Product Description
This book teaches the user how to use Visual Basic to create and use high-end drawing tools. The book visually demonstrates coding techniques with excellent visual diagrams, graphics, and examples. The object-based graphics techniques can be used in numerous Visual Basic applications. Disk contains source code and executable graphics programs that can be adapted for the user's own applications. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Graphic Programming with Visual Basic needs help
Of the many books on Graphics with VB this actually has a great theme where you build a paint box with all the bells and whistles. It is also one of the best at showing how to use the Windows APIs.

Unfortunately the book is poorely organized and confusing in terms of how to merge the pieces you want together. It also badly needs updating to cover using more of the later techniques available in VB 6, etc.

After programming VB for almost 10 years I found it very helpful for an Active X plugin to create customized graphics for a client. I had to type the code rather than rely on the floppy slowing down my development because the code was not documented The variable name changes were hard to follow from app to app. Also way to much time was spent on Bezier curves.

Rob Stewart its time for an updated version! ... Read more

Product Description
This book is designed as an introduction to Visual Basic course for users with little or no programming background.Its approach is object-oriented and data-driven.It introduces sound programming techniques through hands-on exercises and case problems. ... Read more

Product Description
You can get there

Introduction to Programming Using Visual Basic Project Manual offers a wealth of easy-to-read, practical, up-to-date activities that reinforce fundamental Visual Basic programming concepts. You'll also learn to develop the core competencies and skills you'll need in the real world, such as how to:
* Install Visual Studio 2005
* Convert between data types
* Debug an application
* Build a concentration game
* Create data entry forms
* Build and use an abstract class
* Use query builder
* Access relational data in an application
* Create a webpage using HTML

With five to seven projects per chapter ranging from easy to more advanced, Introduction to Programming Using Visual Basic Project Manual is ideal for both traditional and online courses that are oriented toward Visual Basic programming skills.

Introduction to Programming Using Visual Basic Project Manual is an excellent companion to Petroutsos and McKeown's Introduction to Programming Using Visual Basic (ISBN: 978-0-470-10188-9).

Wiley Pathwayshelps you achieve your goals

Not every student is on the same path, but every student wants to succeed. The Information Technology series in the new Wiley Pathways imprint helps you achieve your goals. The books and project manuals in this series--Introduction to Databases, Introduction to Programming Using Visual Basic, Introduction to Operating Systems, Networking Basics, Windows Network Administration, Network Security Fundamentals, and PC Hardware Essentials--offer a coordinated information technology curriculum. Learn more at www.wiley.com/go/pathways. ... Read more

Product Description
Designed for an introductory programming course, this market-leading title has been enhanced to include two new tutorials on the next generation of Visual Basic - Visual Basic.Net. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (22)

Visual Basic programming
I have purchased several books on Visual Basic programming over the past few years. This is absolutely the best book I have ever read on this subject. Diane Zak does a superb job of explaining this difficult subject in terms the reader can understand. If you're interested in learning how to program, I highly recommend this book.

Great Starter Manual
This book works well if you are just starting programming more then likely it wont do anything for someone that has some background already in programming

Hands Down Best VB 6 Beginner's Book!
Diane's style and instruction leads you carefully lesson by lesson, point by point in generating a true understanding of what Visual Basic is and how it works. She doesn't assume that you know anything about Visual Basic.

Her lessons remind me a lot of being in a classroom where the teacher really cares whether or not you understand what's being taught before moving on to the next lesson.

I'm certain, the idea of being back in a classroom isn't that appealing to most. However the difference here is ... you will really like this teacher. The lessons are well thought out and avoid a lot of the extra wording that tends to overpower most instructional books.

Make this VB6 book your first purchase!

Don't make the mistake I did and buy everything else before coming around to Diane's book. Two other books to consider after this one: Visual Basic 6 in Plain English (Brian Overland) and Visual Basic 6 Quick Reference (Shamas-IDG books). I use both of those as REFERENCES.

I purchased this book after having bought: Visual Basic in 21 Days (SAMs), Visual Basic 6 for Dummies (IDG) and Visual Basic in Easy Steps (Anderson). I also looked at a number of other books at Barnes & Noble. They didn't have Diane's book, so I ended up purchasing it here on Amazon.

