Rating: 
Summary: How much VB do you need to like this book?
Review: It is clear from the positive reviews that this book is a success for an audience of advanced VB programmers. Those of us that are less advanced (I'm a beginner) might ask whether we are going to have the "two-star" or the "five-star" review experience. How much VB do we need?An example I ran into might help you decide. On p. 178 the author describes an example of an "array of arrays" creating an appointment calendar with descriptions of appointments stored in the array of arrays named "apps(day)". As part of the code, the satement appears If IsEmpty(apps(day)) Then I was surprised to find that IsEmpty ALWAYS evaluated FALSE, making this If statement useless. Once this problem was discovered, I found from the online help that IsEmpty always evaluates false unless apps(day) is a simple variant. (Do you know this? I had to find out.) Can apps(day) be a simple empty variant? It's supposed to be an array of arrays. Well, if you initiate apps(day) with apps(day) = Empty then the If statement works. But if you initiate apps(day) with apps(day) = Array(Empty) which is how it's done when apps(day) is NOT empty, for example, apps(day) = Array("First meeting of day", "Second meeting of day") then the If statement won't work unless it is changed to If IsEmpty(apps(day)(0)) Then (What do you know about arrays, array notation, how empty array notation changes when it fills? I had to find out.) What does this have to do with evaluating the book? The above example is not unusual. If you are happy to read at an abstract level, the gist of the examples is clear, and the examples are interesting. In the above example, it's clear what the IsEmpty is about, and the "array of arrays" idea is great. However, if you want to implement the author's ideas using his code, his elliptical approach leaves gaps and ambiguities. Depending on your VB background, the needed fill-in and clarification can require much head-scratching. Bottom line: As a stimulus to the imagination, definitely go ahead. As practical coding, be prepared to fuss.
Rating:
Summary: How much VB do you need?
Review: Maybe my first review was too technical, so I'm trying again. It is clear from the positive reviews that this book is a success for an audience of fairly advanced VB programmers. Those of us that are less advanced (I'm a beginner) might question whether the book will suit our needs, or if we are going to have the " two-star review" experience. An example might help you decide. On p. 178 the author describes an example of an "array of arrays" using an appointment calendar with appointments stored in the array of arrays named "apps(day)". As part of the code, the statement appears: If IsEmpty(apps(day)) Then According to the on-line help, the IsEmpty function will always evaluate as false unless apps(day) is an empty variant. (Do you know this? If not, you won't understand how the If-statement works. The author doesn't explain, so you'll have to figure it out.) But apps(day) is an array of arrays; can it be an empty variant? The above If-statement works if: apps(day) = Empty which you might deduce as what the author is thinking, but if instead the reader imagines that apps(day) = Array(Empty) then the "IsEmpty" line must be changed to If IsEmpty(apps(day)(0)) Then (What do you know about array notation? The author mentions it, but not in the context of this code.) The author never spells out the constituent elements of apps(day), so the specifics are the reader's guess. What does all this have to do with evaluating the book? The above example is not unusual. If you are happy to read at an abstract level, the gist of the examples is interesting and clear. However, if you want to implement the author's ideas using his code, his elliptical approach has gaps and ambiguities. He doesn't dwell on VB details. Depending on your background in VB, this fill-in and clarification can require a lot of head-scratching. Bottom line: as a stimulus to imagination, definitely go ahead. As practical coding advice, be prepared to fuss.
Rating: 
Summary: Bar none the best I ever had.
Review: This is THE bible for Visual Basic programming. Concise, Accurate, and informative. It is easy to read (I read through it twice now), easy to find relavent information, and great advancement to my VB programming skills. (and a right direction to OOP).
Rating:
Summary: What VB level is expected of a reader?
Review: Most of the reviews of this book are very positive. The few that are not are complaints from "moderately experienced" VB programmers. I am probably a novice myself, so I'll give you an example of what is expected of you. On page 178 is an example using arrays to make an appointment calendar. This example is fairly typical of what you might run up against in the author's examples. The appointments in the example are stored in an array called apps(day). Early in the code one finds the line If IsEmpty(apps(day)) Then It took me a while to find out how to make this line work. From the online help you will find that IsEmpty is meaningful only for variants, and even then returns false if there is more than one component in the array apps(day), whether it is empty or not. So by watching the locals window while doing a lot of experimentation, I found that I could arrange that when apps(day) happens to be empty, it is not treated as an array at all, but just an empty variant variable. However, if instead (as is quite natural) you define the empty apps(day) as an empty array, the code won't work. Personally, I think that a few words of warning to the reader and a short Sub Main() to exercise the code would have been in order. Certainly there are much more obvious matters that are discussed in more detail. So, bottom line? There is a lot to think about here, and many imaginative implementations of the language. But be prepared to mull things over and invest a bit of time.
