A Programmer's Introduction to Visual Basic.Net

Granted I consider myself an experienced VB Programmer from VB6. I picked up a copy of this book and Visual Studio.net and was developing ADO.net enabled stuff easy. Multithreading is also done exceptionally well in this book. Web Services is something I will have to try next as well, and that chapter looks good as well.In short this book is not for those who are starting out, but rather those who are veterans in the industry who know the VB syntax and want to try all the best that Visual Basic.net has to offer.

This book is compact and to the point. If you are a VB6 developer who wants to go .NET, this is the best place to start. The books includes no bs, just content. The Author clearly knows what we VB6 developers need, a smooth transition between DNA and .NET, and provides it in a relatively small 300+ page book. This book is more valuable than any wrox book on the topic. Wrox is a great publisher, but sams stoled their food this time. WARNING: This book wouldn't be classified as an "advance" book, but a instead, one that makes it easier to work with all the new technology. This is were all current VB Developers should start.

This is a tribute to how books of this sort ought to be written. The title might better read 'A VB programmer's guide', however, because it bridges the gap between 'traditional' VB and VB.NET. Clear, consise, and comprehensive, the author is obviously experienced in his craft. Professional programmers especially will appreciate this crisply-written volume.

I?m trying to learn VB.NET. I?m tired of books that detail, ad nausea, the function of the ?If? statement. Fortunately, I stumbled on this gem by Mr. Utley. He cuts right to the chase, detailing new language feature and changes and shows you how to work with the product. He shows how to create a windows service (cool, baby), a web service, and a console application. He also discusses the fundamentals of ASPX.NET and ADO.NET. If you want a treatise on any of these subjects you won?t find it in this book. You will find a set of great introductions to these areas. Each intro really orients you to the area and provides a base for future growth. The discussion on ADO.NET itself was worth the price of the book to me. Another amazing fact: after he discussed a topic I often wondered how one would ?do that?. In the very next line the author explained how to ?do that?! After 3 times like this the author is either reading my mind or he has heard these questions before.The source code examples tend to be snippets. I had little trouble filling in the details. My only annoyance is that the book states (as of 1/7/2002) that the source code is on SAMS website. Not so. It?s been missing for some time and I only hope they correct it soon. I noticed that omission in a few other books from SAMS.