Programming Visual Basic 2005: Building .Net Applications

I have been through many VB books including expensive college texts. I immediately found this to be the best one. I picked it up at a Borders (oops...) because I was sick of ordering books online and not liking them when I finally got them in the mail. After I read the first chapter in the book store, I didn't want to wait to get started so I paid the $40. I found that something simple like naming conventions or form design can ruin a potentially great book. Jesse Liberty uses the standard naming convention (txtName, btnSelect, etc.) and is not nearly as strict with form design as most books I have been through. I recommend this as a second book because, though chapter 15 and 16 are superb in describing the basics, the complete beginner may be better off with a "For Dummies" book or something like that. Some SQL knowledge also makes the book go down easier.

Are you a Visual Basic programmer? If you are, then this book is for you! Author Jesse Liberty, has done an outstanding job of writing a book that makes you productive immediately to create Windows and Web applications using Visual Basic and its associated tools. Liberty, begins by describing how to respond to events to build interactive applications. Then, the author shows you how to use drag-and-drop controls to create that connectivity, how to query with parameters, and how to build master/detail pages. He continues with a review of built-in browser controls. Next, the author discusses custom controls. Then he shows you how to use GDI+ and other techniques to draw dynamic applications. He also shows you how to detect mouse events and respond to them. Then, he shows you how to integrate legacy Com controls in a managed situation. The author continues by showing you how to create complex and sophisticated Windows applications. Next, he shows you the library of controls created for you to greatly simplify these tasks. Then, the author walks you through the controls that makes mastering pages and navigation a very easy task. He continues by showing you how to update the database and manage multiuser applications. Next, the author discusses personalization. Then, he shows you how to create web services and also how to create applications that use web services. He also takes you into some of the nooks and crannies of this tool. Next, the author provides a review of the visual basic language in detail. Then, he shows you how to use the new generic collections to create type-safe stacks, queues, and dictionaries. Finally, the author provides a slightly more formal overview of the visual basic language. The goal of this most excellent book is to make you immediately productive, creating Windows and Web applications using Visual Basic and its associated tools. Thus, by creating applications, you will learn Visual Basic as it has evolved for .NET!

I've been fighting transitioning from VB6 to .NET. I don't really see the need, but I have a client who wants his next project done in VB2005 so I had little choice. This book is a pleasure; the author does not waste time with what I already know, and focuses in on creaeting real applications and walking you through what can be done by real programmers with real clients. The writing is clear, reasonably concise, the exercises are well explained, and most important the author provides source code and a forum to ask questions. This book helped me become current again, and I'm very grateful. This is a terrific book.

Don't expect a complete reference with this book. In this book you will find out what's new and augment what you already know about the framework. That being said, this is a solid book that is written for the professional developer. There are few illustrations, but the screenshots are good, and the code fragments are kept focused on illustrating the key points in the text.