Visual Basic.Net Class Design Handbook: Coding Effective Classes

This is one of the better Wrox Handbooks and I really liked it. This isn't exactly a guide beginners guide on class design, nor is it an experts book..but it does one thing very well, if you are new to VB.NET or .NET and you know what you want your classes to do, this book will show you how to accomplish it. Moreover, there are some good examples and it can get you thinking in different directions.They were a little skimpy on issues like using Properties vs. Public Variables (and if you move to .NET, you will have to fight VB6 programmers clinging on to bad habits of the past), but overall, I think the book does a great job at what it advertises itself to be.Also, the discussion on Delegates and event handling was particularly helpful if that's your interest.

I had to write this because I get sick of some of the reviewers just slamming stuff for the wrong reasons. First of all, the book definitely does a good job of teaching those who are new to .NET, and more specifically those coming from VB 6 or other non-OO languages, how to design OO classes in VB.NET. It is more of a design book for YOUR classes and not how to derive from forms. Just about EVERY .NET book I've picked up has shown me that, so thank GOD this one came from an angle that I may want to design a class. I would imagine that if you're a C++ programmer you wouldn't want to pickup this book because it says Visual Basic .NET Class Design. If you come from a C++ background, I have to assume that you probably want to use C# since A: it is obviously closer to home with what you've been using and B: there are some features that it implements that VB.NET has been left out in the dark on once again. If you want to get a handle on VB.NET class design, especially if you're coming from VB 6, you should start with this book. The main reason is that it just covers the OO facets that will be very new to you in .NET. Instead of being overwhelmed by some other books that hit you with a lot at once, this book will help you with the new adventure into OO programming. You will definitely need to pickup a couple other books, but this book is a GREAT starter book. To give this book 1 star for errata or for saying it talks to you like you're stupid is absurd. Take these with a grain of salt as they don't even post what they do for a living in their profile. I have developed business applications for 4 years and they are crazy for knocking this book in that fashion.

This is the 2nd book in the Wrox Handbook series I have read. The series is AWESOME - all meat and no bones. This book managed to take OOP concepts that illuded me in my college C++ text book (1000+ pages) and make them all very simple and usable in around 350 pages.For moving from VB6 to VB.NET, this book is essential. The book covers as much about concepts as it does about VB.NET's specific syntax, so C# programmers might enjoy the read as well. C# translates to VB.NET almost line for line in my experience (I'm reading a book on GDI+ for C# now and writing all of the examples in VB.NET with no problems).Another nice thing is that the book breaks down the compiled code and shows you how it runs behind the scenes. They explain everything with no knowledge of MISL required, and these examples made me realize that EVERYTHING is just a realy cool shortcut to a method or a memory address.The book also made quick and EASY work of more difficult topics (or at least I used to find them difficult) such as Deligates and Polymorphism. These topics make perfect sense now and I'm finding ways to make use of them to save me dozens (and sometimes hundreds) of lines of code.They had a few places where I felt a slightly better example could have been presented or felt that they left out an important 1-line best practices snippet but those places were very few (maybe 3 places - so, once every 112 pages). Frankly this would be the case in any book on OOP.Honestly, Wrox's book on OOP far exceeds anything I have ever read before and I feel that it took my programming up not just one but two levels. I feel that I'm now a FAR more capable and compitent programmer for having read it.5 Stars for a VERY complete book on OOP in an easy-to-read, compact form.I'm glad to see that there are now 7 handbooks out with more on the way. These handbooks are great for the VB.NET programmer. Way to go Wrox!

I'm only a few chapters into this book and I'm already finding it to be very good. I really like the writing style. As an experienced VB 6 developer I have struggled with some of the new terms in .NET. I think this book is doing a good job explaining the terms and giving some practical explanation about their use.Most of all the book is highly focused on Class Design and the specific details of the .NET world.Its also not a big book, so won't be hard to read in a short period of time.

As an experienced VB6 developer I was always frustrated by the lack of OO capabilities. .NET fixes this. This book provides the right balance of reference material and tutorial material. It serves well for wanting a quick answer and equally as well as a general OOP guide specific to VB.NET. I particularly like the 'best practice' feel of this book. .NET as a whole is quite daunting for VB6 developers; we almost have too many options now available. Learning VB.NET from a VB6 background can be confusing because it's difficult to know where to use all of these new techniques now available. This book goes a very long way to showing us how to write VB.NET classes in a pragmatic way.