Rating: 
Summary: Too much "Look how much I know"
Review: No doubt about it; the book is comprehensive; but the problem is that at times the author drifts into the "look how much I know about visual basic" instead of trying to teach the subject matter. It explains items in great detail but obfuscates the point by going into too much detail.
I've no doubt that Mr Balena knows VB.net; the problem is that having read his book I dont!
Rating: 
Summary: The VB.Net Bible!!!
Review: This book is simply perfect. We call it "The Bible" and it proved time and again to deserve that name. After spending a lot of money on useless ASP.net books, I finally got this book and things cleared up as magic. Although it's a huge book, you will have to work a lot to find any wrong code, or even a typo. Great writing, great revision, great edition.One advice though: if you never programmed before, you should try a beginner's book instead (check out "Beginning VB.Net" by Wrox), since this one won't spend pages explaining what's an object or an event. And the backcover is misleading indeed, although you get "an" eBook (Balena's VB6 book), it's not this edition's eBook. ...
Rating:
Summary: An Outstanding Achievement
Review: Francesco Balena has been able to achive what so many people have failed at. That is, explain how .NET works and how to program in VB.NET in a clear, concise manner without sacrificing depth of coverage. This book is a "Must Have" for any serious .NET developer. It doesn't get any better than this!
Rating:
Summary: An amazing book
Review: The most amazing thing about this book is that there is only one authors name on it, and it appears to keep the same voice through out the text. If you consider the breadth of the topics covered, and the extent of coverage, it is amazing that any one person could do this. This is an amazing work, a phenomenal work, and I can only say, come on Francesco, take a chill pill. You don't have to produce such intense 1600 page mammoths, though I am glad you did. As I read it, I marvel that any one person could produce such a work, and it seems a waste that they are using such talent for this project, but I am glad that they did it, as it is such an excellent learning tool. If you are going from Visual Basic 6.0 to .Net, then this is THE book to get. To say anything bad about this book would be an insult to the human spirit.
Rating:
Summary: Best of the Bunch!
Review: Programming Visual Basic .NET by Francesco Balena builds on the success of the author's previous programming book for Visual Basic 6. This huge 1600 page book provides the most complete coverage of Visual Basic .NET that I have seen. This book isn't for beginner programmers who wish to learn Visual Basic .NET. It is aimed at experienced Visual Basic 6 developers who want to take full advantage of the new .NET Framework. The book provides complete coverage of advanced new object-oriented features, the common language runtime, multithreaded programs, Windows Forms, GDI+ graphic programming, Windows Services, ADO.NET classes for databases, ASP.NET Web Forms, and XML Web Services. Also included are many advanced optimization techniques and tips for leveraging the power of the Visual Studio .NET environment. For those who love code examples, you won't be disappointed. The book is filled with short code examples that illustarte how each specific .NET feature works. The software that accompanies the book includes a CD containing the project source code which demonstartes the concepts discussed in each chapter. Also available on the CD is the previous edition of this book in electronic form. In addition, the book includes a sixty day trial version of Visual Studio .NET on DVD. Programming Visual Basic .NET has received alot of well deserved praise from the Visual Basic community. I found the book to be very thorough, concise, and well written. This is one book that all experienced Visual Basic developers must have by their side.
Rating:
Summary: Practically all you'll need
Review: I have several books on vb.net and asp.net. Yet, as good as those books are, I've found myself using only this book since I received it over a week ago. This book does not simply gloss over or "introduce" you to concepts. Every chapter provides enough coverage to really get you programming, rather than researching. In addition to 1500+ pages of informative and concise writing, the book's CD features sample applications that demonstrate generally simple, though effective code. And no, as reviewers have pointed out, the CD does not contain a copy of its namesake book. Frankly, MS press isn't obligated to provide any CD at all, so I don't see any problems with that, especially since the CD that is included is very useful indeed. It should be noted that this book is not a "teach yourself in xx hours" endeavor. There are some good beginning books for learning VB.NET from scratch, and that would be a better place to start. Although I don't have them yet, I imagine that this book would provide an excellent stepping stone to MS Press' .NET Framework reference and the VB.NET Programming Techniques book.
Rating:
Summary: Become a .Net Guru
Review: Wonderful book. Gold nugget every third page. Lifts the fog off the CRL. Makes streams, cloning, serialization, SOAP, deep copies, etc., easy. Balena's book is best at exposing the richness of Microsoft's .Net design. He shows how it all plays together. Well written with good examples. If you understand VB6 Interface classes, you will have no problem understanding this book. Reading Balena will make you a .Net guru.
Rating:
Summary: Great book, must buy, 6 stars
Review: It's hard to say enough good things about this book - and practically impossible to say anything bad about. (OK don't throw it at somebody it weighs 5 pounds or so :-)). Seriously, it is hard to imagine many other computer books where [the] price may be described as a bargain but Balena's book is one of the few. He carefully covers everything you need to know to program in VB .NET.
Rating:
Summary: The Best VB.NET book...for Experienced Developers Only!
Review: I have been developing software for the past decade, most of the time using VB. This is probably the best book on VB.NET for EXPERIENCED VB developers and I have personally gained a lot from it. It also has a lot of good information on ASP.NET and explains topics like web security (as it relates to .NET), ASP.NET Caching and even has a section on writing HTTP Handlers and Modules. The coverage of server side controls like data grid is also quite good. You will also want to use this book if you intend to try for VB.NET certification. I recently gave the beta exam for Developing Web Apps with VB.NET and there were very few questions that you could not answer if you had read the book thoroughly (esp chapters on ASP.NET and ADO.NET).
Rating:
Summary: Best VB.NET Book on The Market
Review: If, like me, you were a little confused on where to begin to understand VB.NET and ASP.NET - this is the best book you can buy. Top notch. Clear. I am an experienced VB6 programmer. If you are brand new to programming, you might want some other baby food. This is more like hearty beef stew. Yuuuum!
| 