Easy to Follow, But...
Yes the book is fairly easy to follow, but the tutorials ask you to perform tasks that are not possible with the supplied software.

Don't waste your time trying to learn from this book unless it is required for a class!

Besides VB6.0 has reached the end of the support life cycle, and it doesnt run on xp 64bit.

An excellent book for self study
I had bought this book for a class but this book is an excellent one for self study also. It basically starts assuming you know nothing about programming or even computer. After a few chapters you end up writing very good programs for Windows. If you want to learn Visual Basic 6 to program for Windows, this is your book. ... Read more

Product Description
Computers and devices are more connected now than ever before. Why?Because the humans who use those computers need to collaborate. Weneed to share information, and we need to do it quickly, without regardto the physical distance that separates us. Corporate solution developersnow more than ever have the opportunity and responsibility to enablepeople to communicate in ways never before possible. CDO and MAPI Programming with Visual Basic: Developing Mail andMessaging Applications dives deep into Microsoft's CollaborationData Objects (CDO) and the Messaging Application Programming Interface(MAPI), then moves into succinct explanations of the types of usefulmessaging applications that can be written in Visual Basic. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Simple; to the point
This book is very thin, but don't let that throw you.The examples are easy to follow, and very concise.I just wish that there was a .NET version available.

Excellent Book
Excellent Book. All the code works. The only gripe I have is it doesn't tell you where to find the dlls.

Very useful reference
For the size of this book, it does a good job of covering the MAPI/CDO (both Win32 API and ActiveX) objects at an intermediate-programmer level - presenting the objects and object models with enough information that you can begin to use them right away, but not getting so technical that you lose interest or begin to only understand the minority of what you are reading.

The author does include sample code for most of the objects that are covered, although many of those sample codes are spread out over a page or more and separated by paragraphs of explanatory text which can cause a little delay for readers that skim, or jump directly to topics, as back-tracking is often needed to find the start of the desired code.The publisher's web site does provide a download for some of the sample code - but the download only includes the full projects the book goes into, and not most of the smaller projects or snippets used in the bulk of the book.

I did find that the author had included many unnecessary screenshots for a book aimed at intermediate to advanced programmers; it was also frustrating that many of the screenshots the author choose were of related topics but only used to explain how to `point-and-click' through making settings changes, rather than how to perform the task programmatically. One such example is the Mail control panel applet, where the author showed how to add an information provider to the selected user's profile (in the book's case the Personal Address Book service was added) but did not cover how to do it through programming.In fact, it was never mentioned if the task could even be performed programmatically.

Overall, the book is a great reference for MAPI/CDO objects and will come in very handy for anyone needing to generically access the common e-mail functions and folders (inbox, calendar, contacts, etc.) quickly.

Not dry!
This book is written in a warm, conversational tone.The set up is easy to read with important points highlighted.It is apparent the author really knows a lot about computer programming.

Not dry!
This book is written in a warm, conversational tone.The set up is easy to read with important points highlighted.It is apparent the author really knows a lot about computer programming. ... Read more

Product Description
This new book from Visual Basic expert Chris Peters shows you how to change your green-screens into Visual Basic windows and gives users PC access to the AS/400.Peters explains Visual Basic using AS/400 terms and analogies.He discusses object-oriented programming and event-driven programming--the key to Windows client/server programming-in terms you'll easily understand.A diskette containing all of the Visual Basic programs in the book is included. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Delivers as Advertised
This book is excellent for people just learning Visual Basic.It assumes no prior knowledge and teaches you VB using analogies that relate the new material to concepts familiar to the AS/400 Programmer.

Too many pages on VB and too little mention of RDO and ODBC
In Part One the author wastes pages teaching VB. Many other publications and the VB online help do much better.In Part Two, the author covers ODBC, Data Queues, and APPC. But ODBC is covered poorly and in connectionwith DAO - not RDO. Using ODBC with DAO as opposed to RDO is specificallydiscouraged by both IBM and Microsoft (see their Web pages). ADO is onlymentioned in the appendix. If you are interested in APPC (WinAPPC API) thisbook might be helpful. Same for Data Queues. Do not get this book if youare trying to improve ODBC coding in VB or want a generic SQL client. Theauthor also misguides programmers. He should have noted that IBM is openlymore committed to TCP/IP than SNA communications. SNA (and thus APPC) isfast becoming a legacy. Thus, coding to SNA in particular and coding to anon-generic model would not be advisable for most companies. I waslooking for a book with up to date and thorough details. This book isdated, lacks complexity, and misses important details. ... Read more

