Mastering Microsoft Visual Basic

If you are looking for a VB 2005 book that has it all (all levels of programming) - you've found it. What impressed me was its writing style - plain, highly informative and instantly accessible (a joy to read). Most programming books (whatever language) are written by programmers that are NOT good at translating programming concepts into plain language - good programmers, but VERY poor teachers. This is where Petroutsos excels. He writes in a plain and clear style, yet the information is detailed and easily understood. This book will serve not only to teach you VB 2005 but also as a good reference for the future (very detailed index). Conclusion: Very good book, very good value, this book is a WINNER, enjoy!

This book is the best book I have found on VB.NET hands down. One of the reasons I bought this book, was the fact that it covers printing and graphics which other books just skim over.

Best book on Visual Basic 2005. Unfortunatelly, I started learning VB with Rod Stephens's Programmer's reference, which is adequate but this book is a lot better in so many ways. I definitely recommend it.

I used this book right away because it was one of the first VB 2005 books (though not the first out there). It had information on things I usually do which I found extremely helpful, such as details on search/replace in the RTF control and many others. I emailed the author and told him that he forgot the code in the replace feature in the RTF control (which I figured out anyway), but he graciously responded promptly and said he would send me the update which I thought was nice of him. Excellent beginner/intermediate book and does have some advanced feature material discussed. This book along with "Programming Visual Basic 2005: The Language" by Balena are books that should be on every VB.net programmers shelf.

This book isn't for the absolute beginner, but it's one of the best VB 2005 books yet. It covers a lot of topics and in much more depth than most relevant books. I'm new to .NET, but not a beginner programmer and this book helped me get quickly through the basics of the language and learn some of the more advanced features. It contains many comprehensive tutorials and examples, some of them quite interesting. Also, a lot of advanced techniques, and valuable comments on designing practical Windows interfaces (how to minimize the use of the mouse and make the most of the Enter key, and how to use the TreeView and ListView controls in practical UIs beyond directory listings). The chapter on cryptography is the most comprehensive reading on data encryption, from simple encryption to public key encryption and digital signatures. The examples in this chapter are awesome. Very satisfied with the book.