Francesco Balena
1 author shoud be banned from writing programming books
code snippets are fragmented and some variables are used without
naming their types, causing confusion in many cases.
the chapters on classes and objects and databases are worthless:
i'm glad i didn't learn objects and databases from this guy.
many explanations are needlessly lengthy and confusing.
i've documented with profane remarks so many problems in this book that are simply not sharable.
2 Best VB 6.0 book I own.
This book is a must have for any VB 6.0 programmer period. So buy it.
Not only is this book extremely informative, but Balena writes excellently. The way he communicates the information help's make the info stick in your head.
As for the informative part Balena covers all the major bases in depth and some of the more obscude/advanced topics to get your feet wet. He also shows you different and more efficent ways to write code.
If I had one complaint is that his code is not the most readable, Balena seems to center more on condensing his code and making it as efficent as possible rather than making it readable. He attempts to offset this with comments.
But that is also a postive about the book Balena covers different ways to write a statment to make it most efficent.
3 A Great Reference
I am totally new to V.B. and am attempting to write a fairly complex application straight off. EVERY time I have been stuck I have refered to this book and it has so far always helped me out. As a beginner I do not always immediatly grasp the code samples, but after searching through some more basic texts then returning to this book, I have so far always got the results I am aiming for. It is almost as though the author has looked at what i am trying to do, then sat down and written an example or two of how I can accomplish it!
If I could only recommend one VB 6 book, this would be it. Great stuff.
4 Incredible!
This is mother of all books on VB6! Balena is trully amazing in delivering a hands-on coverage of Visual Basic programming. I have read quite a few books on VB6, but this one is my favorite.
If you're planning to do some serious programming, you owe yourself a copy. And if you find it difficult to spend $30 to get one, you can always go to VB2THEMAX.COM for plenty of free code, tips, tricks and all.
5 The cream of the crop
I have practically worn this book out over the past two years, referring to it on a near-daily basis as I have developed a comprehensive application from start to finish. The ultimate VB reference manual, the author gives you lots of tips and tricks to make your code more powerful and efficient. As others have said, this book is not for beginners. But if you have a little experience with VB, it will quickly take you to the advanced level.
6 This is a must read
It's easy to write productive programs in Visual Basic, so much so that you don't really need anything but the online help to get you going. But as your solutions get more and more intricate the need to find 'elegant' solutions becomes more and more important. That's where this book comes in. I wish I had read this book two years ago, that way I wouldn't be unlearning and relearning so much now.
VB5 and VB6 while not fully Object Oriented languages are close and it's important to learn this concept sooner rather than later and that is the main focus of this book. I highly recommend this book to beginning and intermediate programmers alike.
7 A nice golden nugget of comprehensive information -
I absolutely love this book!
This is the book I had always lusted after but could not find; it covers all the information I am fairly conversant in, and then introduces me to topics in what I consider the stratosphere of VB6 knowledge. But "introduces" is just a misnomer, he covers all those topics in depth enough for one to understand the underlying structure intended, and how all the individual parts/components take their place in the microsoft authors' schemata of hierarchal system programming.
From the start, the author plainly admits he will not start teaching in a linear, keyword by keyword, fashion; rather he covers the topics, from the less complex to the more, in a usage oriented manner, as coming from someone who has learned the ins and outs only from experience. He makes you privy to stuff that just does not exist in written/documented form.
The text reads more like a well explained tour than a textbook.
I am a professional BASIC programmer from the old school, text oriented (what they call scripts now), and in line. Although I am a whiz-bang at the actual programming part, I still feel apprehensive about how all the components and submodules, communicate with eachother; it feels like the unknown has no understandable structure I can apprehend. This book gives me a sense that it is all actually out there only waiting to be discovered and learned, that is all just a matter of fact.
Overall, this IS my most favorite learning (and reference) VB6 book. Making it all the more valuable is the installable on-line electron version of the book, to which I go to more often for reference than the MSDN help utility. I still have lot more to learn/read, but this book makes me feel secure that I will be able to.
8 Some VB knowledge required
If you are new to VB, I would recommend buying "Programming in Visual Basic 6.0" by Julia Case Bradley and Anita C. Millspaugh. Francesco's book is written as if you already know some basic stuff about VB. Francesco's book is comprehensive, it's just not for beginners.
9 Not for amateurs or beginners
This book never was intended for amateur or beginner Visual Basic developers. This is an advanced Visual Basic book for advanced or more experienced developers. This book is "The Bible" when it comes to programming Visual Basic. This book contains a lot of pages and is one of the thickest books in my Visual Basic 6.0 collection but it is one of the most used books that I have. Although not really a "reference book", I use it to find examples of hard-to-solve problems. If if is not covered in this book, there probably is no solution.
10 Not for the rest of us
If you want to work at Microsoft maybe this is the book to study. If you are not a professional programmer and are trying to make a simple program, get another book. Amidst all
the unnecessary details, I could not find information on how to make a simple executable that could run without invoking the whole VB6 code.
11 Super Book
If I had to have only one book on VB in my library, this would be it. Balena writes well and is a wonderful communicator. He has many examples which are well chosen. I bought the book because I had read some of his articles in various journals and always found them stimulating. By now I have found his book invaluable and it never leaves my desk. The only beef I have is not with the author but with Microsoft Press. It is a big book and, my copy at least, is falling apart and I might have to buy another copy for that reason.
12 Thank you Francesco for your labor of love!
Francesco Balena has written the definitive book for existing and new VB programmers! The author has distilled his very great technical knowledge of VB, very pleasing writing style, and tremendous feel for organization and presentation to create a gem of a programming text. A VB book with no equal and no substitute, it is a true classic. I wish there were a category higher than 5 stars!
FOR C/C++, Java (or even Cobol) programmers wanting an intelligent introduction to VB: DON'T LOOK ELSEWHERE! This single book will quickly teach you VB without insulting your intelligence.
FOR Programming Novices: Hey guys, don't start your journey on the trash-laden "made easy" paths; don't be misled by the tons of rubbish promising to get you there in 24 hours, a week, or whatever. Pick up this serious programming guide, slog a bit, and you will surely get there.
Thank you Mr Balena. Yours was the BEST computer book that I read in three years.
13 One great book
I bought several books in vb and this one is the best. Its easy to understand. It gives you several programming options and gives advantages and disadvantages on each option.
