Visual Basic 6 Win 32 API Tut Orial

Personally I thought this book was great for progammers just starting out with the API or Applications Programmers Interface. The examples are well laid out and the code is mostly bug free. Yes this book does not have the depth of some other earlier mentioned books, however it is important to realize that this is a tutorial. Because this book claims to be a tutorial it should be rated on how well it teaches the subject. Personally I think the author did a great job and I learned a significant amount from this book.

Im a 17yr. old VB programmer, when I purchased the book I knew some API, FindWindow, FindWindowEx, a few others, and how to declare them, but I didnt know what all the stuff meant(Declare Function blah blah), this book taught me what it all means, where to find more Calls, and ALL of other useful information, If I knew nothing about API, and read this book I would definatly know how to use is by the end of the book! This isn't like most "Learning" books, most I find boring, or too complex, he adds jokes here and there and makes it a lot easier, he sounds like an actual person with a sense of humor, and not like a machine.(no offence other authors)

So few really good ones have been written (Appleman, etc.). This books ranks with the few. It is layed out well and easy to get through. Topics are dealt with in a candid and straight-forward manner, something so many others lack. I highly recommend it.

If you are new to VB or just haven't used the API much and ready to start this is a great book for you. It is inescabable that this book is compared to Appleman's book which is the definitive work on API's but while I have the Appleman book I find that it is better for people who are already somewhat experinced and want to learn more. This book by Jason Bock is THE book to buy if you are starting out. Not to say it is a 'API for Dummies' type of book -API usage is a non-trivial subject- but this will give you the foundation you need in a much more digestible fashion. The Appleman book which I occasionaly dig out to try to figure out something, spends most of its time as a paperweight since I am still something of a newbie. This book by Jason I am actually using to learn.

While Appleman's book continues to be the definitive =reference= book. This book offers some real world examples of how to use the Win32 API to not only do things that you can't do with VB intrinsic commands and controls, but also to subtantially boost the performance of things you could do with regular VB. Specific examples are worked through and type conversions are explained within this context.I'd recommend it to anyone that's thinking the API might have something more to offer than current directory information (they'd be right).I wouldn't use every example in real life, but there are plenty I would use, and all are excellent examples of what can be done.DISCLAIMER: I was a technical reviewer on this book, and, as such, am somewhat tied to Wrox and the quality of the end product. Rest assured, however, that I don't get any perks from this review, and the opinion is mine and mine alone.Rob Vieira, MCSD, MCT