Learn to Program with Visual Basic 6

Rating:
Summary: Easier than college, but still just as good
Review: I loved this book. It's great when it comes to learning the material. The book gives you a basic knowledge of how to program in the Visual Basic language. John Smiley explains the material really well and the quizzes in the book makes sure that you know the material. I had a lot of fun going through the book and learning the programming language, and as it says on the front cover that the level of experience needed is nil.

Rating:
Summary: Only for total novices!!!!
Review: This is a well written book, but only for to total novices. This both a book on Visual Basic and a book on how to program from having no background in programming. I have some computer programming experience and did not have the patience to contiune through this book.

Rating:
Summary: A Firm Foundation
Review: By trade I work in the industrial controls industry specifically in the food industry. I am an instrumentation/electronics technician and have been one for the last 20 years. I dabbled in programming such as assembly language and gwbasic and even a tiny bit of 'C' code. I decided to focus my learning through the years and decided to learn Visual Basic as a starting point. Although I don't consider myself to be a beginner I found the following to be true about Mr. Smiley's book. I give it a 5 star rating with no hesitation because it provides a strong foundation on which to build on. I found the format from which Mr. Smiley wrote the book to be very intuitive. The method by which questions are asked and then answered in detail with a real life situation application is priceless; it helps to focus your learning instead of some books that just gives you aimless examples. But it doesn't stop there... Mr. Smiley truly loves what he does and it shows in his books; he doesn't leave you hanging. He goes on to recommend additonal readings to further your skills and he provides support on his web site. The book is specifically written with the beginner in mind. You will be please, very pleased if you decide to get started with this book.

Rating:
Summary: Great book for programming novices!
Review: This book takes you step by step through vb6 in a very comfortable format. For those of us who werent "born to program" -- it helps a lot.

It comes with a CD that has MS VB6 working edition -- awesome for students!

Rating:
Summary: Great Book - Strongly Recommend it for Getting Started
Review: This book is great for getting started in VB6. Prior to reading it I had no programming experience at all. The interactive dialog format that Mr. Smiley uses helped a lot, and made reading through it a lot easier. I used this book to guide me through an independent study course that I took in school, and it covered everything that was required by my professor, and also everything that was needed to make me feel comfortable programming in VB. There are also great support tools online, including help discussion boards with VB experts. These are really great for 11th hour help when you need it the most! My experience with this book has led to a greater intrest in VB than I had before I started, and has inspired me to get certified in VB programming. I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking to get a strong foundation in VB.

Rating:
Summary: BLAH .. BLAH.. BLAH
Review: That is really what the book is about!!
If you are into drama then get it.. If you want to learn
Programming get REAL Programming books without nonsense!!

Rating:
Summary: A good place to start.
Review: I first bought the Keystone CD set of 17 CD's to learn V.B. When I got the set, the book said we assume you have taken a programming course or read a book on programming and that you have VB6 Professional Edition or Enterprise edition. Well, it didn't say that in the catalog so I called them up and they said try it and if you don't like it, send it back. Well, I thought I'd go on Amazon and see if they had a book on getting started in VB. I found several and there were more reviews of John Smiley's book than any other. I bought it and now I'm half way through it. I do agree that at times the dialog with the students can be a little unnecessary at times but for the most part just ignore it. The only times I don't like it is when a student asked a question that I didn't understand why they were asking it and that just added to the confusion. You get a copy of Microsofts VB training program which allows you to make an exe program. ... I would recommend this book. After all, for that money you can't take a course at college. If you don't like it, delete the program from your computer and sell it. Ric. P.S. I have no programming experiance prior to this book.

Rating:
Summary: Perfect for Beginner
Review: Ok well i bought this book about a year ago and i was bored so i thought id write some reviews here. This is a great book for any beginner or an intermediate looking to refresh his knowledge. It starts off somewhat boring and offtopic or so i thought but i would not suggest skipping it. than in no time it starts off from knowing nothing at all and starts off with using the Vb gui and playing with controls properties. than it shoots into variables,arrays, and string manipulation in no time. It covers EVERYTHING you need to know to start VB or become and intermediate programmer. This is a must read even if you dont consider yourself a beginner. highly recommended...

Rating:
Summary: Learn to Program with Visual Basic 6
Review: This is a good book for beginner Visual Basic 6.0 developers. Some people do not like the "interactive dialog" but this conversion between John Smiley and his make-believe students helps to ease the stress of learning. This book was the first of many book that I read while trying to upgrade my Visual Basic skills from Visual Basic 5 to Visual Basic 6.

Rating:
Summary: You will learn the basics of Visual Basic 6
Review: This book was required reading for a recent class I enrolled in. My first reaction was scepticism. Why did I have to read all of this seemingly irrelevant mush? Why not just outline the concepts the way most computer books do?

The answer was in that last question: this is not your typical dry computer book that will drag you from topic to topic via mounds of code samples with little explanation. This is the typical computer book's antithesis. Nearly everything is explained in detail, and you get to learn along with a classroom of students. They also have questions which are answered by John Smiley - playing himself - in the "tutorial within a story" approach the book uses. It is one of the best approaches to use for beginning programmers that I have seen. It makes the daunting dauntless for the daunted.

In addition, you actually build something as you go through this book. By the book's end you have a working program that actually does something, not just a collection of unrelated code samples.

The emphasis is heavily on the beginner. Anyone familar with programming concepts will likely be bored and take on the mantra "get on with it." Consequently, it is not a good Visual Basic reference book. If you have a "I need to know how to do this now" problem, this book will frustrate you as you try to find it. There's a lot of text. Helpful text, but not given to expediency.

One downside, sometimes the story is cheesy in an eye-rolling way (particularly the love-boat style ending). It is a happy world that John Smiley and his class develop in. If only all software development and clients were that easy-going.

Nonetheless, it's a great place to start, sappy story or not, and you will learn a great deal about Visual Basic 6, programming concepts, and software development.