Programming Visual Basic.Net

I am an experienced VB6 programmer who was familiar with Object Oriented concepts since I have also programmed a little bit in C++ and Java. This book was perfect for me. It gave me a great overview of the language and reinforced the object oriented concepts. I use this book as a reference for day to day programming but I also keep Programming Microsoft Visual Basic .NET (Core Reference) by Francesco Balena handy for detailed explanations.

Probably the best way to learn how to code in any language is to program with the examples in the book. I'm an experienced programmer in C#, but needed to get up to speed on VB.NET quick for some consulting work. I won a copy of Programming Visual Basic .NET 2nd ed. at a "WeProgram.NET" .NET user group meeting, and started reading it immediately. I skipped reading most of the explanations and went straight to the code (serious coders will understand this urge!). Even without reading much of the text, the code examples, while unimaginative, were selected well enough for me to pick up on the language, including its idiosyncrasies. I also like the fact that, for the text I did read, he explains why he is doing things a certain way. This would be really helpful for someone just learning to program or making the transition to .NET.The only problem I really have with the examples is that it did not make clear what code was part of VisualBasic interop. Since I am now coding in two .NET languages, I don't want to have to remember CInt for one language and Convert.ToInt32 for another. I know this book is geared toward experienced VB6 programmers, but let's start doing things the .NET way. That's why it's here.

Finally an author has created a great introduction to VB.NET programming for VB6 programmers. While I'm sure this book is good for other programmers as well (even novices!) this book is aimed squarely at the VB6 programmer making the jump to .NET.The author's examples are simple, clear and well designed. His understanding of .NET is excellent and his understanding of VB6 is very strong; put this together and you have a dynamite book that gets you up and running on VB.NET quickly and painlessly.Liberty also supports his book on his web site (source code, faq, etc.) and he has his own private support discussion center, where he personally answers questions about his book.The O'Reilly quality shines through; this is a well edited, well written book, and it should be on everyone's must have list. I highly recommend this book and when you finish reading it, take a look at his Programming ASP.NET book which is also terrific and which has exercises both in C# and VB.NET.

This is a typical OReilly book. It is starts from the ground up, ignores fancy IDE's and aims at serious programmers. The code examples are solid, and the explanation of the three pillars of object oriented programming was far better than what was in my college programming books. It does have a few downfalls, nothing serious. Firstly, the examples are kind of boring. Who wants to make a file manager? And why is that always the big final project at the end of every VB book?! VB can be much more fun than that. Secondly, the IDE is not explained very well, which is a mixed blessing. I'd prefer more detail on it's nice features, but they are easy enough to figure out for the average developer on his own. The last few chapters are excellent, starting with the ADO.NET elaboration. Overall, an above average learning tool, and an excellent reference especially for those moving from VB 6.0.

This book was written to teach Visual Basic .NET using the 2003 edition. My new book "Programming Visual Basic 2005" was 100% rewritten for Visual Basic 2005, Visual Studio 2005 and the 2.0 framework, and the new book is directly targeted at VB6 programmers making the transition to .NET. You can read about my books and the differences in the editions on my web site (http://www.LibertyAssociates.com) where you will find source code, errata, and a link to a free private support forum. Thank you.