Product Description

From seasoned developer Budi Kurniawan comes Internet Programming with Visual Basic, which teaches experienced Visual Basic programmers how to successfully combine two key Microsoft technologies used to drive the Web: Visual Basic and Microsoft Internet Information Server (IIS). This book covers what you as a professional developer needs to know to use VB to write WebClasses that combine all the elements of a robust, scalable Internet application.

This book guides you through the process of building a browser-independent Internet application using VB. Along the way, Kurniawan provides real-world code examples and detailed explanations of exactly what is occurring at each step in the development process. He also offers thorough coverage of IIS objects and concepts used by both WebClasses and ASP applications. You'll learn how IIS applications compare with other technologies, such as ASP, and why IIS applications are much faster and more scalable.

The first part of the book begins by reviewing and comparing the performance of the major Microsoft Internet technologies, including IIS applications. Kurniawan introduces the concept of IIS applications, shows how they're built, and provides related coverage of WebClasses, WebItems, and virtual directories. He also explains the role of ASP objects in IIS, the concept of ODBC and how to set up a Data Source Name connection, and the bases of Microsoft's Universal Data Access and MDAC strategies. In the second part of the book, Kurniawan discusses database optimization techniques, client-side processing, and how to manage state using the URLData property, Session object, database, cookies, and hidden fields. Finally, he addresses the crucial issues of security and successful deployment.

Customer Reviews (2)

An excellent book on Webclasses
I've been writing VB IIS apps (webclasses) for about two years, and I bought this book to see if I had been doing things correctly.In my opinion, webclasses are one of the best ways to write a web app, and everyone I've ever worked with that came from a straight ASP environment just loves IIS apps once they "see the light" of how they work.One of the best things about this book is that it covers all the other things you'll need to know to get the app completed and working on your web server.With this book, and maybe an HTML and Javascript reference, I think you could turn out a pretty good project even if it was your first time with a web application.

The book is well written, and cleanly laid out.

Plenty of information!
As an intermediate programmer with no knowledge whatsoever of IIS, I was intrigued by the possibilities of this book.I was not disappointed.There is a lot to learn here and I found it quite interesting.There's good info about how servers work(I never really knew how), using VB to generate WebClasses, email, databases, SQL...the works!Maybe an advanced programmer would have some gripes, but for a beginner in this area, I really enjoyed it. ... Read more

Product Description
After an introduction to abstract data types and their initial implementation using structures, Michael McMillan analyzes standard OOP topics, including class design, inheritance, access modifiers and scoping issues, abstract classes, design and implementation of interfaces and design patterns, and refactoring in VB.NET.More advanced OOP topics are covered as well (reflection, object persistence, and serialization.) Finally, he demonstrates OOP techniques for standard Windows applications; for database applications using ADO.NET; for Web-based applications using ASP.NET; and for Windows service applications. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

Very Basic
After the previous glowing reviews of this book I bought it hoping to get some special insite in OO. If you have any experience with VB.NET this is just a review. I have gleened much deeper conceptual understaning of OO from fellow programmers.If you are brand new to VB.NET this might be an OK book.I was dissappointed in the lack of depth.

Great platform to learn Object Oriented Programming
This is the first technical book that I've finished cover to cover, from a list of many that I've purchased. Mike McMillan explains the basics of Object Oriented programming in a .NET environment in a concise manner that is easy to understand and follow. At the end of each chapter there's exercises to complete, giving you the chance to practice hands-on, the material covered.
This book provides a great platform for those wanting to move from a procedural based style of programming to one that is object based. I highly recommend it.

A Great Book: Concise and Informative!
I had the privalege of studying under Mr. McMillan when he was preparing for this book. Each one of the concepts and topics in the book were covered in class. Mr. McMillan is an excellent teacher and communicator--two essential qualities for a programming book. Whether you are a VB rookie or have a background in pre-OO Vb, this book is a quick, competant and very readable guide on how to learn and best mould VB.NET to your demands.

