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Summary: If only there was a C# book of similar quality
Review: I use VB.NET every day and regularly refer to this book for tips, techniques, and explanation of concepts. I use it so much that it's starting to get worn out. As a long time VB6 developer I similarly wore out my copy of Balena's earlier book, "Programming Visual Basic 6.0".This is a HUGE book (1500+ pages), but unlike a lot of similar tomes there is not one wasted page. Every bit of it is good, useful material. It is aimed primarily at experienced VB6 programmers who want to move to .NET, so unless you already know VB6 pretty well you may find some of his explanations hard to follow. If you DO know VB6 and want to move to .NET, this book will get you there more effectively than any other book on the market - bar none. I've read a lot of .NET books, so I know what I'm talking about. This is not a re-write of his earlier VB6 book. It is completely new. In fact, wherever VB.NET remains unchanged from VB6 Mr. Balena refers to chapters in his old book (which is included in electronic form on the CD). This is the only "flaw" I've found in this book, as I sometimes have to examine both books to get a complete picture of certain subjects. This book covers .NET well enough that even a C# programmer could benefit from it. ADO.NET, ASP.NET, WinForms, XML Web Services, Assemblies and Appdomains, Reflection, Regular Expressions, Delegates, Threading, GDI - all that and more are covered thoroughly and with lots of good code examples. The code examples are generally of high quality, and they illustrate clever tricks and techniques that will prove useful in day to day programming tasks. The code alone is worth the price of the book. Francesco Balena's writing style is easy to follow. He covers the subject in a clear, businesslike manner that is neither overly dry nor overly frivolous. Long story short: this is one of the best technical books I've ever owned, and when my copy of this book completely wears out I will buy a new one. Now if only I could find a book that covers C# as well as this one covers VB...
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Summary: Amazing Book
Review: This is the best programming book I have ever read. 1600 of pages of intelligent descriptions and code examples. First you learn the VB.NET language, then you dive into chapters that cover a specific realms like Attributes, Threading, Win32, ADO.NET, ASP.NET, and alot more. As big as the book is, it does not cover everything and I dont think any book could. Hopefully the author comes up with a volumn II book that covers Network classes, Remoting, and more. Note that this book is not for the faint, I would recommend reading a beginners VB.NET book. If you have VB6 experience then you will adjust real quickly because this book highlights the differences in comparison to VB.NET. In fact there are alot of VB6 examples side-by-side w/ VB.NET examples. As a bonus the book comes with a cd that contains Franscesco's VB 6 book. There will be many times the VB.NET book will point you to a chapter in that VB 6 book.
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Summary: GOOD PRICE
Review: Fairleigh Dickinson University | ASP Developer YOU WILL NEED IT
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Summary: Wow Wow, it's all in this book
Review: This is one of the best VB.NET book I read. It's not a lesson book who at the end you have a ready to use application. It's a bit more theorical and hard to read. I read it two times(second more rapidly) to understand vet complex stuff and new notion like reflection, namespaces and so on... The author do not talk about remoting but it's more a .NET technique than a VB.NET technique. But in general everything and much more (ASP.NET, ADO.NET...) are covered. So go now to the library and buy this gem.
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Summary: Core Reference olmayi hak ediyor.
Review: Yeni baslayanlar icin zor bir kitap olabilir. Baslarda vazgecebilirsiniz ama kendinize zaman vermenizde fayda var. Cunku visual basic adina gercek bir kaynak olmayi hak ediyor. Yazar vb6 bildiginizi varsayiyor. Sayet benim gibi tam bir acemi iseniz bu kitap sizi korkutabilir. Sakin vazgecmeyin. Hem .Net'e hem de VB.NET'e asinalik kazandikca ve programlama bilginizi gelistirdikce kafaniza takilanlarin kitapta oldugunu goreceksiniz. Bu nedenle baslari zordur. Tavsiyem, ozellikle VS.NET MSDN yardim dosyalariyla konulara hazirlik yapmaniz. Sayet yuzmeyi bilmiyorsaniz, bu kitapla tek bir sansiniz var; yuzmeyi ogrenmek, aksi takdirde bogulursunuz.
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Summary: Pays For Itself Many Times Over
Review: This book has paid for itself in productivity many times over for me. I recommend it to all VB5-6 developers moving to .NET. In 22 years of reading computer programming books, this is one of the best I've found. It doesn't cover everything (for example, I found that I needed to buy the Visual Basic .NET Deployment Handbook from Wrox [which is now out of business I think]) but it covers 80-90% of what most developers will need. I read the first 1100 pages and skimmed other parts of the rest as needed. It's a great reference. I can find things in it faster than I can google them in most cases.
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Summary: Good Intermediate Book
Review: This is a book for those of you wanting a relatively broad overview of programming in Visual Basic .NET. The author does go into a good amount of detail in the topics covered. If you are just getting started with VB.NET, I would recommend first reading Visual Basic .NET Step-by-Step, 2003 Edition . (I know, normally I do not like Step-by-Step books, but it is a fair introduction to the topic.) If you are an advanced user, you probably will skim the book and use it as a reference. Remember that this book is tool-specific, this book is not designed to teach advanced programming topics such algorithms, etc.
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Summary: Great reference for all, best start for a VB6 programmer
Review: The book is excellent, but let me explain why I feel it fails to deliver. First off, if you are already a VB .NET programmer and you want a quick reference of near anything, you found your book. If you are an experienced VB6 programmer moving to .NET, this book will get you up to speed and writing excellent code VERY quickly. I fit neither of those categories. I joined a company out of college with only C/C++ and Java experience and my first project was a VB.NET project. I bought this book, since I figured such an exhaustive book would cover the entirety of the language and was at first satisfied, but as I reached the Windows Forms chapters (the ones most important to my job) I was very disappointed. VB.NET is a massive topic, and to save space the author frequently references his VB6 book instead of covering a topic in this one. The companion CD is supposed to have a copy of the VB6 book on it, but mine didn't. In particular, the controls reference is VERY short, as he says not much has changed in a lot of controls since VB6. That's great, but I'm disappointed to find that there are no real texts on the market that cover VB.NET for a new VB programmer. Had the book been on the CD, I would have given it 4 stars, but I still don't think it was wise to skim topics. So if you know VB6 well already, get this book, it will be great for you. If you are already proficient with C#, I believe you will quickly be able to learn VB.NET from this book. If you have no VB or .NET experience at all, it may be best to wait if possible until VB6 is more fully phased out and a better beginners' text has been written.
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Summary: Excellent Reference Book
Review: I bought this book in 2003 and have used it in conjunction with other VB.NET books. I have found the book to be very helpful when developing applications and have to twist my code for one reason or another. Francesco Balena's little snippets drive the point home very quickly. Although i am a beginning programmer i have managed to write some fairly complex code using quite a number of ideas from Balena's book. I recommend this book to anyone who develops VB.NET applications and would like a book for reference. It assumes though that you have some experience with VB.NET.
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Summary: So much covered, completely and clearly - but problem w/CD
Review: Very impressed with how much is covered so completely and clearly. My only problem I have is not with the book but with the CD - it's suppose to have an electronic version of VB.6, but it's not there. Don't know if I have a defective CD (there are two copies of the demos, one at root level and one under setup/vbnet - same exact thing in both places). Called the MS Press customer service and they are suppose to be sending a replacement CD, so we'll see if it has the book or not. Per the suggestion in the VB.Net book, I really wanted to read a referenced chapter in the VB.6 book on ADO before continuing in VB.NET, but I have to move on. The book is great - just make sure to check out that CD to be sure you have what your suppose to.
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