Rating: 
Summary: Excellenct resource for beginning programmer
Review: I have finished reading this book for a long time, but I still use it with the task at my office. Now I design my database application using VB.NET as the interface. Whether this book guide in overall concept but the explaination style is very good and easy to uderstand. I recommend this book for the other people who want to learn VB.NET from the beginner should try to use this book.
Rating:
Summary: An Old Programmer Learns Something New
Review: I've been writing programs since the old days before there were compilers, before there were even assemblers. With each new lurch in the technology, I ask myself: "Can I keep up?" When it comes to visual programming under Windows, I've learned to turn to the books by Harold Davis for clear, pleasant, literate explanations. This new book, helping us programmers to master VB in the .net environment, is his best yet. It has brought me up to speed without pain. Highly recommended.
Rating:
Summary: Another outstanding tutorial from Harold Davis
Review: I've had the privilege of reading Davis' other books and have found them to contain the ability to open doors and allow me to master the technology his books discuss. This one is no exception, and may, in fact, be his best yet. He has the uncanny ability to anticipate where a user would trip-up and then discuss it in a manner that the reader can comprehend.If you intend to move from Visual Basic to Visual Basic.NET, I can't imagine a better investment.
Rating:
Summary: Approachable, excellent attention to detail
Review: This book is a well organized tutorial to the first of the .NET programming languages. The author takes a step-by-step, hands-on approach, explaining concepts and terminology new to VB users along the way. It would be an excellent choice for beginner or intermediate programmers that wish to get up and running with VB.NET. There's some great material in the last few chapters on XML support, ASP.NET and Web Services that should be of interest to anyone developing Internet software for the Microsoft platform. Similarly, anyone who needs to understand trends and wishes to demystify Microsoft's ".NET" moniker would do well to read the introductory chapters. Overall, this is a well researched and soundly written book.
Rating:
Summary: Approachable, excellent attention to detail
Review: This book is a well organized tutorial to the first of the .NET programming languages. The author takes a step-by-step, hands-on approach, explaining concepts and terminology new to VB users along the way. It would be an excellent choice for beginner or intermediate programmers that wish to get up and running with VB.NET. There's some great material in the last few chapters on XML support, ASP.NET and Web Services that should be of interest to anyone developing Internet software for the Microsoft platform. Similarly, anyone who needs to understand trends and wishes to demystify Microsoft's ".NET" moniker would do well to read the introductory chapters. Overall, this is a well researched and soundly written book.
Rating: 
Summary: Waste of time, waste of money
Review: This book is both a waste of time and a waste of money. Why? 1. The book tries to be too many things to too many people, and fails miserably on all accounts. If you're new to programming, "nondeterministic finalizers" are introduced on page 6. If you're an experienced object-oriented programmer, OOP isn't introduced until Chapter 15. If you're a VB6 programmer, I couldn't find a clear attempt by the author to demonstrate the differences between 6 and .NET. 2. In my understanding, the most important update to VB.NET is its uptake of object-oriented programming principles. The back cover of the book says that the author also wrote "Visual Basic 6 Visual Quickstart." I have not read that book, but would not be surprised if its contents were similar to this new book. The author has basically ignored all of the important updates to VB.NET, and has provided a tutorial for VB6. If you're a new programmer, this book will teach you the wrong things right from the start. If you're an experienced programmer, you'll be frustrated by the mickey-mouse approach which doesn't make use of your prior knowledge. 3. Chapters 16-20 (the last 5 in the book), which "introduce" ADO.NET and working with XML, among other things, are pretty obvious page-fillers. If you're looking for pages 90% filled with screenshots, this is your place to find them. Appendices A - E are also page-fillers. Appendix A tells you how to use the VB Help System. If you need help using help, what are you doing programming? 4. The author expressly states that his favorite update in VB.NET is the ability to use windows of any shape. That about sums this book up. Let me restate - this book misses just about every target audience I can think of.
Rating:
Summary: Wrongheaded approach from page 1, avoid!
Review: This book should be avoided as it does not teach the object oriented principles that really underly VB NET programming. The coverage of OOP is skimpy and doesn't start until chapter 15! Instead, this book assumes that you want to learn VB NET as a sort of "VB 7." This is a wronghheaded approach as Microsoft itself has said repeatedly OOP is where .NET starts from. You would be much better off buying Cornell's Programming VB NET" book from Apress if you need to learn object oriented programming or Balena's 1500 page plus masterpiece from Microsoft Press if you are already familiar with object oriented programming.
Rating:
Summary: Maybe not politically correct OOP -- but a very good book!
Review: This review is partly in response to the review of this book by "Geek." If you check out the review of this book that Geek wrote, and the links to his other reviews, you'll see that he's on a politically correct crusade against all Visual Basic .NET books that don't go with his politically correct view of object-oriented programming (OOP). In fact, this is a pretty good and very useful book, although of course not for all levels of readers. The author states clearly that in .NET "everyone is doing OOP," the only question is whether they or doing it well or not. He also says that the book is intended for those who want to learn to program, for VB6 programmers who want to learn VB.NET (I almost said VB7!), and beginning to intermediate programmers who want a task-based reference. For these kinds of readers, the book succeeds admirably. It does not pretend to be an advanced book, or a book about the foundations of OOP. It seems quite inapt (and slightly unfair) to compare this book (as Geek does) to a book for experienced programmers or a 1600 page tome. I enjoyed this literate, elegant and useful book no end -- and I unequivically recommend it to readers of the right level.
Rating:
Summary: Maybe not politically correct OOP -- but a very good book!
Review: This review is partly in response to the review of this book by "Geek." If you check out the review of this book that Geek wrote, and the links to his other reviews, you'll see that he's on a politically correct crusade against all Visual Basic .NET books that don't go with his politically correct view of object-oriented programming (OOP). In fact, this is a pretty good and very useful book, although of course not for all levels of readers. The author states clearly that in .NET "everyone is doing OOP," the only question is whether they or doing it well or not. He also says that the book is intended for those who want to learn to program, for VB6 programmers who want to learn VB.NET (I almost said VB7!), and beginning to intermediate programmers who want a task-based reference. For these kinds of readers, the book succeeds admirably. It does not pretend to be an advanced book, or a book about the foundations of OOP. It seems quite inapt (and slightly unfair) to compare this book (as Geek does) to a book for experienced programmers or a 1600 page tome. I enjoyed this literate, elegant and useful book no end -- and I unequivically recommend it to readers of the right level.
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