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Summary: Keyhole Surgery Approach to Windows and COM Programming
Review: This book even surpasses the possibilities of McKinley's "Hardcore Visual Basic". You almost gain the power of C/C++ type Windows and COM programming.
This book is not easy to read. You do need a C level expertise on Windows' and COM's inner working. Though no ATL or MFC is required.
I did learn a lot of the apparently strange behavior of VB. It is now clearer to me. But should you really apply those grandiose tricks. (For proper clean up purposes you should not hit the stop button anymore.) The answer is the same as for optimization. Don't do it! But if I am really in need? Don't do it! ... After at least ten iterations including solid peer review you might try it. The author makes it pretty easy. The book has a CD with an excellent and well modularized library and lots of example code.
Is this book still relevant after the advent of VS.Net? I think so yes. It is an intellectual joy to read this book. (Why couldn't I read it 1996?) We and many other institutions still write a lot of code in VB 6. Anyhow this probably was my last book on VB 6.
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Summary: =TOP-GUN= Programming with VB
Review: This book has to be the ABSOLUTE power for VB programming. Infact, its contents exposed many of VB's secrets which I have never seen in many other VB books (and I had read many). The book explains the inner working mechanism of VB as to how it actually works, what really takes place behind the scene, and how it interfaces with COM. By uncovering the VB black box, the book shows you how to by-pass its limitation and squeeze every ounce of performance out of your VB application right down to the assembly language!I have been waiting for a VB's secret book like this for a long, long time. Guys like Matthew and Ted Pattison whom I consider are a big blessing to the VB community when it comes to advance VB with COM. Mathew's book bridges some of the power of C++ into VB application WITHOUT using C++, while Ted's book is a guide as to how your components intergrated with its host where building a scalable application is concerned (a must read for any developer coding component for ASP or MTS in ANY languages). Let me give you one example of how this book is a gem. In one of my web project with VB and ASP, I need a way to partition a byte array and send it to a file output stream without having to copy any data to a temporary array in partitioning. I never thought you can do this with VB until Matthew shows how you can grap a hold of the SafeArray descriptor's pointer and manipulate its structure in VB like you would in C. I love this technique so much that I even give it a name - 'The Virtual Array'. (And NO, I did not use any of the custom tools provided by the author on the book CDs. CopyMemory and VarPtrArray are the only two API declared functions I used to do the trick. So for those negative reviewers on customs tool and hacking, hmmm... I don't know:) I believe the only programmers who are capable of writing a VB book like this have to be from the team that created VB itself, and I think Matthew is one of them. So for those VB programmers out there, especially those who find the OleViewer and the Object browser tools are the things next to bread and butter, this book is an absolute MUST have!
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Summary: Absolutely, Positively, Must-Have, book
Review: This book is to VB6 programming as "Advanced Formula 1 Racing" is to Automobiles. This book picks up where every other VB6 book left off. The topics covered in this book are far beyond efficient algorithms and nifty controls. Visual Basic is designed for Rapid Application Development, however, most every feature of the language can be, and most have been, exploited in some way. VB has evolved into what it is because programmers pushed the enveloped. This book tells you why Strings behave the way they do, the differences between early and late object binding, and the intricacies and nuances of COM programming. If you are an experienced VB6 programmer - you MUST own this book.
Rating:
Summary: Absolutely, Positively, Must-Have, book
Review: This book is to VB6 programming as "Advanced Formula 1 Racing" is to Automobiles. This book picks up where every other VB6 book left off. The topics covered in this book are far beyond efficient algorithms and nifty controls. Visual Basic is designed for Rapid Application Development, however, most every feature of the language can be, and most have been, exploited in some way. VB has evolved into what it is because programmers pushed the enveloped. This book tells you why Strings behave the way they do, the differences between early and late object binding, and the intricacies and nuances of COM programming. If you are an experienced VB6 programmer - you MUST own this book.
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Summary: Hardcore VB
Review: This book makes Hardcore Visual Basic by Bruce McKinney look like a kinder garten book.
Rating:
Summary: Amazing book, belongs on the shelf of every VB programmer
Review: This is truly an amazing book. I thought I was a pretty good VB programmer - until I picked up this book. It is filled with knowledge I have never seen before in print. If you want to take VB6 to its limits you must get this book. Matt, please write a similar book for VB.NET!!
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