14 Very good, but not a tutorial.
This is an excellent book for the intermediate VB programmer. It is not in tutorial format, so it is not (imo) suitable for beginners. If you are looking for a tutorial to take you from the ground up, you should probably look for another book first, then come back to this one.
15 Great book for people from other programming languages
The book doesn't waste you time on the basic concepts that are universal to all programming languages. It's not a simple compilation of instrution sheets for you to follow step by step like the dummy books. Instead, it teaches you WHY. It's relatively slow to read this book, simple because it packs more useful info onto each page than the other books out there. I would rather spend the same amount of time crawling through only 10 pages of this book than flipping through 100 pages of some other VB book and still learned nothing.
16 It's pretty good - like the rest have said
Yea - this is a pretty good VB6 book alright. If you are a beginner Gary Cornell's "VB6 From the Ground Up" is, IMO, better. But, I'd buy it again if I had to do it all over.
17 Great book! Helps me fix my problems!
I can say that choosing a good VB book is hard to find. I ran into several mistakes in finding a good one that can guide me through different projects for school and business. As a matter of fact, I bought almost 4 books before this one. I was still a little skeptical in choosing this book but once I realized how much good information it has, I was impressed. I am a business major trying to learn some good programming and this book taught me just that! I recommend it to everybody.
18 Took me from beginner-intermediate to advanced-intermediate
This book was amazing! The descriptions in this book took me from having no clue what a class module or oop is to understanding oop in one hour! This will be especially important in VB .NET since everything there is an object. You need to have a basic understanding of visual basic to understand this book, this shouldn't be your first book. But I do not think that it was ment to be. This book also has a great section on internet programming. Like it says in the book, it covers everything from ADO to Zorder.
19 This book is the one- it's awesome
Finally a VB book that delivers. I went out and got it based on what I read here, I totally agree with everyone. The book is well written, and you really learn. It will get me to the next level. Francisco...you are the man!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Ed
20 Highly recommended for experienced programmer
I am an experienced C++ programmer. As a first-time user of Visual Basic, I was tasked to write a program that interacts with a SQL-Server database, the Windows registry, and external files (I hit a lot of topics). I used a variety of Windows Common controls, including ListView and TreeView controls.
Between this book and Visual Basic on-line documentation, I could do everything I wanted. This book has excellent examples - just what you need to do the obvious and basic tasks.
I also bought a "Using Visual Basic" by Eidahl, which was a waste.
21 Really as good as they're all saying
Yes, it's true. This really is, quite simply, the best VB book ever written. I've been teaching VB since 1995 and yet I've learned VB all over again through this book, even on some of the most fundamental levels. It even comes with a CD version of itself that I use at work when I want to look something up. Somebody ought to lock this guy up and force him to write a book on every subject in the industry, so that I could read them all and become an expert at everything!
22 One of the best technical books I've read recently
I'm an experienced C++ programmer and I needed to learn VB. This book is superb for me. It is extremely clearly written, and manages to not be boring at all. I especially like the example code, which is clear and to the point and written in a very good solid style. It's all here but it doesn't put you to sleep. The author has judged very well what people need to be told and what he can assume they already know. There are a lot of tips and tricks scattered around, which appear to be real tips gained from the author's experience, not just cleverness - it's obvious that the author really knows the subject, and hasn't just regurgitated the manual. I see he has a VB.NET book coming out, that's the one I'll go for.
23 A book every VB programer should have!
This book is the best book i have read about Visual Basic. I have read 4 other books on the topic and no other book goes into so much depth. The author has a great way of conveying the information to his readers so that you clearly understand what he is saying. I learned so many usefull tips that i never new before. I would recommend this book to anyone who has a little bit of basic Visual Basic knowledege. This is an Excellent book for Intermediats and Advance programmers. It is also an excellent "VB Dictonary".
Bottom Line: Excellent book, a must have. By the way be carfull with the book the binding is fragile!!!
24 A must have for serious VB students
I jumped into an intermediat/advanced VB course (ADO) without ever having programmed in VB. This book by Mr. Balena is a treasure. It is well-written, thorough, and comes with a CD-ROM that contains the book, which makes it easily searchable. I run three monitors. While programming in VB, I keep the e-book open on one monitor at all times, for reference.
Mr. Balena provides wonderful tips on documented and undocumented "tricks" in VB. There are some real gems throughout the book. I love this book! I am sure it will serve me well for many many upcoming programs.
25 Def worth buying!!
Great book! Starts from zero and goes to advanced before I knew it. I def recommend you buy this book it helped me alot, that's for sure.
26 Great for learning efficient, maintenable VB
My opinion for this book is not based on comparing this book with others, just on my experience with it.
I am learning VB by this book. I think it is great. There is a lot in it so each chapter is rich. One of the things I appreciate is that it teaches the use of the code and leads to using it efficiently and making the code maintainable. It also comes with a CD with the electronic version of the book in it, so you can read it in your PC at work without having to carry the "brick".
As for exercises, you can practice the code on the book and play your own variations. I don't think this is a book "for dummies", but you can set your own pace by experimenting the use of the code. On the other side, a "for dummies" may bore you before you learn.
This book puts a constant emphasis on making the code fast, reusable, maintainable and debugable, which besides the concepts of the language, it teaches what an experienced programmer can offer.
27 My bindings came off!
I only have 3 complaints about this book. 1) 6 days after purchasing this book, the bindings came off. 2) As a previous reviewer mentioned, the author uses functions and subroutines in his code snippets that he expects you to know already. I had to use the MSDN Online Help to get explanations on them. 3) Even though the author has TONS of USEFUL code snippets, it would've been better to put all of them into exercises. Because I come from a C++ and Java background, I was able to understand most of what I've read so far (250 pages). This book is definitely NOT for beginners. You must at least know some programming in order to read this book.
28 Excellent book, horrible binding
The book itself is excellent, though definitely not for beginners. Comprehensive, well researched, and fairly well written. The code samples that are included on the CD-ROM are also excellent and extensive; you can use these in your own programs.
I gave the book 1 star because of the horrible binding. The book began to fall apart after a few months. Eventually, the entire spine separated from the pages. I have had to resort to using glue to get them back in, a very messy process. The book looks physically horrible now. This is disgraceful in a book of this cost.
