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Summary: By far the best VB.NET reference for experienced programmers
Review: A very thorough and well written VB.NET reference, with just enough code examples. If only there were a C# edition of this book. Since purchasing it I've begun to do more C# than VB, yet I still refer back to this book more than any other .NET reference.
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Summary: Another solid title from Francesco Balena
Review: I have been using Francesco Balena's "Programming Visual Basic 6.0" (also by MS Press) for several years. That book is clearly written in an understandable way and flows well.
Like its predesessor, Programming Visual Basic .NET is clearly written, flows in a logical order and most importantly makes sense!
The book is well edited (has very few mistakes/typos) and comes with this book as well as Francesco's VB 6.0 book on the companion CD (as well as all the example code).
I also like that this book doesn't try to build a "super app" chapter by chapter as so many books do. In those books, if you want to just read up on a particular topic, you've got to aquaint yourself with everything the author has done up to that point just to understand what you were looking for in the first place. With this book, you can open up to any chapter and not have to have built some application that started 20 chapters back to get it!
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Summary: Excellent Reference Book
Review: I have used Francesco's book extensively with very good results. I think it is a programmer's toolkit with very direct examples and it goes straight to the point.
It obviously is a book you will find more useful the more you are involved with VB.NET programming and may not be particularly good for a beginner.
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Summary: Great book but TMI
Review: I love this book (so far, only about 100 pages into it) but the references to VB 4,5 and 6 could've been left out. When I go back to review examples I don't really want to have to scan the entire passage to make sure he's talking about VB.net instead of VB 6 (or 4 or 5 for that matter)- I just want to glance at the subject (and snippet) and move on; Other than this minor annoyance, it's a perfect book.
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Summary: Simply a superb book
Review: I've read a lot of tech books. Most leave you wanting even the basic necessities. This book is fabulous. It's clear, concise and well organized. After reading a topic, I feel like I have a clear understanding of it. I've been actually applying what he writes in real situations and they work.Highly recommended! By the way, I'm reviewing the 2002 version. I'm thinking about splurging for the 2003 version!
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Summary: Great
Review: If I had to have only one VB.NET book, this would be it. Certainly, it is not the only one on my shelf, but it would do well on a deserted island (where a social life doesn't matter). It covers a wide range of topic areas and covers them well. It is not terse, but it still can be easy to gloss over important items. Big and heavy, but opens flat so that it is easy to place in front of your monitor as you read along and try out the topics. Excellent.
Edit: now that I have gone through another dozen or so VB.NET books, this is the ONE book that I would keep on a deserted island.
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Summary: Best Visual Basic .NET book so far ...
Review: Let me just say that I have tons of Visual Basic .NET books which include my previous beloved Applied Microsoft .NET Framework Programming in Microsoft Visual Basic .NET (what a mouth full) that also author by Mr. Francesco Balena together with Jeffrey Richter. Well, I don't know why I waited so long before getting Programming Microsoft Visual Basic .NET by Francesco Balena. It has something to do with the fact that I already have a copy of the Framework programming book, or so I thought. Let's just say after reading countless books on the framework and the .NET idioms etc I still find the concepts somewhat elusive, until one day I accidentally flipped throught this book and it instantly made all the concepts clear to me. I put this book in the same category as Mr. Ted Pattison's outstanding Programming Distributed Applications with COM+ and Visual Basic 6.0 book. I got to go study now, but will write some more after I'm through with it. Thanks Mr Balena, and keep playing that Jazz saxophone. By the way, I am a Jazz guitarist as well.
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Summary: The only VB book you'l ever need
Review: This book is absolutely great. This book taght me everything I needed to know about VB .NET to develop a complex application. It has easy to understand sample applications with superb detail explanation. I think this book should be an example for other authors how to organize thier materials. I can not say enough about how great this book is. I highly recommend it to everyone.
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Summary: Excellent Book
Review: This book is excellent for the VB6 programmer making the transition to VB.Net. There are a large number of examples, and the explanations are very in-depth. I haven't found a book yet that compares to this one in quality or quantity of content.
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Summary: The best book I have on .NET
Review: This book is the most complete I have found on .NET (I have 4 other books). Beware this isn't a beginners text as Balena outlines very early on. The book is written with experienced VB6 developers in mind. However, it should be usable if coming from other languages as well.
The book is very complete and covers everything from forms to data access, ASP.NET, web services, classes, file access and custom controls. It's also very well organized and reads very easily for a reference book. The index is well organized so it's easy to find what you're looking for. The book makes reference to VB6 a great deal to help those coming from that environment. This book and Balena's VB6 book are included on CD.
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