Customer Rating:  
Summary: Reference Book Only
Comment: I purchased this book based on the good reviews it has received so far here on Amazon. After going through the book I have to say I am dissappointed.
This book gives a very brief summary and example on different subjects while jumping all over the place and not going into to much detail on any specific subject. The examples are poorly formatted and lacking any comments.
Having used older versions of .Net I was able to skim through most of the book with learning very little that is new. The subjects do not go in depth enough for an advanced programmer and not enough explanation for a beginner programmer.
If you get this book, buy the downloadable version and plan to use it only as a basic reference.
Customer Rating:
Summary: The best by far - simple to follow
Comment: OK, I have to back up what the others have said. I've only had this book two days and I'm literally jumping for joy. Finally, a book written so that an idiot like me can follow it. I figure he must have been an elementary teacher along the way somewhere. He actually answers all of those little questions that pop into your head as you're reading, which other books omit to do and, as a result, I get lost by about the fourth chapter. Not this one. I'm swimming through it freely and not drowning. Many thanks Evangelos!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Mastering Visual Basic 2008
Comment: The book has many well explained step by step examples, which are very easy to follow. In my opinion, it's the best book yet on Visual Basic programming.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Fun Book!
Comment: I am a non-traditional student right now (accounting), and I have taken some Excel courses where we used a tiny bit of VBA. This, along with a database application design course, piqued my interest to learn more about Visual Basic.
It's been a few years since I did any programming at all, and I had no experience with visual programming environments. The last time I programmed was back in the 90's, with Pascal and C. And even though it's been a while since I programmed, I knew I didn't want a "raw beginner book." I wanted a book I could grow into. Enter "Mastering Visual Basic 2008."
This is not a book for people who have no programming experience (although a bright, industrious person could probably do it). The basics of programming (declaring variables and basic programming constructs) are covered in two chapters. The rest of the book teaches the aspiring programmer how to work within the Visual Studio environment. The programming examples are useful and can become starting points, letting the reader add functionality as needed.
The author does assume some previous experience, and occasionally leaves out some details here and there, which can be slightly frustrating at times. For myself, however, this worked out okay, because in hunting for the missing details, I actually learned more about the program than I might have if all the details were spelled out. (Yes, the cloud has a silver lining!)
I'm not nearly finished with the book, but the content so far has me looking forward to working my way through all the chapters. Highly recommended!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Wonderful Visual Basic 2008 Learning Tool!!
Comment: 'Mastering Microsoft Visual Basic 2008' by VB expert Evangelos Petroutsos is a fantastic way to get up and running with one of the most popular programming languages in the world. Visual Basic has come so far since it's early days and now the reasons for using VB have gone far beyond just RAD (Rapid Application Development) as you can write world-class applications far beyond the most basic tasks you would have chosen VB for 10 years earlier.
Everything that you would want covered is here in this book, from the basics of how to use VB to condition clauses to array and string access to database connectivity and the newest goodies .NET 3.5 has to offer. Written in a clear, concise manner that calmly takes you from one chapter to the next, I found this book to be an absolute joy to learn from. Sybex has a rich history of publishing easy to use computer books that nearly anyone can learn from and this text is no exception.
Chapter Overview:
01. Getting Started with Visual Basic 2008
02. Variable and Data Types
03. Programming Fundamentals
04. GUI Design and Event-Driven Programming
05. Vista Interface
06. Basic Windows Controls
07. Forms
08. More Windows Controls
09. TreeView and ListView Controls
10. Building Custom Classes
11. Working with Objects
12. Building Custom Windows Controls
13. Handling Strings, Characters, and Dates
14. Storing Data in Collections
15. Accessing Folder and Files
16. Serialization and XML
17. Querying Collections and XML with LINQ
18. Drawing and Painting with Visual Basic 2008
19. Manipulating Images and Bitmaps
20. Printing with Visual Basic 2008
21. Basic Concepts of Relational Databases
22. Programming with ADO.NET
23. Building Data-Bound Applications
24. Advanced DataSet Oprations
25. Building Web Applications
26. ASP.NET 3.5
27. ASP.NET Web Services
My only qualm with this magnificent book is that I wish some color could have been introduced, especially in the sections that discuss the new WPF way of creating applications. These new style apps are meant to have a great look for the user and I feel the tried and true black/white/grey look hurts the book a little bit but this in no way lowers my rating of it.
***** HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
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