29 Best VB Book I've Read
I don't think I've read a book that covers VB in such an intense and complete way. Just about everything is covered and with a depth that never left me needing more. The examples are good and the writing is clear. It even works as a good reference book (unlike many other computer books). I keep it at my desk at all times.
I recommend this book to people who have a little bit of VB experience (or just general programming experience), but not to the complete novice. It moves quickly so the novice programmer may not be able to keep up without more indepth explanations. Overall, I've found this to be the best book on general VB programming on the market.
30 Wonderful Book
Because this book has introduced so many VB6 features and thoroughly explained such a broad range of useful VB6 development methods, my desire to use VB has been rekindled. I would recommend that a developer purchase this book before buying any other VB6 books.
31 Great Book!!!
This is the best VB Book that i have bougth!!!.
32 good but not 5 stars
I just started reading this book and am on page 120. For anybody that has VB experience, this book is a treasure. I've already come across at least 10 things that will save me time in my programming. I plan to read this book from cover to cover (which I don't normally do with programming books). It is clearly written and gives reasons for doing things one way as opposed to another. For example:
"Using a controlling variable of a specific object type usually offers better performance than a generic Variant or Object variable. Iterating on the elements of a collection using a For Each...Next loop is generally faster than a regular For...Next loop because the latter forces you to refer to individual elements using their numeric incdices, which is a relatively slow operation."
Personally, I love this kind of information. However, in my brief examinations, the book has already shown two shortcomings: its index and its code.
I've found the index to be a little skimpy at times. I've already found on a couple of occassions that it took a while to find the simple answer that I was looking for. I suppose that this is because the book was written to be more readable than as a reference book.
I've also found a few things in the code that don't make sense. For example, in the function GetFiles (p.239) the variable path2 is defined (dimmed) as a string. However, this variable is never used in the function. Because this is the first snippet of code that I've examined with any detail, it kind of raises my eyebrows. I wonder what else I'm going to come across in the code.
Overall, the book is very readable. I would reccommend it at an Intermediate level. The book would be perfect for anyone who has programmed some VB and is starting to get a little deeper. It would also be perfect for someone with a large amount of programming experience, but with little VB experience.
33 THIS IS THE BOOK FOR INTERMEDIATE VB PROGRAMMERS
This book is not for beginers, if you think so take a look at another one. In fact this is an excellent book for intermediate programmers. The book is quite clever , full of tips to improve your applications and deep explanation in real application programming. Standard control and Database programming using code, Data Environmment and ADO Controls are very well explained.
34 Too much code
Even for a programmer, this book might seem overwhelming. The author delves right into programming without explaining some basic structure of VB, i.e: data types, available functions. Also, the reader is expected to understand all the code written in the book without any help from the author. The author only provides an overview of what the code does. There is very little explanation regarding the functionality of functions used from the VB library. I wouldn't recommend this book if you are a non-programmer or a beginner in programming.
35 Excellent Book
This is about my 6th VB book, some going back a few versions of the program. I found this book a tremendous help. I would not recommend it for a "first VB book" but for the intermediate to experienced programmer, it will certainly be hard to beat!
I especially use and enjoy the "book on CD" feature in that I have instant reference to it without balancing it on my lap and it is a searchable reference.
36 Great book.
It is a great book with a lot of examples, but you should have some knowledge in visual basic before you start it. Some of the topics go a bit fast, but I would recommend this book to anyone that is really interested in knowing all the different features of visual basic.
37 Excellent book
I am an intermediate VB programmer, so I needed some help on some fundamentals (hate to use the help!) and more importantly needed some guidance in exploring the more advanced features of VB6. This is the ONE!
The chapters on Databases, User Interface and ActiveX programming are the best. Hey, I am flying high now, lol.
Besides the points that this is an excellent book for all VB programmers, I found there are very few errors, which is something really important. The source codes are excellent, I used some of them in my own application. One example is the HTML editor, simple to use and a good tool to test your HTML codes.
Generally, I love this book and recommend all of you to buy it.
38 Detailed, Complete, Accurate
I've finally made it through the entire book, but I took me a year! I was basically a beginner when I started, and I must say although I hit a few walls along the way, I have come a very long way.
Francesco seems to have a consistently good manner of explaining complex topics. With other technical books, I have really noticed when the author's had a good day and a bad day at writing.
I found very little errors in the book. Those I did locate were trivial most of the time. Francesco offers an on-line location to obtain updates/corrections where needed. I very much like this idea!
My only negative comment is the poor binding on the book. I had barely had my book 3 months, when the binding started coming apart. I am very careful with my books, and do not "man-handle" them in any way. I think the book should be split into two smaller books, or offered in a hard cover edition.
It's not an inexpensive book to buy, but you won't regret it at all. I've paid as much for books not 10% as well done, or complete.
I especially like the way all exercises from the book are enclosed in the accompanying CD - great when you want to spent more time learning and less time coding.
Thank you Francesco for a job well done. Looking forward to your VB.Net edition!
39 Wunderbach - Bravo
This book is by no means a beginner's guide to VB 6. There are very many books that will get you going on the subject. If, however, you have graduated to the "Advanced Club" and are faced with a major project - and deadline - you will need a handy, desk reference that you can refer to time and again. A desk reference that will contain examples that apply to real-world situations, not "How to draw flags" type examples. And it really doesn't matter what the problem is, it could be something as obscure as syncing underlying data, or something as universal as optimising ADO access, you will find it all here. Not only is it here, it's arranged in an extremely logical and clear fashion that it's easy to quickly find the example you are looking for. As a major added bonus, there is Francesco's web site where you can post questions that may not have been addressed in the book. Although I doubt that it will come to that. Like any book, Francesco's has it's limitations, so don't expect cutting-edge Web development stuff, to do with VB 6 COM, ASP, and all that. However, even some of those subject are touched on so that you can get a head's up. IIS, DHTML, and more.
My feeling is after having completed two major projects with VB6 in which I utilised every aspect of the language, plus reaching into shareware, I couldn't fault this book. It paved the way for me on many a dark day when I was struggling with complex and at times obscure code.
It's a first class piece of work, by a man that truly knows his trade, and is proud of knowledge to an extent that he delivers it with style, elegance, and accuracy unmatched anywhere.