Great start with the basics
Not being a programmer by profession this book offers the best place to start with programming-- organization. Although OOP offers other benefits, organization of thought and process is one of the more important aspects given by OOP. Very clearly written and for the most part "just the facts". ... Read more

Product Description
Speech software has been a hot topic in the computer industry for as long as there have been computers. Computer speech has been around in one form or another for over 30 years, but early speech software could only run on very big and expensive computer hardware.

Thanks to Microsoft, the size of your computer is no longer a major limitation to computer speech. Just like with so many other computer technologies, it took Microsoft to make speech software easy to program, and even easier for PC users to use speech to control their Windows software applications.

With Windows Visual Basic ActiveX Voice Control Automation Services, Speech API (SAPI) and Speech Suite Software Development Kit (SDK), complex computer speech synthesis, and even speech recognition, has become more accessible to all programmers for use in their multi-media business, education and recreational applications.

This book offers the reader a detailed exploration of Windows Speech Automation Services via Visual Basic ActiveX Voice Controls available in MS Speech API Versions 4.0 to 5.1, as well as third-party SAPI vendor SDKs such as IBM ViaVoice and Dragon NatSpeak. It provides a thorough introduction to Windows Speech Recognition Programming for beginning as well as advanced programmers.

Customer Reviews (2)

Trash and money waste
I would agree with the other review of this title, but a 2-star rating a too high for this book. It lacks anything that is not covered in documentation, and it is a very rare case when documentation is really better than this trash. I had to write a short program doing specific and simple speech recognition task and ordered this book. To say that I was disappointed is to say nothing. I still had to address documentation and found it much better. Moreover, the book is out of date. SAPI 5.1 was flourishing when this title was issued, and the title discusses SAPI 4.0 Besides, it is impossible to get ant actual skills and learn how to develop speech apps from this book.

It is not very understandable why there is no good guide for speech programming using VB, it would be a bestseller.

Disappointing . . .
I bought this book expecting to learn how to incorporate Microsoft Speech functionality into Visual Basic applications. This book fell considerably short of the mark, in my opinion.Several criticisms: (1) Although copyrighted 2004, essentially everything in the book is VB 6 and SAPI 4, even though VB.Net and SAPI 5 came out in 2003.The differences are significant enough to make the examples in the book quite difficult to apply in a current VB.Net environment. (2) The book is very long on description and short on example code. The examples given are short code snippets -- there are no annotated complete program examples, which would have been very helpful.(3) The book has no index, which seems to me inexcusable in an age where a word processor can generate one almost automatically.(4) 150 of the 358 pages are appendices containing things like a 90+ page list of SAPI properties, methods, and events -- all readily available and much more current in the SAPI documentation.(5) Basic instructions for installing the SDK and SAPI and getting Visual Studio to find them are so scattered and lacking in detail as to be essentially useless. (6) The book is poorly edited, with a number of sentences missing words, and material scattered throughout the book that should have been arranged in coherent topics.
This is all unfortunate because I'm not aware of any other book that does any better.I recognize that this is a complex topic, but the MS Speech technology has become quite excellent, and it really isn't that difficult to implement in VB programs once you figure out how -- I hope that the author will give this another try with up to date code and more careful presentation.
... Read more

Product Description
Learn to make the transition from Visual Basic 6 to Visual Basic.NET with this new book by best selling computer programming author Ted Coombs.The book is also suitable for programmers who want to learn Visual Basic.NET for the first time. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Too many sloppy errors
Ted Coombs has written a lot of technical books, and they've apparently been successful, but with this one he seems to have spread himself too thin. It is riddled with odd, unclear phrases, misleading "explanations" and out-and-out technical errors. Was some of it farmed out to assistants and not checked?

Small example: saying that a Long variable takes 4 bytes (it's 8). Huge example: completely wrong definition of Array.BinarySearch.A binary search has nothing to do with "matching the binary information (I's and 0's)". Every Comp-sci 101 course teaches you that binary search gets its name because it works by successively splitting the array in two - and the essential requirement is that the array is sorted. The (unsorted) example in the book is completely incorrect and only works because it is a tiny array and the search gets a lucky hit at the start, or perhaps because as with some binary search algorithms, when the divided part to be searched gets small (<= 4 items or so) a sequential search is used as a last step. Add some elements to the sample array and of course it doesn't work. This could cause much frustration for the novice.

