 978-0072131208
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,171,837 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

21 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent for the beginner, skip if you have experience, July 8, 2003

By 

James Duckett (St. George, Utah) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Visual Basic.NET: A Beginner's Guide (Beginner's Guide) (Paperback)

If you are just getting into programming, or VB.NET programming, this is a great book to pick up.

This book starts with the absolute basics in programming and builds on it. It hits all of the fundamentals of programming, such as variables, their scope, if..then...else statements, loops, arrays, variable comparisons, etc.

This book doesn't get too advanced, though I did wish it would have touched on object oriented programming a little bit more. The earlier a beginner gets into OOP the better.

If you have programming experience, or experience with VB in general, pass this book up. You probably won't get so much (or anything) out of this book and there are better books to go to. As the title says, this is a beginner's guide.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Book for New Programmers, June 6, 2005

By 

Earl Whitney (West Chester, PA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Visual Basic.NET: A Beginner's Guide (Beginner's Guide) (Paperback)

I have been programming in Visual Basic .Net (for Windows) now for about 2 years. I began with this book and I recommend that others do the same. It is an excellent primer on the language and will get you up and going in a very short time.

The book begins with an explanation of what Visual Basic .Net is and an introduction to "object oriented programming." This simply refers to the visual objects you create, like buttons, check boxes, etc, that you often see in Windows applications or on the web. Each chapter provides a project for you to work on, allowing you to build your knowledge from chapter to chapter in this hands-on manner. At the end of each chapter is a "Mastery Check" which lists all of the things you should have learned in the chapter.

For those with any programming experience (even old guys like me with FORTRAN programming experience), picking up Visual Basic .Net will be relatively easy and very rewarding. I have programmed games for my 5th grade Sunday School class that the kids love to play, and I have programmed applications that allow me to work with large data files and generate output that I can manipulate further in Microsoft Excel. I have only scratched the surface; the possible applications are endless.

For me, the hardest part of learning to program in a .Net language was getting used to the "object oriented" part of the programming. The abundance of examples in this book helped me tremendously. Step-by-step examples and sample code are provided for each project. Even now, I often go back to this book as a refernece on how to do stuff right.

Finally, as the book's title implies, the material in this book is not exhaustive; however, it gets you started in the right direction. I strongly recommend that starting programmers and those new to Visual Basic .Net start with this book. In addition, I recommend that you get one of the books in the Deitel series for more intense learning and the Visual Basic .Net Language Reference published by Microsoft. Together, these 3 books will get you going and keep you going. As far as the programming language itself, look for an academic version instead of buying directly from Microsoft, and you can save a fair amount of money. Good luck!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Great Book for Beginner's to .Net and programming, February 1, 2006

By 

Aseiu P. - See all my reviews

This review is from: Visual Basic.NET: A Beginner's Guide (Beginner's Guide) (Paperback)

If you are new to programming, I would definitely recommend this book. I thought Chapters 1-9 were great and easy to understand. There were some errors in the later chapters in the practice code.

If you are a programmer I would recommend picking something else...