Bravo Francesco. And thank you for a wonderful book.
40 Good book for "pick-up" programmers
Programming Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 is great for intermediate and experienced programmers who wish to know more about Visual Basic. It is also good for experienced VB developers who need a refresher on some items that are not seen everyday. As a C++ programmer, I find it easy to browse through this book and find information and snippets that I need to program in VB. It covers some important topics that are not covered by beginning books like databases, ASP objects, and ActiveX.
In all, I give this book 5 stars because of the ultimate usefulness to a programmer. It touches a lot of topics that a person should know about VB. Though, it presents some of the code like, "here, we discuss some sections, just see how it works", I still like it. The eBook is nice also to bring around with you.
41 Extraordinary Book
I have studied 8-10 VB books. When reading a topic which is particularly insightful or useful, it is my practice to flag the item and then write in the page number on the inside corner of the book. That way I can go back to the book later and review these particularly useful points. In the average book, there will be about one mark for every 10 or so pages. In Balena's book, there are such marks on almost every page. There is a great deal of meat and not much air, which is unusual for a 1,000+ page book. Although this book starts "at the beginning", there is too much heavy lifting too soon for someone new to programming. To be sure, there are a few gaps and poorly worded phrases, but these are minute when compared to the average programming book.
42 Best VB book I have read.
Although I would not recommend this book as a first book for someone just learning VB, I would enthusiastically recommend this book for everyone who already has a general familiarity with VB and who has written at least a few programs in VB. I have worked with VB since version 3 and as a professional consultant, I believe that my own VB skills are very good. Chapter and chapter and tip after tip, I found myself learning and getting all sorts of ideas to make my programming life easier and my code better. I don't even want to think about how much money I have burned up in books that I have given way, sold or tossed without getting anything out of them. This book was a real find and a genuine pleasure to read. I plan on a re-read and then hanging on to it as a resource.
Bottom Line - I highly recommend this book for anyone who has gotten past the VB introductory material and their first few VB programs.
43 Overall, Excellent
I find the book an excellent resource for the following reasons:
The author talks to you in a down-to-earth, intelligent manner, while he is highly knowledgeable and knows how to convey vast amounts of information well.
You know how when you are right in the middle of a programming task and you need more information about a specific topic? This is the book that supplies that info, allowing you to dig and dig and still find more.
I have had this book for 2 months and *every* one of my inquiries has been covered by the author.
The book is laid out well, intuitive and easy to understand. It is a pleasure to read and refer to.
Material 5/5 stars
__________now for the flip side____________
I give the book 5 stars for material, but for book quality I give it 1 star (the 1 star is the fact that there is a very nice looking graphic on the front cover). For the physical quality of the book production, it is zero stars.
My first book broke. I had to return it because the spine snapped. The employee at the technical bookstore where I bought it informed me that the book is too big for the quality of bindery to be able to support that many pages.
I complained to Microsoft Press, speaking at length to a customer service representative who told me that MS Press receives many, many complaints about the quality of production.
Conversely, if any of you have used books from O'Reilly Press, you probably know how well their books are made. Here is what O'Reilly says about their books (Colophon section - VB & VBA in a Nutshell): "Whenever possible, our books use RepKover (tm), a durable and flexible lay-flat binding. If the page count exceeds RepKover's limit, perfect binding is used."
Francesco, please continue writing, but please write for O'Reilly!
44 Top Notch VB Book -- Get it !!
Balena has done a great service by writing this book. His explanation is clear, concise and very few authors can write the way he does---complicating things brought to down-to-earth level. This book is both great for programmers trying to learn VB for the first time and also for experienced programmers. He explains how and why things should be done in certain ways... and I greatly appreciate that... which enables me to understand VB better. Experienced programmers can also learn as there are simple things that they may have overlooked; easier ways to perform certain tasks than one would imagine. Well-written. To me, this book is a good investment.
45 Learning VB? Just pay for this book.
With this book, Francesco Balena started my VB programming career.
This book begins easy enough for someone with introductory programming experience to begin programming in a professional language.
Like other books in the series, it covers a lot of ground, giving enough depth for you to be able to obtain more advanced, in depth and specific reference materials including case studies on the Internet, such as MSDN.
If you're looking to start programming, this is the beginning of the road, and will certainly be a great reference for a long time.
46 The BEST book on VB programming, period!
I do not know how I can emphasize this point any more, this is the best book on Visual Basic programming ever written. Francesco's understanding of Visual Basic is amazing. While I have worked with and programmed with Visual Basic for years, there are few times I open this book and do not learn something new.
Even more important to me is Francesco's ability to put complex things into plain and understandable English. He has a gift for writing about programming that is rarely seen. His coverage of the intrinsic controls alone is worth the price of admission, yet that is only one small facet on this diamond of a book.
There are other books which cover more esoteric Visual Basic topics better, but no book covers the entire language as well as this one does. It is the true "Programmer's Guide" to the language. "Programming Visual Basic 6.0" is not for the beginner as it is pretty advanced in some places, but it is accessible to programmers of all levels as a reference and to mid-range programmers wanting to improve what they have learned in the beginning books. For advanced VB programmers this book again is a good reference though I can imagine even the seasoned veterans of us will find some new gems in these pages.
Rock On Francesco! You are incredible!
47 Terrific, unbelievably complete and detailed
Terrific book. I can't say more about its merits.
48 Can't say enough good things about this book!
Not to sound contrived, but if you only own one book on VB6, this should be the one! I speak from personal experience. I recently moved across country and my entire library was destroyed. I took this opportunity to evaluate my choices and replaced every book I had prior (about 15) with this one. It provides a complete examination of fundamentals but from an advanced point of view. It's the only book I've seen that does a decent job covering basic controls like TreeView and the ADO DataGrid. Does an outstanding job of covering OOP and how to "make" VB be truly object oriented. There are code snippets that I have used in literally dozens of projects! He hits ADO well, a little SQL Server, a great job on IIS projects and even Web Classes! A true winner. By the way...I've over exaggerated a little...I've also added a book on COM+ and UML that even this book didn't cover with enough detail. BUY THIS BOOK.