Another MAJOR error is the description of case-sensitivity in variable names: it is NOT true that you can define "i" and "I" as different variables in the same scope. And thank goodness, because I would hate to have lost the excellent VB6 feature where you can type in a variable reference when you are not quite sure how you spelled it in the definition, and just make one letter in a definitely wrong case - for instance, uppercase the last letter only. If you have spelled it right, VB will automatically pop the name into the correct case: if this doesn't happen, you need to check the definition!

And again...book states that Constants can only have module scope - not true, they can be global, just like VB6. The module scope limit does apply to COMPILATION constants, which are a different animal and which seem to caus the confusion.

It's a pity, because there is also good information - but you can find it all elsewhere. To learn a new technology you need a guide you can rely on. This book is altogether too shaky a support.

Great Read!!!!!
As a programmer I highly recommend this book if your are just trying to get a good handle on VB.NET for the first time. This book starts with the basics (great for beginners or experienced programmers) which presents the programming style of VB.There is also a great introduction and information to the Common Language Runtime and lots of advanced techniques for the more experienced programmers.

Money well spent!!!! ... Read more

Product Description
This is a set of six lessons that introduce programming concepts using Visual Basic for Applications a part of Microsoft Excel. It is intended as a textbook for the programming component of an introductory course in computer science. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Not Easy to Follow
I'm a computer neophyte and am using this book as a required text for an Intro class. This book seems to be written for those with some experience in computer programming, or some type of background in computers. The examples are very spartan and poorly explicative. This particular book focuses on Visual Basic in conjunction with Excel.It's pretty slender in size with no color graphics nor index. It maybe helpful as a reference for someone with more expertise in this area, but for a newbie like myself, it's been a challenge to decipher. I'd suggest flipping through other books before purchasing this one. ... Read more

Product Description
Features detailed information on database programming, including ODBC and client/server technology. Covers hot new Internet and object-oriented programming features. Teaches beginning- and intermediate-level programmers how to write for the Microsoft Windows operating system using the Visual Basic programming environment. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (12)

Extensive and In Depth Book.
This book starts off as so many other programming books do,with a few exeptions. The history is brief and to the point. The first chapter is dedicated to getting you ready for hands on Work with Visual Basic 6, and assumes a prior knowledge of basic Windows expierience. I find this book the be an exellent
resource for anyone wanting to learn Visual Basic. The few problems I found, was the constant repeating of "How to do his..." For myself this is rather annoying but for the beginner this "feature" will help you to remember simple things such as changing properties. When you complete this book, you will be ready to start writing you own Visual Basic programs with ease. One Word of warning, chapter 4 is a very in depth look at variables. Im now sure what the auther was thinking by putting so much information in one chapter, but at least is makes for easy refrence. The way I got through chapter 4 was to take lots and lots of notes, and refer back to them as needed. How ever after working with variables through out the book there's no doubt you can master them.

An unusually good book in its field
This book is far better than most of its direct competitors.

The good features of this book, rarely seen in other books, are: readable, lively, humour-laced, intelligent writing style; almost complete lack of technical errors and contentious statements (that is very rare in IT-related books); mostly-interesting and realistic problems are tackled as examples; concise and useful demonstration of error handling; good guidance on using the debugging tools; just-right discussion of Windows as an event-driven, object-oriented environment and how you need to think as a VB developer.

Amongst other features: it has good range in technical content from beginner to intermediate; it flows well from topic to topic; it covers the basics of the VB development environment; VB structures, keywords and how to use them; object-orientation theory Lite; good contents and index sections; reasonably consistent use of object/variable naming schemes throughout.

Sure, it misses some topics and overdoes others but its good on the fundamentals and intermediates.

I am a lecturer in tertiary education and use this on the course I teach. I've considered many books as student texts and this is the best for my purposes, as an adjunct to my teaching. Students certainly enjoy the style and content.

This book is part of the Blue-Black-Gold series that Coriolis run for VB. I haven't seen the Black book, but I strongly recommend the Gold Book. Keep printing them, Coriolis.

good book if you're trying to pick up a 2nd language
Here is a book that I used for a first-book on Visual Basic. I liked it, but you might want to pick up a VB reference is you want a better source of info than this book provides. This book is O.K.

