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Product Description Visual Basic .NET for Windows: Visual QuickStart Guide provides the key to unlocking the power of the .NET Framework. Using task-based instruction and plenty of visual aids, veteran author Harold Davis provides you with all the information you need to start creating componentized, reusable code and building Web services with VB .NET. Unlike other books available on the topic, which treat VB .NET more like the next version of Visual Basic, this book emphasizes the totally new object-oriented programming paradigm of .NET. It begins by introducing you to the Visual Studio development environment and demonstrating how to create a Web service, then moves on to working with classes and using Windows forms. As your knowledge grows, the tasks become more complex, and by the end of the book you¿ll have learned how to create controls that accept user input, write code that responds to events, work with XML, use the Object Browser, create ASP.NET Web applications, and more.
Featured Customer Reviews  Idiotically terrible,
May 05, 2005
I've been a hobbyist programmer for 30 years - Fortran, Pascal, Basic, VBA, Java script, like that. I just bought VB.NET and wanted something that would explain the basics:
1) VB.NET syntax for Ifs, loops, arrays, etc., and
2) the complicated .NET programming environment (where does the code go?).
I've had good luck with the Visual Quickstarts brand before, so I bought this one without leafing through it. Big mistake.
For example the traditional "Hello World" program, the one that helps you take your first baby steps, that traditional program is at the very beginning, but it's not even a program you type in yourself, it's part of a "Web service" , which is this thing VB.NET is supposedly handy for but which no beginner could possibly know about -- as evidenced by the fact the actual program example comes only after pages and pages of setup material, long computer dictionary definitions of WSDLs, UDDIs, SOAPs, etc., that you need to understand before you can understand the Web service, which you must understand before you understand .... "Hello World" Only when it's all over, you still don't. If it worked at all.
And they _knew_ "Hello World" probably wouldn't work, because afterward there's a long list of helpful troubleshooting tips like:
"The URL, or Uniform Resource Locator, provided in Step 4, assumes you are running and testing your Web service on a local instance of Internet Information Services (IIS). If you are using a remote host, enter the appropriate URL in the Location text box."
If you're a beginner this chapter (and much of the book) is impenetrable gibberish, and this book will be useless for you. If it's not gibberish, you're not a beginner and you don't need this book. And if you just want a chapter, any chapter, on what the VB syntax is and where the code goes-that's not in here at all.
Troubleshooting tips for "Hello World"? What were they thinking??!!
This is a crappy crappy crappy crappy book. I would suggest instead:
1) Murach's beginning visual basic .NET
2) VB.NET Language in a Nutshell
3) And if you haven't bought your copy of VB.NET standard yet, Microsoft's Learning Edition of Visual Basic.NET, has the full standard version of the software plus a much better Getting Started book, all in one package (which at my local store sells for less that the software alone, and the book is a $30 value.)
 OK for the price,
November 12, 2003I have three complaints:
1. The two-column per page layout results in nearly all the graphics fitting into a single 2.5" column. There are MANY instances where the tutorial instructs you to fill in a property sheet "...like in Figure xxx", and Figure xxx is an entire Windows screen reduced to a 2x1 inch graphic! Totally unreadable! Didn't anyone bother to proof this before it was published? Even a large magnifying glass won't help.
2. The graphics are often not in sync with the text. For example, the graphic may show a form full of buttons and text boxes but the tutorial has just had you place a single button.
3. Despite having a publishing data of 2003, it does not match VisualStudio.net 2003, although you can still use the examples. Still, for the price, this is as good a place as any to start on VB.Net. I ws able to do all the tutorial chapters in 3 days. If you do get the book, be sure to download the source code from the Net because you'll need it.  A Special Treat,
July 22, 2003I have been programming since IBM produced the 7090/7094, with the first symbolic assembler/compiler. I have not completely adapted to object oriented programming yet (but am commited to modular, well-documented code that avoids arbitrary assumptions that prevent smooth future growth). The first time I got one of Harold Davis' books, I was impressed: "Finally, a book for programmers that is really accessible!" I was tired of voluminous books of "how to"s that did not provide a good conceptual structure. (Some of us need that to help the memory, and sense of mastery.) He writes in an easy-to understand style in which the basic concepts are included along with the clear and straightforward "how to"s. It is clearly a book suitable for beginners and for experienced, moderately advanced, programmers at the same time. (Something I formerly did not believe was possible.) As one reads and occassionally rereads the material, it becomes evident that the content is really quite dense. One can read simply, follow the instructions - that are clear and easy to follow - and, if a deeper understanding is desired, then go back and re-read the material, more slowly. It is all there. In this latest book, he has brought this style to a very fine level. I was intending to "retire" with Visual Studio 6. After, reading the first few chapters of this book, I am eager to take his "journey" into VB .net. I LEARNED HOW TO PROGRAM!,
July 15, 2003 I've always wanted to learn how to program, but never really got started. Well, with VB .Net and this book that's all I needed. This book has everything for the beginner, clearly explained. I wish I could give it 10 stars!Best book on VB.NET I've found so far!,
May 29, 2003 I have purchased four VB.NET books thus far, and this one is head and shoulders above the rest! Easy to understand, great example code. AND, much less expensive than the rest! A bargain by any measure! I highly recommend it!
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