49 Every page is useful.
When my boss told me that he needed an application developed using Visual Basic, I went hunting for a book that would tell me what I needed to know. Am I ever glad that I found this one! I've had plenty of experience with languages such as C, C++, Java, Perl etc ... so for me, most books are usually too basic or very general. This book is an amazing blend of basic concepts and advanced techniques. Never before have I seen an author give so many useful and insightful tips and guidelines. There is so much contained in this book that you may never figure out on your own, even with years of experience. One of the VB developers in my office continually asks to borrow my copy of this book, and he's been using VB since version 1.0!! The greatest thing about it would have to be that it is not simply another book that tells you everything you could find in the help files. It also makes a wonderful refercence. Don't expect to get rid of this book once you finish it. You will find that you are referring to it again and again, I know I do. Seriously, I'm not one to tell people to waste money on a book that teaches them what they could very well learn somewhere else for free ... but if you plan an doing any Visual Basic development at all, you absolutely must own this book. My only advice to you is to hang on to the CD in the back cover. The actual book may not last as long as your need for the information in its pages.
50 The world has a great VB writer in Mr. Balena
You should get this book if: (a) you are new to VB with no prior programming experience (b) you are new to VB with prior programming experience (c) you are a moderate VB programmer (can work with basic controls, etc.) (d) you are a skilled VB programmer
You get the idea, don't you? Basically, this is _THE BOOK_ for Visual Basic! There is absolutely no better book on the language! This book, 1000+ plus pages thick, gives you a comprehensive tutorial and serves as a reference to the VB language in case you know it already. Although I haven't gone over every part of the book yet, you can see from how the book is organized that Mr. Balena is a structured and good writer. The first Part in the book gives you an intro to the language, but the "intro" is basically what all newbies need to get the basic gist of VB. From then on, you can read the rest of the book for more cool topics or you can start building your own desktop apps and use the book as a reference.
In the second part of the book, Mr. Balena goes over a wealth of controls included with Visual Basic. His two chapters on the "Windows Common Controls" were extremely useful to me because I can use it as a reference for the MS Common Dialog , Toolbar, and RichTextBox controls, to name a few. The Common Dialog control is where you get the typical Win32 FileOpen, FileSave, and Print forms. Mr. Balena goes over the properties of all the controls and explains them in detail. Then at the end of Part II, Mr. Balena goes over additional ActiveX controls like the MS Chart control.
Part III is for all you database programmers who want to see the power of VB in database programming. It gives you a comprehensive review on using the ADO (ActiveX DataControl-- Microsoft's replacement of DAO and RDO as the newest and best database control for VB). This Part teaches you how to link with different types of databases like a SQL server, and it also gives a brief intro to SQL commands in case you're not familiar with them.
Part IV is on ActiveX programming (including parts on creating your own ActiveX controls) and Part V is Internet programming. I have not yet looked at these sections in detail yet and so cannot provide a comprehensive review, but with the book's consistents outstanding performance in earlier parts, I'm sure these chapters are very good also.
As a bonus, Mr. Balena provides a commonly used Windows API functions appendix at the end of the book.
I hope you see that this book is very effective no matter what kind of programmer you are. If you're new you can learn. If you know the basics, you can learn the cool stuff. If you are a guru, you can use it as a complete reference which explains many things better than the MSDN documentation included w/ Visual Basic.
51 How much VB do you need to like this book?
It is clear from the positive reviews that this book is a success for an audience of advanced VB programmers. Those of us that are less advanced (I'm a beginner) might ask whether we are going to have the "two-star" or the "five-star" review experience. How much VB do we need?
An example I ran into might help you decide. On p. 178 the author describes an example of an "array of arrays" creating an appointment calendar with descriptions of appointments stored in the array of arrays named "apps(day)". As part of the code, the satement appears
If IsEmpty(apps(day)) Then
I was surprised to find that IsEmpty ALWAYS evaluated FALSE, making this If statement useless. Once this problem was discovered, I found from the online help that IsEmpty always evaluates false unless apps(day) is a simple variant. (Do you know this? I had to find out.)
Can apps(day) be a simple empty variant? It's supposed to be an array of arrays. Well, if you initiate apps(day) with
apps(day) = Empty
then the If statement works. But if you initiate apps(day) with
apps(day) = Array(Empty)
which is how it's done when apps(day) is NOT empty, for example,
apps(day) = Array("First meeting of day", "Second meeting of day")
then the If statement won't work unless it is changed to
If IsEmpty(apps(day)(0)) Then
(What do you know about arrays, array notation, how empty array notation changes when it fills? I had to find out.)
What does this have to do with evaluating the book? The above example is not unusual. If you are happy to read at an abstract level, the gist of the examples is clear, and the examples are interesting. In the above example, it's clear what the IsEmpty is about, and the "array of arrays" idea is great. However, if you want to implement the author's ideas using his code, his elliptical approach leaves gaps and ambiguities. Depending on your VB background, the needed fill-in and clarification can require much head-scratching.
Bottom line: As a stimulus to the imagination, definitely go ahead. As practical coding, be prepared to fuss.
52 How much VB do you need?
Maybe my first review was too technical, so I'm trying again.
It is clear from the positive reviews that this book is a success for an audience of fairly advanced VB programmers. Those of us that are less advanced (I'm a beginner) might question whether the book will suit our needs, or if we are going to have the " two-star review" experience.
An example might help you decide. On p. 178 the author describes an example of an "array of arrays" using an appointment calendar with appointments stored in the array of arrays named "apps(day)". As part of the code, the statement appears:
If IsEmpty(apps(day)) Then
According to the on-line help, the IsEmpty function will always evaluate as false unless apps(day) is an empty variant. (Do you know this? If not, you won't understand how the If-statement works. The author doesn't explain, so you'll have to figure it out.) But apps(day) is an array of arrays; can it be an empty variant? The above If-statement works if:
apps(day) = Empty
which you might deduce as what the author is thinking, but if instead the reader imagines that
apps(day) = Array(Empty)
then the "IsEmpty" line must be changed to
If IsEmpty(apps(day)(0)) Then
(What do you know about array notation? The author mentions it, but not in the context of this code.) The author never spells out the constituent elements of apps(day), so the specifics are the reader's guess.
What does all this have to do with evaluating the book? The above example is not unusual. If you are happy to read at an abstract level, the gist of the examples is interesting and clear. However, if you want to implement the author's ideas using his code, his elliptical approach has gaps and ambiguities. He doesn't dwell on VB details. Depending on your background in VB, this fill-in and clarification can require a lot of head-scratching.