VB for PRE-beginners and Experts
This book is for pre-beginners.It explains what the mouse is and what"Click" means.I had to wade through pages and pages of garbagelike "this is the start menu" and "this is a button" tofind any useful information.Then suddenly the author dives headfirst intoobjects and stacks.1st too slow, then too fast.

A Tutorial that Covers What You need to Know
By the time I made it to the end of this book I knew how to program VB 6.I was used to Java but new to the world of Visual Basic, a huge and complex world at that.To take on the task of writing a tutorial that can coversuch a topic must have been daunting indeed, but this author has done itreally well!The book was perfect for me because it assumed I knew nothingabout VB, yet didn't bog me down with general programming fundamentals. The code exercises touch most all the areas a professional programmer islikely to encounter on the job.He both holds your hand through theexercises and lets you make some steps on your own, which I thought workedvery well.If you want to learn Visual Basic 6, buy this book and work itthrough to the end...it's worth it. ... Read more

Product Description
This book is about object-oriented programming and how it is implemented in Microsoft Visual Basic. Accordingly, the book has two separate, though intertwined, goals: to describe the general concepts of object-orientation, and to describe how to do object-oriented programming in Visual Basic. Readers are assumed to have a familiarity with Visual Basic and some rudimentary knowledge of programming. On this foundation, Steve Roman introduces the abstract concepts of object orientation, such as class, abstraction, encapsulation, and others and then shows how each are implemented in a meaningful and useful application. Throughout the style is hands-on: plenty of code is given and discussed, including error-handling. As a result, Visual Basic programmers and students will find this an invaluable introduction to this topic.Amazon.com Review
BASIC's long-standing reputation for spawning unreadable"spaghetti code" programs may seem at odds with the highlystructured precepts of object-oriented programming techniques, butSteven Roman shows otherwise. Concepts of Object-OrientedProgramming with Visual Basic concisely and effectively explainshow to exploit object-oriented programming techniques in Visual Basic4.0 or later. Roman introduces the basics of object orientation andits implementation in Visual Basic and ultimately reveals the detailsof building OLE automation clients and servers that utilize thesetechniques. Practical, no-frills examples will help any VB programmerlearn how to take advantage of the object-oriented technology that'snow at his (or her) disposal. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

Object - Oriented Programming
This book was hardly usefull to me.Firstly, most of the examples doesn't work out the way it is suppose to be.Secondly, Visual Basic 6 doesn't support some of the functions for example when you create a new class i was adding a new student to the CStudent class.(objStudent.Collection.Add objStudent)The Collection class has a single build-in (read-only) property called Count that returns the number of objectsin the class.The build-in methodsof the Collection class are Add, Remove and Item.P.55 from the first paragraph.I would like to know by the time the Autor was writing the book, what version of Visual Basic what he using???

Concise, well written OO basics book
I needed to learn OO techniques within VB very quickly for my MSc Project. After experiencing a few mishaps with other verbose books (dealing with example case studies of company practises and other such un-necessarydiatribe) this is the book I'd recommend. If you're familiar with OOtechniques and simply require information on how to employ them within VBthen so much the better - this is the best book for that. If however you'relearning OO for the first time, Romans examples and explanation are goodbut better basic OO teaching sections can be found elsewhere. Overall then,a concise well written book for the VB OO beginner.

Light Refreshing Introduction without Business Examples
I must admit I really liked this book. It is light even delightfull and refreshing. For a non business but more technical person the problem domain of the examples (students taking courses at a university) was a muchawaited change.

So why 3 and not 4 or 5 stars. The book has one error,inaccuracies and the examples have lots of style problems. Yes I know theauthor took the shortcuts in the examples deliberately, but it stillproduces bad examples. Naming of methods should not repeat the names of theclasses. One can read programs a lot better when they are indented... StillI like this book much more than the truly 4 star Deborah Kurata book. It isa great first introduction. For the more serious reader I still recommendApplemans VB Components book, Pattisons VB COM book and for a more generalintroduction Cornell,Jezaks Core VB.

Good Intro..to the point
I thought this book was an excellent opener for learning classes in VB. Itwas easy to follow and try.

