Rating:  - Not for an experienced developer - Great for 5th-grade students.
I've been a developer for more than 20 years, moved off to management about 4-5 years ago. So I decided to learn .net {previous experience with Delphi and VB) by acquiring the Deluxe Learning Edition of VB .net 2003. I found this book to be very difficult to get through because it was entirely too basic. If anyone is serious about doing computer programming, the authors should at least assume the reader knows and understands something - this book's audience appeared to be for middle school readers, not people aspiring to be computer programmers. Beginning Visual Web Programming in VB.NET {from Novice to Professional} is far superior and doesn't leave me feeling like a fourth grader.
Rating:  - Only for a beginner VB programmer
This book is an excellent starter for anyone wanting to learn VB language. Having said that, if you have any VB experience of a year or more, you will be bored with this book. I went through the whole book in about three days. I've been a VB 5 & 6 programmer for years, and was asked to learn .NET. So, I bought this book. I love the Step-by-Step series because I am a hands on coder. I have a hard time reading programming books that just tell you about stuff. I want to program while reading...reinforces the learning. Anyway, I'm really crossing my fingers that they will come out with an advanced VB.NET Step-by-Step book as that is what I really need.
Rating:  - only covers the basics
This book only covers the basics. It starts being literally "step by step" to the point of being annoying (you don't need a full page of text to realize how a control is added to the designer!). Unless you're a real beginner at computers it'll get to your nerves and you'll want to jump entire paragraphs. Then, you get to some interesting subjects like reading and writing to a database. This book teaches you to do so using a wizard. I have nothing against wizards as long as they work. But if you try using this wizard against a MySQL or a DB2 database you'll probably find some problems. You'll have to do it all by hand and this book doesn't teach you that.
OK, you still learn some things with it but you'll need another book to get deeper to OO and ADO.
Rating:  - Absolutely Invaluable!
I have used this book so much that it's starting to fall apart. When I first started with VB.NET, I had no knowledge of VB at all and little programming experience. This book started from the very beginning and took me through writing several different applications for my employer, adding a lot of value to our processes. It also added to my value as an employee and to my job security. ;)
I thoroughly recommend this book for beginners and although I don't classify myself as a beginner anymore, I'm still finding things that I can improve in my programs by leafing through it every once in a while.
This book is worth much more than the price. Highly recommended!!
Rating: - This is a great book for self study....
No one could learn rocket science in a Dummies book. And no one will learn all there is to know about VB.net in this one book. But it is a very confrontable, easy to understand (even the math!) step by step approach to getting your feet wet in VB.net. I've never coded in any language, though I do design software for other coders to code. This book is wonderful and amazing. I now know I've been missing all the fun by not coding myself. I enthusiastically work on the exercises and lessons each day, I make sure I understand each thing before going on to the next...I feel like a kid with a new toy. Once I have these basic understandings and I am armed with the wonder of seeing a program work and make my computer do what it says... I will continue to learn and grow with other resources here at Amazon. And by the way... I didn't buy the book here, I didn't think I could wait the 2 days or so, but I paid about $10 more at my local franchise bookstore. Amazon rocks, there's no doubt about it.
Don't let hard nose coders (no offense) dissuade you from getting this book. Halvorson is a very good, clear writer, a born teacher, with an easy to take "author" voice that sometimes feels like he is right there. You'll feel in good hands....
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