Bottom line: as a stimulus to imagination, definitely go ahead. As practical coding advice, be prepared to fuss.
53 Bar none the best I ever had.
This is THE bible for Visual Basic programming. Concise, Accurate, and informative. It is easy to read (I read through it twice now), easy to find relavent information, and great advancement to my VB programming skills. (and a right direction to OOP).
54 What VB level is expected of a reader?
Most of the reviews of this book are very positive. The few that are not are complaints from "moderately experienced" VB programmers. I am probably a novice myself, so I'll give you an example of what is expected of you. On page 178 is an example using arrays to make an appointment calendar. This example is fairly typical of what you might run up against in the author's examples. The appointments in the example are stored in an array called apps(day). Early in the code one finds the line
If IsEmpty(apps(day)) Then
It took me a while to find out how to make this line work. From the online help you will find that IsEmpty is meaningful only for variants, and even then returns false if there is more than one component in the array apps(day), whether it is empty or not. So by watching the locals window while doing a lot of experimentation, I found that I could arrange that when apps(day) happens to be empty, it is not treated as an array at all, but just an empty variant variable. However, if instead (as is quite natural) you define the empty apps(day) as an empty array, the code won't work.
Personally, I think that a few words of warning to the reader and a short Sub Main() to exercise the code would have been in order. Certainly there are much more obvious matters that are discussed in more detail.
So, bottom line? There is a lot to think about here, and many imaginative implementations of the language. But be prepared to mull things over and invest a bit of time.
55 Francesco is amazing.
I am a moderate VB programmer- I spend more time working with technologies like ASP and DHTML. I was fortunate enough to attend VBITS and even more fortunate to hear Francesco give a couple of talks. After those sessions I decided I must have his book. The book is clear and concise while it still ventures into the detail that is absolutely necessary for those of us who use VB. The book is thorough; each page contains information that is pertinent and usefull. Not only that but it covers almost every dimension of the core product, Visual Basic. The book is for people who want to master their craft. If you are trying to learn a programming language in 21 days, this book is not for you because it is written with the technical detail that is absolutely necessary for mastering all the dimensions of a programming tool. Other books that promise the 21 day approach disguise the seriousness and power of Visual Basic. In short, if you are interested in mastering Visual Basic and you want a guide that will be as good in 2 days as in 1 year, buy this book!
56 The finest programing book I've ever used (really!)
I can't speak highly enough about this book. While it's not for someone who has never used VB before, if you have some basic knowledge, and you *really* want to learn how to create world-class programs, this is the book. I found myself using some of his examples, within the first week of using the book, in my own programming. He goes over aspects of clean code, performance, theory, practice, and he's actually written samples for everything he talks about, which means that he actually went into VB and tried *everything* it has. He brings all of that information back to the reader, down to peculiar behaviors and workarounds to undocumented errors. I wish every author went to the trouble that Mr. Balena has both in learning about the software, and presenting all of his findings. Just buy this book.
57 Must have for both Pro's and Rookies!
I wrote this review on May 8, 2000. My regard for the book is unchanged. Today (04/17/04) for those who are in need of a "survival set" on "Classic VB," this is one of two "must have" volumes. The second is Charlws Williams' "Professional Visual Basic 6 Databases" by Wrox Press. These two books will see those who are maintaining and even extending VB 6 applications while the new stuff is .Net, these two books will get you through.
Original Review:
This is the only book that covers everything that you can do with Visual Basic. I know of no other source with that kind of information. Brevity is required to cover this topic in under 1300 pages, of course. This book coupled with the VB 6 Programmers Guide and the three volume "Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 Reference Library" will have what you need to know about Visual Basic.
There is a tremendous benefit in having one author tackle the entire subject in one book IT IS COHESIVE!
I would advise rookies to tackle this book first and use the Programmer's Guide when they are stuck. The reason for this is that the Programmer Guide's data access is data control oriented. If you are going to be a professional, you want to break out of that mold and use the ADO and DAO methods. Data controls have their place, but it is not in professional programs. Balena covers all the relevant data access methodologies.
Finally, the lazy people who are looking for a lot of "cut and paste" to keep from having to understand what they are doing should pass on this book. Balena wont write your program for you.
58 A rare book - easy reading, then can be used as a reference
This is indeed the best VB6 book I've ever seen. If you're completely new to programming (or indeed VB) then this should not be your first VB book. I had used VB4 in a previous job and so considered myself between beginner and intermediate. This book started off just right for me and quickly took me a lot further.
My only criticism is that I found the sections on database access a little confusing. There are a few different database access techniques and I felt that the author didn't clearly distinguish between them - however this is a minor complaint.
It's very easy to read and I find myself carrying it around with me and referencing it every day. If you want to be good at VB6 then you must get this book!
59 Really covers issues that programmers need to know
After reading other books I realize that they just don't have enough information. They cover the basics that most people can figure out. This books gives tips and information that you can't find anywhere else. While it has the basics on controls it spends time on Databases and more complex issues. Highly recommended
60 Really covers issues that programmers need to know
After reading other books I realize that they just don't have enough information. They cover the basics that most people can figure out. This books gives tips and information that you can't find anywhere else. While it has the basics on controls it spends time on Databases and more complex issues. Highly recommended
61 The Wonderful taste of Knowledge
This Book Really Outshines the Competition. For the first time I see such a Book that is full of Techniques, Details, Work Arounds & Solutions for Extremely Complex Problems that are usually thought to be impossible to solve using VB. The Level of detail of this book is Amazing and Overwhelming, as i never thought that there could be any VB book in such detail. I say it out loud: The Author Deserves the Credits and the Whole 5 stars. I excuse myself to borrow words from another review that says: "When you hold this book, It becomes too hard to leave it down", for these words are absolutely true, and the worse, You can't just skip any page ! Finally, This Book Delivers its message Clearly, and it *isn't* any way near to a manual rehash.
62 Covers a wide variety of VB subject
I have come from a C/C++ programming background and this book has been excellent for getting me started with Visual Basic. It covers pretty much all the issues I have been concerned with and provides excellent tips along the way. I have no problem recommending this book.