Rating:
Summary: The finest programing book I've ever used (really!)
Review: I can't speak highly enough about this book. While it's not for someone who has never used VB before, if you have some basic knowledge, and you *really* want to learn how to create world-class programs, this is the book. I found myself using some of his examples, within the first week of using the book, in my own programming. He goes over aspects of clean code, performance, theory, practice, and he's actually written samples for everything he talks about, which means that he actually went into VB and tried *everything* it has. He brings all of that information back to the reader, down to peculiar behaviors and workarounds to undocumented errors. I wish every author went to the trouble that Mr. Balena has both in learning about the software, and presenting all of his findings. Just buy this book.
Rating:
Summary: Must have for both Pro's and Rookies!
Review: I wrote this review on May 8, 2000. My regard for the book is unchanged. Today (04/17/04) for those who are in need of a "survival set" on "Classic VB," this is one of two "must have" volumes. The second is Charlws Williams' "Professional Visual Basic 6 Databases" by Wrox Press. These two books will see those who are maintaining and even extending VB 6 applications while the new stuff is .Net, these two books will get you through. Original Review:
This is the only book that covers everything that you can do with Visual Basic. I know of no other source with that kind of information. Brevity is required to cover this topic in under 1300 pages, of course. This book coupled with the VB 6 Programmers Guide and the three volume "Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 Reference Library" will have what you need to know about Visual Basic. There is a tremendous benefit in having one author tackle the entire subject in one book IT IS COHESIVE! I would advise rookies to tackle this book first and use the Programmer's Guide when they are stuck. The reason for this is that the Programmer Guide's data access is data control oriented. If you are going to be a professional, you want to break out of that mold and use the ADO and DAO methods. Data controls have their place, but it is not in professional programs. Balena covers all the relevant data access methodologies. Finally, the lazy people who are looking for a lot of "cut and paste" to keep from having to understand what they are doing should pass on this book. Balena wont write your program for you.
Rating:
Summary: A rare book - easy reading, then can be used as a reference
Review: This is indeed the best VB6 book I've ever seen. If you're completely new to programming (or indeed VB) then this should not be your first VB book. I had used VB4 in a previous job and so considered myself between beginner and intermediate. This book started off just right for me and quickly took me a lot further. My only criticism is that I found the sections on database access a little confusing. There are a few different database access techniques and I felt that the author didn't clearly distinguish between them - however this is a minor complaint. It's very easy to read and I find myself carrying it around with me and referencing it every day. If you want to be good at VB6 then you must get this book!
Rating:
Summary: Really covers issues that programmers need to know
Review: After reading other books I realize that they just don't have enough information. They cover the basics that most people can figure out. This books gives tips and information that you can't find anywhere else. While it has the basics on controls it spends time on Databases and more complex issues. Highly recommended
Rating:
Summary: The Wonderful taste of Knowledge
Review: This Book Really Outshines the Competition. For the first time I see such a Book that is full of Techniques, Details, Work Arounds & Solutions for Extremely Complex Problems that are usually thought to be impossible to solve using VB. The Level of detail of this book is Amazing and Overwhelming, as i never thought that there could be any VB book in such detail. I say it out loud: The Author Deserves the Credits and the Whole 5 stars. I excuse myself to borrow words from another review that says: "When you hold this book, It becomes too hard to leave it down", for these words are absolutely true, and the worse, You can't just skip any page ! Finally, This Book Delivers its message Clearly, and it *isn't* any way near to a manual rehash.
Rating:
Summary: Covers a wide variety of VB subject
Review: I have come from a C/C++ programming background and this book has been excellent for getting me started with Visual Basic. It covers pretty much all the issues I have been concerned with and provides excellent tips along the way. I have no problem recommending this book.
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