Rating: 
Summary: not bad with typos
Review: This isn't a bad beginners book. Anyone who needs more 'basic' information than this book probably shouldn't be in the IT industry in the first place.The book has alot of typos, i.e. missing parantheses in code examples, missing function arguments etc. I've found it to be somewhat troublesome, but you should be able to go to msdn online to figure out the typo. For example on page 487 the move method requires 4 arguments when anyone of the optional 3 are there but he only includes 2. There is also a missing parantheses there as well. This book does not go into ADO in any kind of depth that is needed. The Murach book, 'VB6 beginner to database pro' does ADO much better. There does seem to be a complete lack of ADO books for VB6. I imagine there are alot for VB.net. If you want this book, you will need another book to learn ADO programming in VB6. Database manipulation is what many people use VB for. However this lack of ADO depth may be because the book went to press before MS finalized ADO (just a guess there). Don't get me wrong, I thought this book was very informative and helpful, the fact that ADO is not covered in depth is a definite drawback. Also the code examples don't include every example from the book, just the complete programs. There were many code snippets that you could put in blank vb6 project to illustrate something that were not in the downloadable code from osborne. I would have preferred a CD to downloading as well. 8/20/2003 - I hadn't realized this before becuse the book does not cover it at all, but there is a complete lack of coverage of interface classes. I had to go to a new riders book MCSD TRAINING GUIDE: VISUAL BASIC 6 EXAMS for a good discussion of this. Even the mspress book is somewhat confusing on this topic. If you can get this book used than do that. Don't pay full price though, especially since the binding seems to come apart after alot of use.
Rating: 
Summary: Absolutely the best book for VB6
Review: I bought this book in Year 11 (2000), after reading reviews of it. I was a beginner to programming - not only did this book introduce me to programming, it goes into VB6 in detail. The examples are all useful - not just toy examples. I have created many useful VB6 projects - this is the ONLY VB6 book you need.
Rating: 
Summary: Lots of information, serious lack of explanation and samples
Review: Perhaps this book would prove useful to an experienced programmer, but for a novice it is not a good choice. Cornell "assumes no previous programming experience", then goes on to write in huge, sweeping generalities without adequate explanations. Also, the code in the book is often written so the reader cannot fathom the type of event the code is associated with, and no explanations are forthcoming in the body of the text.
There really is a lot covered in this book, but unless you do indeed have "previous programming experience", not worth the cash.
Rating: 
Summary: Good for the Compleat Novice
Review: The text is aimed at the complete novice. If you don't know anything about programming, you will probably find this book helpful. If you are knowledgeable at all, the text will be tedious. The book attempts to cover too much, and hence the depth to which any subject is treated is extremely small. As an introduction to programming and VB, the book could have been shorter; I opine that approximately a third of the chapters could've been eliminated. Here's a paraphrased Table Of Contents: The IDE & Help; Simple Programs; First Steps Building The User Interface; First Steps In Programming; Displaying Information; Controlling Program Flow; Built-In Functions; Writing Your Own Functions; Organizing Information Via Code; Organizing Information Via Controls; Building Larger Projects; Introduction To Object Oriented Programming; Finishing The Interface; An Intro To Graphics; Monitoring Mouse Activity; Basic File Handling; File System Controls; Communicating With Other Windows Apps; Recursion; A Survey Of Database Development With VB; Building Your Own Activex Controls; Building A Web Browser; Vbscript And HTML; Distributing Your App.
Rating:
Summary: Not a beginner's book
Review: A word of caution...this is not a beginner's book. The title is misleading in that it sounds as though one can simply pick up this book and "presto" learn VB6. I found this an excellent SECOND VB6 book. I am not a programmer by trade but nonetheless hold several advanced degrees...i.e., I not THAT stupid!. I found the first 200 pages to be easy to follow and very helpful. After this, however, I quickly was lost. Cornell doesn't supply enough examples of when you might use a programming technique. At times the book simply supplies a laundry list of items..i.e., "intrinsic functions", etc. Many other topics are covered in rather vague terms (at least for the beginner). The chapter on databases discusses only DAO, a soon-to-be obsolete technology, instead of ADO. On the positive side, once I learned a bit more VB6 (I read Peter Wright's "Beginning Visual Basic 6.0"), Cornell's book actually became helpful. If one has a reasonable grasp of VB, then the author provides some valuable programming tips, etc. Thus, if already have some experience with VB or another programming language, this is a reasonable book. If you are truly a NOVICE, however, I'd recommend you spend your money elsewhere.
Rating:
Summary: Lots of information, serious lack of explanation and samples
Review: Perhaps this book would prove useful to an experienced programmer, but for a novice it is not a good choice. Cornell "assumes no previous programming experience", then goes on to write in huge, sweeping generalities without adequate explanations. Also, the code in the book is often written so the reader cannot fathom the type of event the code is associated with, and no explanations are forthcoming in the body of the text.
There really is a lot covered in this book, but unless you do indeed have "previous programming experience", not worth the cash.
Rating:
Summary: Disappointed so far.
Review: Two cents from a rank amateur/beginning programmer. At the moment, I'm on page 179 of this book and the main problem I have so far is with the way the information is communicated. Personally, I now know that I should have picked up a book that taught VB concepts via small projects and tasks. A "in chapter 1 we'll build a simple tool to get familiar w/ the IDE. In chapter 2 we'll improve our skillset by building a slightly advanced tool to learn about declaring variables, etc." approach would work better for me. Unfortunately, this book doesn't really do that. The concepts here are explained mostly with bits of standalone code. Hopefully, perhaps by page 200, we'll commence with some "learning by doing." Yes, hopefully. In the meantime, I'll grit my teeth and continue with the book, but right now it simply isn't working for me.
Rating:
Summary: Very Good
Review: I should like to point out that the comment above regarding typos is not correct. True the example is missing a parenthesis (which the reviewer misspelled), however the move method DOES NOT require 4 arguments when anyone of the optional 3 are there. The arguments are left, top, width and height. You must specify all arguments that appear in the syntax before the argument you want to specify. For example, you can't specify width without specifying left and top. Any trailing arguments that are unspecified remain unchanged.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent tutorial and reference
Review: Another excellent book from Cornell. His "Ground Up" series benefits a lot from his vast experience in software development and his reported "insider" status at Microsoft. I have used the VB and VC++ books from this series..and they are both excellent. I found the VB book to be more logically presented than the VC++ book. This book is useful to learn the basic concepts and also provides an excellent launcpad to more advanced topics such as database management, interfacing other programs, and distributed applications. I am a bit disappointed with the not-so-elaborate examples and discussions on distributed applications. That, however, does not in any way, diminish the value of this book. The generous use of examples in the first half of the book will enable any user to learn or refresh VB concepts and tools very easily. As with any software, reading alone doesnt help. Follow the examples on the computer and program! Learning through mistakes is not a bad way to learn software..but this book will help you learn without making too many of them.
Rating:
Summary: Fabulous for a novice in VB.
Review: My professor recommended this book as a tool to have when you need to refresh your mind with the basics of VB. It proves the above. Also, bought it used, excellent condition, like new. Thanks JM.
| 
