Visual Basic .NET Unleashed (Paperback)

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Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Aimed at the more experienced developer, Visual Basic .NET Unleashed will let you master the improved object-oriented capabilities of the newest version of Visual Basic quickly. Stressing "refactoring" and advanced class design features, this challenging tutorial proves that VB .NET is in the front rank of object-oriented programming languages today. The expert focus here on language features and refactoring (for efficient class design) is the hallmark of this text.

After an in-depth tutorial on the new IDE available in Visual Studio .NET, the author digs in with a fast-moving tour of VB .NET language features (including coverage of changes from VB6). The text starts with basic and then advanced topics, but its real emphasis is on advanced class design using classes and interfaces, with some excellent material on inheritance and polymorphism, as well as taking advantage of VB .NET's support for properties and reflection, among other topics. By continually advising how to rewrite classes to improve their maintainability, the author raises the bar here by presenting some tips and best practices beyond the obvious, using techniques invented by the Extreme Programming (XP) movement.

Later chapters turn to the basics of using Windows Forms and graphics programming (with GDI+), as well as ADO.NET for building database-driven Web applications. The book finishes with a nicely comprehensive listing of all VB6 to VB .NET changes, an invaluable resource for those making this transition.

If you are going to learn to design with objects, you might as well learn to do it right, this guide argues, using the expertise garnered from other programming languages. In all, this title shows how VB .NET supports basic and advanced object-oriented design features. It will be most profitably read by those with some previous object-oriented programming experience, though it will also benefit the beginner who wants to be challenged with some expert advice to get the most out of the new object support available in VB .NET. --Richard Dragan

Topics covered: In-depth introduction to the Visual Studio .NET IDE (including common project tasks, configuration options, debugging, and built-in views), VB6 versus VB .NET language tutorial (including new .NET data types, variables, arrays, collections, and exception handling); extending VS .NET with macros (including Add-ins and Wizards), procedures and parameters, recursion, structures, enumerated types, reflection APIs, object-oriented design tutorial, (classes, access specifiers, properties, methods, nested classes), events in VB .NET: delegates and event handlers, inheritance and polymorphism (including interfaces), shared members, attributes (plus custom attributes); VB .NET console applications (debugging and running applications), multithreaded applications (lightweight and heavyweight threading), introduction to Windows Forms, GDI+ graphics (including basic shapes, curves and Bezier splines and images), tutorial for Web services (UDDI, DISCO, building and debugging Web services); basic Web programming with ASP.NET and ADO.NET, writing to the event log, list of changes between VB6 and VB .NET, refactoring VB code, and advice for effective object-oriented programming.

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.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 784 pages
• Publisher: Sams (January 27, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 067232234X
• ISBN-13: 978-0672322341
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7.2 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,108,131 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars No ADO, are you kidding me?, May 6, 2004

By A Customer

you have to be kidding me. how do you have a book called "unleashed" and then not even go into any database usage? i dont think i have ever had to write an application that did not include some type of database usage, yet the author does not even cover it. nor does he go into forms in any detail except when it comes to web forms. where are the 2 pages it would have taken to detail how to populate a listBox? i bought this book off a sidewalk vendor for half price and i got ripped off.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars There's Nothing to be unleashed! BAD BOOK, February 15, 2004

By A Customer

The Title says "Visual Basic .Net Unleashed"... what a title? if you want to learn Visual Basic .Net, don't buy this book. Can we use definitions in writing programs? I don't think so. I bought this book because of its title but when i started reading it, its only full of definitions, less examples.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A very highly recommended instructional and reference book, September 6, 2002

By	Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA) - See all my reviews

Visual Basic.NET Unleashed by computer expert Paul Kimmel is a complete, "user friendly", very highly recommended instructional and reference book on the fundamentals of programming with a fully object-oriented language filled with new idioms and capabilities. In addition to the fundamentals, Visual Basic.NET Unleashed covers: free threading and multithreading; inheritance; virtual methods and shared methods; structured exception handling; event handling; encapsulation at the namespace level; Web Services; and NET Framework compatibility. User Level: Beginning-Intermediate, 850 pages.