63 Buy this book!
I am resonably new to programming in general, and sent two weeks leaning VB6 from a variety of sources. I bought this book as a reference, and it is the best money I have spent in a long time. This reference is not aimed at learning you to program - but if you have some programming knowledge and wish to learn VB6 in detail, you can't go wrong with this book.
64 Your best choice if your an experienced programmer
If your sick of manual "rehashes" and need real how to information, get this book. It's not for beginners, but is extremely well written. As an experienced programmer (20 years) I found this book to be the most usefull of all the various VB books I have purchased or examined. Every time I browse this book I find something new and usefull, and find it difficult to put down.
65 Not for beginners
This book is definitely preaching to the converted. In other words if you are already an experienced VB programmer I'm sure its great. But for a VB beginner like me its no good. (I have been programming other languages for ten years.) The basics are breezed over and example code uses syntax that is yet to be discussed, so it gets very confusing. I would suggest that anyone who wishes to learn VB find another book. That is what I will be doing!
66 Excellent!
As a moderately experienced programmer I am always looking for exceptional books which will help in my quest to learn VB. Among the 10 or so I have recently purchased, this book is the best all-around quide to VB6. It covers only the more recent techniques, with a range and depth which is amazing. If I need to find out how to do something, this is usually the only book I open. The code is not polished, and the comments are sometimes a bit odd, but the structure and ideas expressed in code are excellent. Although you probably wont want to drop the code directly into your projects, if you take the time to understand what he is doing, and polish the code yourself, you will have both a valuable code resource and learned the topic well. A couple of other books I recommend are by Lhotka and Moniz. If anyone finds books at this level of excellence, PLEASE say so here!
67 A Must-Have for Every Visual Basic Programmer
Balena has done a great service by writing this book. His explanation is clear, concise and very few authors can write the way he does---complicating things brought to down-to-earth level. This book is both great for programmers trying to learn VB for the first time and also for experienced programmers. He explains how and why things should be done in certain ways... and I greatly appreciate that... which enables me to understand VB better. Experienced programmers can also learn as there are simple things that they may have overlooked; easier ways to perform certain tasks than one would imagine. Well-written. To me, this book is a good investment.
68 up to date and by far the best
This is part of a e-mail to Francesco Balena. as someone who is new to programing and trying to learn how to do it how would i have found the answer with out your help? and i must say i have about 6 to 9 ( about $50 each what a waste) books on how to program and by far yours is the most up to date and easy to understand by far i do not even look at the other book just your thanks a lot.
69 Very theoretical in nature with no practice exercises
This book is one long essay. It goes over the head for moderately competent VB programmers.This book suffers from a total absence of practice examples. Although it is comprehensive in style and offers great tips, it glosses over fundamental issues such as creation of menus. I had communicated with the author. His advice to master VB was practice and practice. Advice that his book ignores completely. I had the computer on while reading this book and never once had an opportunity to use the computer.I returned the book after just 5 chapters and got my money back.
70 Best VB book available
Take it from a guy who has bought way too many VB books, this is the only one you need. This author has done his homework, and it shows! The book is simply loaded with tricks & tips as well as clearly explaining the language in a concise manner. Although I'm still part way through the book, I'm sure this will be a handy reference after I'm finished.
71 Most comprehensive VB book I've read
This is the most comprehensive, clear and concise VB book that I have read. It is packed with many advanced tips and source code which actually works!! I added this book to my list of favorite Visual Basic 6 books on my "Visual Basic Book Reviews" web site in a hurry. A must have resource for all VB6 programmers.
72 The best book on VB I've read yet.
This book is the clearest, most concise book on VB that I have come across yet. The text is clearly written, the code works and is easy to follow. Whether you wish to work with the Windows API, build an ActiveX dll or build an IIS application, this book will show you how. It taught me how to build a WebClass, and more importantly, how to *depoly* it. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!
73 Very good book
This is an excellent book where you will find plenty of new and useful informations that may not exist anywhere else. The book is an original and very intelligent description of VB and cannot be compared with VB manual from Microsoft or other sources. I have a five stars for the chapters describing programming database. The missing star comes from the fact that sometimes you have to get some background VB knowledge from other sources to really enjoy the book.
74 Great Book!
The author is obviously a very experienced VB Developer and a very honest one at that. This is my 2nd Microsoft Press book and I'm very surprised at the amount of good content and lack of MS propaganda in this book. Francesco Balena clearly explains the do's and don't's of writing VB code and explains and shares benchmark results in varying coding styles.
After writing ASP pages for about 6 months it was a natural progression for me to build ASP Components using VB Compiled DLLs and this book not only helped my coding techniques, but increased the performance of my Web Applications. I have really benefitted from his benchmark comments and attribute the performance gains I have received from them.
He is one of the few authors who keeps your attention with clear and concise sentences rather than hopeless humor and poorly written technical information. This book is definitely a MUST read if you want to get ahead in developing solid VB Applications, Components, Active X Controls and remote Components via DCOM. That's the part that I'm about to get into..cool stuff man!
75 This is NOT another rehash book!
Thank God this book is NOT another rehash of what the F1 key can display in the time of need. So many programming books are that, another help file reprint but in different form. Instead, the book has been written by probably one of the most qualified persons on the subject of Visual Basic there is.
I wrote Francesco Balena an email about a year ago to his Italy address and within 24 hours I had a wonderful reply which answered my question completely. It was a question about 3rd party graphics programs for Delphi. Because of his advice I used the API instead of 3rd party problems and have been thankful ever since.
76 Excellent Book
This book has numerous valuable tips throughout. It is extremely readable for beginners and an excellent reference for the more advanced.
77 Best VB Book on the shelves (Beginner or Advanced) NECESSARY
OK, I'll keep this short. I have been using VB for 3 years. I have followed FB's work in VBPJ and saw two of his talks at VBits Chicago. I ordered this book before it was published. I say to all VB folks. Buy this book, DA's API book, BM's HardCore book and SM's Code Complete. Hide in a jungle resort with a P500 and proper Software and take a year off til VB7, W2000, SPSS11 and XML become fashionable ;-) Neila *HEY AMAZONIAN'S !WISH I HAD SIX OR SEVEN STARS!! *HEY HEY!!**
78 It is the best book that I had
I anticipated this book as an excellent resource for developing my database project. The most important thing is that the book covers most of useful controls. Especially, a DataGrid control sample that contains lookup fields helped me in deveople my code.
