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Summary: Finally somebody got it right
Review: Finally a book that tells the experienced programmer exactly what he needs to know to get up to speed with a new technology. Appleman doesn't bog you down with syntax or overly simple tutorials, he gets straight to what you need to know and assumes that you are smart enough to pick up the details. His focus on the overall structure of .NET and why things are designed the way they are is fantastic. This book is not for the beginner learning his first programming language, but it is an excellent roadmap for experienced developers moving to .NET.
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Summary: Oh-No!!! Another bad book from Dan
Review: This is the second Dan Appleman book that I have reviewed (the other being "Developing Com/Activex Components With Visual Basic 6"). In both books, Dan starts to tell you about something and then he goes off on some tangent and starts talking about something else. Maybe he will get back to the original subject. This is like debugging spaghetti code, only this is Dan's writing style. It is very hard to follow and very frustrating. Not all of Dan's books are like this. I did not buy this book and when a friend asked me to review it, I was a little leary. Dan's book about API is very good. I was hoping for better from Dan. Too much talk. Remember Dan, Keep It Simple!!!
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Summary: Fantastic, but not for pounding out code in a week.
Review: This is one of the best books available for those folks who want to comprehend VB.NET. Like 'a reader' says, there *is* a lot of blah blah, but I think the explanations are fantastic. I personally think this book is geared less toward current programmer who needs to pound out code tomorrow for the boss and more towards curious bystander with a programming background who wants to understand the inner workings of VB.NET and how it differs from VB 6 and why. I think it's a very well put together book, with the in-depth discussions of exactly why and how that every GREAT programmer should know.
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Summary: Too much blah blah
Review: Dan, you should stick with the point of covering the subject without trying to be clever and/or slick. That kind of coding unfortunately equates to EXPENSIVE maintenance costs in the real world. I came from a VB6 background and felt frustrated at times, because Dan was trying to cover too much. Maybe more thought should have gone into design and strategy than to meeting deadlines. I did learn from this book, but Dan didn't make it easy.
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Summary: Worth the read I thought
Review: You have to appreciate this book for taking a little bit of a different style than most of the 'document rehash' books out there. If you're looking for the nuts and bolts of the language constructs, this book is not for you. If you want to know the take on VB.NET for someone converting from other languages, you'll find Dan's perspective quite intriguing. I recommend this book to someone with programming experience but not quite up on it with .NET. You may or may not agree with all that Dan says but at least you'll know all the arguments.
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Summary: VB6 + VB.NET = Changing Times
Review: If you are a guru at VB6, like me, you want as smooth a transition to VB.NET as possible. This book helps soften the bumps. A couple chapters get a little long-winded, but hang in there -- there is more good stuff ahead. This will give you a better idea of where to head next. It is not a how-to-start-doing-VB.NET-code-today type of book. It can be read independent of doing code (i.e., you do not need to open VS.NET IDE to use it).
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Summary: Don't waste your money like I did
Review: This book confuses the issues surronding moving to VB .NET I actually found the Visual Basic .NET book that comes in the box with Visual Basic .NET standard edition much simpler and less of a hassle to read.
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Summary: Blablablabla...
Review: There's way better .NET books out there! Get VB.Net Bible or ASP.NET in 21 Days. This one has way too much "bla bla" and no code. I really did not enjoy reading this book.
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Summary: Valuable Content In Every Chapter
Review: This is an excellent book for the experienced VB programmer. I learned a ton, but the characteristic I like the most is the consistency of the content level throughout the entire book. Most technical books start out a very high level (useless), progress to some interesting concepts (useful) and end up with very detailed discussions or a rehash of the documentation (useless). Dan managed to construct a book that provides useful information in every chapter. Thanks!
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Summary: An Honest Opinion
Review: This is another well written book by Dan. I have purchased several books authored by Dan (I love the API books), including this book, and I even had the pleasure to meet him back in '99 at the VBITS Conference in NYC. Despite it's 5-star rating, I have viewed some "positive" and "not so positive" reader feedback on this site, and what I have to say is this...Dan wrote this book back when the .NET Framework was still in mid-Beta. Given this, the book is outstanding!!! Dan obviously knows his subject matter and does an excellent job conveying his knowledge to his readers. It's an ABSOLUTELY FANTASTIC book for Visual Basic Developers who are about to immerse themselves into the world of .NET. Calling Appleman's book sub-standard is like calling Mohammed Ali sub-standard...and everyone knows Ali is the Greatest!
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