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Summary: A MUST HAVE!
Review: In this day and age its VERY HARD to take even a small glimpse of the future, but this Appleman's book does that. If you want to know for sure where to put to work your precious time and catch-up with the trend of VB programming technology (the real one), buy this one, you won't regret the purchase
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Summary: Really good discussion of .net
Review: I frequently agree with Dan Appleman so I usually like his books. But this one I think provides an excellent service to all of those struggling with whether or how we should move to .net programming.
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Summary: A good first book for VB.NET
Review: This is a good book for getting the concepts down as far as the differences go between previous versions of VB and the .NET platform version. The only knock I would have is I thought the author got a little too hung up on the inheritance and memory management issues, dragging it out a bit. But overall I found out what I wanted to know.
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Summary: The *Best* .NET book for Visual Basic Developers!
Review: Dan's take on the new .NET strategy from Microsoft is right on target. His style is a refreshing exploration of what these technologies mean to professional developers, the design choices involved and his frank opinion on the best approach. A big change from the oft-repeated vendor documentation found today in so many technical books. If you've been around VB programming a while you've may have read his "Programmer's Guide to the Win32 API"--the VB programmer's bible on this topic.
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Summary: The cream of the VB.NET beta crop
Review: From my e-mail of thanks to the author:"I've just finished Part I of your VB.NET book (UPS brought it this morning), and I want to thank you for sharing (again!) with the VB development community (or with me, particularly) your high-quality, thoughtful prose. I've been burned enough times by those 'manual rehashes' and other useless fifty-dollar books to appreciate that I can always count on you to be effective, thorough, and even (imagine!) fun to read. Several have become indispensable to my work..." VB programmers looking to get ready for the .NET release need this book, period.
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Summary: Perfect
Review: I'm almost ashamed to admit that I've purchased and read nearly every .Net book currently on the market (8/01). All of these books, or at least those that targeted VB developers, missed an important point - that most average VB developers, even those with several years experience on their shoulders, do not have the knowledge to correctly handle all of the new capabilities of VB.Net. This isn't a knock on VB developers, just a fact that these new features bring with them issues the VB developer has never had to deal with. Dan has written the book most VB developers will need. He truly understands the design issues VB.Net developers will need to learn. He introduces these new features in a manner that respects the fact that most VB developers understand what inheritance and multithreading is - but have not had the full experience of actually designing and developing with these concepts. Not only are the topics right on target, but Dan's writing is superb and the examples are both realistic and easy to follow. This is truly a superb book and well deserving of all of the 5 star ratings.
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Summary: A Must Read For VB Experts
Review: The book does not rehash microsoft documentation; like installing beta 2, system requirements, syntax, ...etc. You can get all of that from microsoft site. Instead, the book shows why and when .NET should be considered as a technology given the problem at hand. It goes deep in the framework of .NET and compares its features with the COM technology showing the potential downside of using COM and how .NET goes around those pitfalls. The book is for experienced VB developers who are considering the .NET world. I love the book, it is written with a sense of humor that wont bore you. Among all the books I reviewed on the subject This one is the best (even better than the wrox ones).
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Summary: The VB.Net Resource
Review: Instead of searching through mounds of articles with no clear starting point to learn this new technology, this book I found to be my one stop source for VB.Net Beta2. The material is presented in a manner that truly addresses the hard-core VBer moving to what amounts to a totally different langauge but still offers new comers valuable insight on VB.Net - highly recommended!
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Summary: .Net Fear Factor?
Review: I have been using Visual Basic since version 1, and I will be the first to admit that the .Net initiative was (or is) a little confusing. I have also avoided spending any time in it because I simply can't get paid to do that and Microsoft's marketing is a little too excited about things. In other words, it is hard to know how to effectively cut to the chase on such a radical shift to our beloved language. I decided to pick one book to help me evaluate .Net and I choose Mr. Appleman's. I am glad I did. He not only eliminates the marketing hype, but has also done it in a very concise, effective way. This is much more than just another "How To" book; it has many insights into the "why" as well as some funny quips about Microsoft. I am not afraid anymore. Highly recommended if you want an honest look at .Net.
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Summary: More Kudos
Review: I've always turned to Dan when I wanted to understand what's under the hood in VB. His API for VB programmers manuals and "Developing COM/ActiveX Components With Visual Basic 6" got me through several advanced projects. This book adds to the list of "best of the best." This book gives the reader a road-map from Visual Basic to VB.Net. Dan warns about the pitfalls ahead for those who are new to the heady world of objects and free threading.
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