This is an introductory, but correct text
I am an experienced and well-readobject-oriented practitioner, and found the author's use of OO terms to be perfectly in line with other texts and with common industry usage.For example, I have read Bertrand Meyer's "Object-Oriented Software construction", "Design Patterns" by the Gang of Four, all of the C++ books by Scott Myers, Stroustrup, and Lippman, and many UML books.All of these books use the same terminology that Steven Roman does.

That said, I think it should be pointed out that this is an _introductory_ text. This information is clearly pointed out on the back cover of the book, but did not make its way into any of the other reviews present on Amazon.com.Per the book's back cover "Readers are assumed to have only a modest familiarity with Visual Basic and some rudimentary programming skills".

Given this starting point, then given the book's length of 181 pages, then subtract out the 24 pages dedicated to error handling (a separate subject from OO, by the author's own admission) and another 24 pages of code listings for the Turing machine example, you are left with about 130 pages of pretty basic instruction.

If you are already experienced with OO and are looking for a detailed treatise on VB's support for OO, or workarounds for the support it lacks (inheritance support, overloading based on function signature, passing initialization data to object creation methods, etc.), or if you are interested in the subtle implications of its garbage collection scheme, or in the subtle difference in the VB meaning of "late binding" vs. most other languages, this is really not the book for you (I haven't found a book yet that covers this subject area.)

Even though it did not meet my needs, I would still rate this book as an excellent introduction.I only encountered one error, on page 65, where Mr. Roman indicates that you cannot create a Container class that supports iteration using For Each...See "Hardcore Visual Basic" for a description of how this can be done (your collection class must implement the IEnumVARIANT interface). ... Read more

Product Description
This guide aims to explain the features and benefits unique to Visual Basic. Feedback boxes allow students to test their comprehension of concepts by applying them to problems. Programming hints provide short-cuts and rules-of-thumb for improved productivity. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Why you shouldn't buy this book
Having used this book in Visual Basic programming class here at ECPI, I can wholeheartedly recommend that you buy a better book. The first two chapters give you an introduction to the language, with hands-on examples and step-by-step instructions. After that it falls flat on its face. Too vague for newcomers, and too little information for experienced programmers, this book is to be avoided at all costs ... Read more

Product Description
An introduction to programming in Microsoft and Visual Basic on the IBM PC and IBM PC compatibles. This text contains programming projects that reflect the variety of ways that computers are used in business and engineering and presents games and general interest topics. It uses case studies that focus on programming applications where the problems are analyzed and the programs are developed with top-down charts and pseudocode. The book covers strings throughout to prepare readers for substantial string handling programs, and introduces arrays gently. This second edition updates the operating system to Windows 95 and the programming language to Visual Basic 4.0. It also expands coverage of data control to include a discussion of the use of Visual Basic as a front end for database programming and also explains how to access the Internet with Visual Basic. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

It is my text book!
I used this book in a programming class for college. I didn't like it. I did like that it came with a version of the software, so that I could practice at home, but otherwise...there are better out there!

A great book for beginners and intermediate programmer's.
From the outset "An Introduction To Programming Using Visual Basic 4.0" is geared towards being a textbook. This approach is what makes it such a superior text for learning visual basic and more importantly the fundamentals of programming.While other books on programming with visual basic seem to want to push the reader at a very rapid pace, leaving them at times wondering if they have truly comprehended the material before rushing on to the next topic.David Schneider's book, on the other hand, covers both the language and the concepts of programming thoroughly and provides plenty of practice exercises as well as real world problem solving scenarios. Although it may be difficult to find this book on the shelf of a regular bookstore, I highly recommend it to the novice programmer who wants to gain a strong understanding of the concepts of programming and the details of the Visual Basic language. Ramon Rodriguez (ramonr@earthlink.net ... Read more

Product Description
An excellent supplement to Computer Science Illuminated, Third Edition, as well as an informative primer, Visual Basic .NET: The Programming Language, provides a straightforward introduction to this user-friendly language.This overview describes the fundamentals of the object-oriented VB .NET environment, the structure of VB .NET programs, and much more.Novice programmers will be relieved that this functional programming languages in easy to learn and compatible with many other languages using the new .NET framework. ... Read more