79 Overshadows all other VB Books
Just like to add my two-cents to the excellent and accurate reviews which follow. This really is the only VB6 Programming book you'll ever need. Balena's authorial voice is an active and intelligent one, which experiments with and thoroughly explores the entire range of VB6 programming. What you get are sophisticated techniques not tricks, and superb, reusable and elegant code examples, not mere tips. I believe there is stuff here you simply will not find anywhere else. An epic work for VB Programming...
80 The best VB book I've ever seen
The authors guide in the simplest way the reader to all the feature and problem of VB programming, from Form thru Class, from vb statement thru object programming. The author always introduce an argument, give a simple solution, show problems of that solution, and give alternative or more advanced way to solve the problem. For me it's the best book of VB (and not only)
81 I own 7 VB programming books, this is the best one by far
Mr. Balena's new book, Programming Microsoft's VB6, is out standing. I just got the book Friday and I am using information from it already, like the ability to send text to various sections in the Data Report. (Not in any book/help file I could find.) I am an old Clipper head and have reluctantly given up on Visual Objects in favor of VB. This is my seventh VB5/6 book. Now I can throw the others away. They do not come close to the information provided. I knew it would be good based on his articles and tips in the VBPJ. The tips that I have picked up in the two days that I have had the book have paid for it. Thanks for publishing it.
82 ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC!!!!
JUST THE BEST VB BOOK TO DATE , IN MY HUM BLE OPINIO
83 Excellent, Realistic, Well Thought Out, Easy to Follow
This is the first VB book I have read that was very well planned and thought out, easy to follow and didn't consider advanced VB as accessing a database using forms. This book covers the meat of VB that developers (not college students or programmer hobbyists) need to know to be productive in an actual programming environment. I have tried many other books only to bring them back bacause I couldn't follow their examples because they assumed you would fill in the rest or their examples were so elementary you felt like you were practicing etch -a- sketch on your computer. The book not only explains many of VB's advanced components and topics but it gives you a forest view from a developers perspective and then allows you to hone in on specific aspects of the project. Great , Well thought out, realistic book. Maybe I am just over enthusiatic because the other books were just so bad but I really like Programming Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0. Its the best one I've come across yet.
84 Very good comprehensive coverage of VB6
I am a new programmer fresh out of college and I needed a book to help me face the new VB challenges I have everyday. I have not encountered one problem yet that wasn't dealt with by this book. The OOP and ADO sections are thorough and very easy to understand. Mr. Balena has done an excellent job of covering VB6 broadly from the very basic concepts to advanced techniques. This book is a good investment for VB developers at any level.
85 The best advanced overview of Visual Basic I've found.
I anticipated this book being an excellent resource for advanced study of Visual Basic programming techniques because of Mr. Balena's frequent high-quality articles in Visual Basic Programmer's Journal. He seems to me one of the very few writers who can really communicate the theory, structure, and problem-solving techniques required to use VB's object-oriented, ActiveX, and Web related functionality ... with enthusiasm and great source code examples that are immediately useful.
Studying this book and using and learning from the source code examples, libraries, and classes included on the cd-rom is, for me, like a one-on-one with an ideal mentor. I like his tone, his frequent use of sidebar notes and special explanations. He is, I think, by nature an envelope-pushing kind of a programmer and his solutions to many of the ... odd ... lacunae in VB are immediately useful in real-world problem solving. And they are delivered without diatribes against Microsoft or agenda-ranting.
For example, his coverage of the TreeView control, gave me some valuable ideas that I could use right away to solve a problem I was working with in implementing drag and drop.
I've found, to my delight, that this is really about six books in one.
As an introduction and overview of Visual Basic as a programming language it's excellent and I'd recommend it for any programmer who wishes to evaluate Visual Basic's facilities and structure.
As a tutorial on the Object/Class aspects of VB, etc. I found it to be the most lucid writing I've encountered ... and he addresses, with source code examples, polymorphism and inheritance ... areas in VB that have been problematic because VB does not offer true inheritance.
I have only begun to skim and study the detailed section on ADO, but I noticed that his explanation of hierarchical recordsets seemed immediately understandable to me in a way that various articles and white papers I've read have not.
Book number 4 ... I found Balena's approach to explaining ActiveX and COM, dll's, etc. lucid and clear and very helpful. I personally am not at the level where I can grok Dan Appleman's books, and I felt that Balena's focus ... and the gradated source code examples ... are exactly what I need to increase my competence in this area.
And, Book 5 ... I really like Francesco's approach to the new Web features of VB6; there's just enought html content to warm me up to the content on DHTML and he includes his own tools (with source !) for exploring DHTML.
Book 6 ... Distributed applications, ASP, IIS Applications. I hope I can get there, eventually.
What you have in this book is a kind of a "core dump" by an enthusiastic and innovative programmer who wants you to learn what he knows.
Of course, no book is perfect. There are some things on the cd-rom that are mysterious and do not execute as they are obviously designed to do. There is some deficiency in the indexing of the book.
The "heroic" scope of the book does leave you wishing for even more detailed coverage of certain areas like the Windows Common Controls, sub-classing, API call-backs, etc.
The frequent use of re-dimensioning arrays as a solution to problems of the "sparse matrix" type will raise some questions for programmers hell-bent on memory-conservation.
I'm going to be studying and using and having fun with this book and its source code examples for a long, long time. 1250+ pages, 2 megabytes+ of source code : this book has more content than ten of the typical rehashed VB5 books popping out like mangy prairie dogs with VB6 stamped on their foreheads.
86 Good book , but sometimes you lose a point
The book sometimes concentrates on not essential explanations so that you lose a general author's point
87 Just the Best VB Teacher
Why Did I review a book that is not ready to Sell? Because Mr. Balena is one of the best VB teaches and programmers around the word. I've been reading his articles in VBPJ magazine and they are excellent. I was at VBits'99 Chicago listening to Mr. Balena speak at different Workshops and I asked him if all this good stuff is include in the book and He said, in his Italian accent, " YES!", and the book is huge too (I did not realize it has 1,400 pages). Buy it. I already did. Why Did I give it 4 stars and not five? Because the publisher is Microsoft. :-) Gonzalo Medina
