Visual Basic 2005 Express: Now Playing (Book and CD edition) (Paperback)

by Wallace Wang (Author) "Before you can create a Visual Basic program, you must first create a project and decide where you want to store it..." (more)
Key Phrases: ellipsis button that appears, chosen menu title, mouse over the form, Visual Basic Express, Private Sub, Close Project (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Review
"A great starting point where the novice developer can learn about the tool and the language." -- Level Extreme .NET Magazine, May 2006

"Good layout which takes the learner through practical examples throughout." -- DesktopEngineer.com, April 14, 2006

"If you aspire to be a programmer in Visual Basic 2005, this book will be a huge help." -- Devcity, May 14, 2006

"It is very well illustrated; a big plus for a beginner's book." -- Dot Net Expertise, May 7, 2006

Product Description
A beginner’s guide to Visual Basic 2005 Express with a twist—short movies on CD-ROM that show exactly how to write programs. Best-selling author Wallace Wang explains not just how to do things but also why, making this book perfect for novice programmers. Visual Basic 2005 Express: Now Playing starts with a short primer on the general principles of computer programming, so readers will grasp the fundamentals and then apply them to Visual Basic Express. The first CD includes numerous short source code examples that readers can run and modify, along with movies demonstrating how to accomplish specific tasks; the second CD contains a full working version of Visual Basic Express.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 480 pages
• Publisher: No Starch Press (March 15, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1593270593
• ISBN-13: 978-1593270599
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 7 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.8 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #353,843 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful VB 2005 Learning Tool, August 25, 2006

By	Daniel McKinnon (Tewksbury, MA USA) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)

'Visual Basic 2005 Express: Now Playing' is a wonderful starter book for anyone that is new to Visual Basic and wants to quickly get their feet wet and start rapidly developing applications which can do more than you might have ever expected! Written in a nice, easy to follow style by Wallace Wang, this text has the typical No Starch design which is not only easy on the eyes but the brain as well. Logically separated out into 30 chapters (this might sound like a lot but I assure you it's not overpowering), this book assumes that you have little to no programming experience, and it won't have you running in the other direction like some other 1,000 page books might, covered front to back in terms and words that are truly overkill.

If you are new to programming with Visual Basic or want to learn about some of the new features that are part of the 2005 API, pick up this text and you'll be programming in no time!!

***** HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent Starter Book, June 19, 2006

By	G. Mead "gedmead99" (Scotland) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

If you are a complete newcomer to programming, you should seriously consider getting a copy of this book. It never loses sight of the fact that beginners don't always "get it" first time, every time and it uses non-technical explanations and good learning reinforcement techniques to show you the skills in the easiest, least complicated way possible.

The author Wallace Wang sets out his view in this way: "This book is dedicated to everyone who didn't
have the "right" education, test scores or job skills, but wound up succeeding at their chosen goal anyway. If you want to learn or do anything in your life, such as learn to program a computer, go ahead and do it and don't let anyone ever tell you otherwise."

This is a clearly written, well structured book that will be very useful to you if you are a newcomer to programming in general or to Visual Basic in particular. It won't be your last book on the subject, but it is an excellent starter manual and will certainly take you a fair way down the road .

Each chapter in this book contains enough detail to cover the important basics of a topic, but without overwhelming you with too much information.

Knuckle down for a few days with this book, read the detailed and understandable explanations, try out the code samples in the book and on the CD, run the Flash movies for additional help. Do that conscientiously and you will come out the other end with a good grasp of the fundamentals of VB2005 on which you can build further.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Even though it's on VB, it's still great, August 7, 2006

By	William G. Ryan "Uber Book Nerd" (Atlanta, GA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

Ok, perhaps my title was a bit flippant but this is a really killer book. It's more of a mid level or beginners book but even seasoned developers will find it a good refresher and there's a lot of good stuff in it.

The strenght of the book is the writing - he does as excellent job discussing everything clearly and concisely. Definitely a book that makes you want to keep reading it.

Overall, even though I'm not a big VB.NET guy (I bought it as a reference for those VB.NET projects i get occassionally) I loved it. I'd gladly buy anything else this author wrote.