Rating:  - One of the best VB2005 Texts
My perspective on this book is that of a true beginner. I know a lot about programming and languages, but have no experience designing or writing programs/code beyond following the bouncing ball in books such as this.
This book is great...and not so great at the same time...for a true beginner. It is exactly as advertised, "No other book teaches so much, so fast, so thoroughly," but therein lies the problem for we experience-challenged readers. The pace is quick, i.e., topic-to-topic, and many times I had lingering questions about what I'd just read while finding myself halfway into the next topic. The book assumes a certain level of knowledge and/or experience that is somewhere between novice and expert...and I'm still at the 'step-by-step book' stage...so I expect to get a lot more from it in the months ahead than I have thus far. I know enough now to know that what I will need is in there...
That said...whatta book! It will be among the most used of my reference books because it covers such a wide range of topics so well and because it covers those topics comprehensively. As my understanding of the language progresses, I'll have this book to refer to when I need to learn more about specific aspects of the language and its implementation.
I've wasted some money on VB2005 books, but not on this one. Anne Boehm and Mike Murach delivered the goods.
Rating:  - Not useful unless you have never programmed.
I've worked with C and C++ for a while, but never basic until 3 weeks ago when I started the work on this project. I decided to order this book before I began getting my hands dirty with any of the existing VB that I would have to update. While I waited for this book I started working with VB and found that it was much easier than I had expected. By the time the book came in the mail I had practically no use for the "Language Essentials" or "Object Oriented Programming" sections of this book. All that left was a section on databases and XML, which is not really what I bought the book for. I expected this book to cover some of the extensive library that Visual Basic 2005 offers, but there as no coverage outside of a few number and string functions and the afore mentioned database functions. Do NOT by this book if you expect to ever use multiple threads as this book has only a SINGLE sentence on delegates, the means by which Visual Basic calls asynchronous events, and cross threaded function calls. I found this book to be a mediocre reference book for some of most basic library functions, so unless you have never seen a programming language before, or you want it for its database section I would recommend look for a different book.
Rating: - Murach's Visual Basic 2005
I like the layout of this book. Each topic is explained in detail using paired pages with the first page of the pair containing the detail and the second page of the pair containing a summary of key points. There are also a number of benchmark projects that demonstrate the concepts that have been covered. I was particularly impressed with level of detail contained in the chapters on Database Programming and Object-Oriented programming. I would particularly recommend this book for beginning to intermediate level developers. I look forward to reading other books by this publisher.
Rating: - Excellent Training and Reference Book!
This book should be required reading for any application developer using Visual Basic. The layout of syntax, guidelines, and examples on one page with explanations on a matching page provide an easy and quick reference to information. The "paired pages" format: How-to on the left page and examples on the right makes this a great reference book.
It is a straight-forward presentation of Visual Basic 2005 information and a book that will stay on my bookshelf.
Rating: - Practical Easy Format to Use
Murach's has developed a winning template for developing Training and Reference books, and Visual Basic 2005 is no exception. A great feature is the placement of diagrams and illustrations are always found on the page facing the illustration, making it easier to follow the instructions.
Anyone with an experience level of beginner or Intermediate will gain a full measure of usable skills using this book as a How-To for common programming tasks. More advanced programmers will find it a great reference for those times when you just need to figure that out. It's an excellent investment in a personal training library...
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