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Summary: Dan delivers again
Review: I agree with all of the positive comments posted so far about this book so I won't rehash what everyone else has said. I will add the general comment that Dan's books and software have allowed me to deliver applications of the highest quality, in a fraction of the time I'd spend trying to figure out the enormity of MicroSoft's API etc. Thank your Dan and Apress.
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Summary: Dan The Man...gives it to you straight.
Review: Whether you like it or not VB.net IS the future. Yeah, it might not happen overnight but it's gonna happen, and if you rely on VB for your living then you need to learn it. That's what I'm doing now. How am I doing it? By studying Dan Applemans new book 'Moving to VB.Net...'. This is a truly excellent book that EVERYONE will get benefit from. It's so intelligently and intuitively laid out which makes it a very refreshing read for a technical book. I reckon that the marketing guys in Microsoft must have a big picture of Dan on their office wall that they throw poisoned darts at! He holds no punches and really gives it to you straight...blowing all their hype. Other than Dan's 'guru' status in VB circles he has another gift, namely his writing sytle. He has the ability to break down complex technology and make it very simple to understand (that's pretty useful to someone like me!). And this is exactly what he's done in this book, providing supporting material around a concept that makes it very easy to fully grasp what's going on. So if you want to protect your future income then I suggest you get a copy of .Net Beta 2 and buy this book - it'll be the best investment you've ever made!
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Summary: Don't let Appleman write off your Inheritance
Review: Don't get me wrong: this book is excellent. My main complaint is that the author severely downplays the significance and usefulness of inheritance. I respectfully, but wholeheartedly, disagree with his squeamishness. Finally, VB can take advantage of the power of object-oriented programming. It no longer has to function merely as the Elmer's Glue for Microsoft's hodge-podge of technologies. Now, VBer's can experience the power of creating class hierarchies that are reusable and simplify programming and design. VBer's can now turn to the wealth of Design Pattern and Unified Modeling Language (UML) literature and take advantage of the work of hundreds of other designers who've been using OO technology for over a decade. And because VB.NET is very similar to Java in capabilities, all the OO thinking that has been applied to Java can be gleaned for use with VB.NET. For ideas about what inheritance and patterns can mean to you, take a look at books such as Object-Oriented Software Construction (the gospel of object-oriented technology), Design Patterns (the gospel of OO design), Object-Oriented Analysis and Design, Thinking in Patterns with Java, UML Distilled, Pattern Hatching, and so on. Don't let anyone write off your inheritance.
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Summary: What a refreshing book!!!
Review: With the flood of books being published just to churn out money, i.e., those incoherent tomes written by more than 10 authors, I am becoming frustrated. If you have been a professional developer, you know what I mean. Well, take out your wallet - this one is worth the money. Dan Appleman writes for the professional developer, covering topics that are both interesting and critical to your success with VB.NET. He seems to really "care" about developers and technology, and our success. Thanks for writing a book on .NET that is easy to read, fun, and very educational. I highly recommend this book to anyone, and the fact that I took the time out of my day to write this review should tell you something!
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Summary: Excellent overview
Review: First off, this is not a typical programmer's book. If you are trying to solve a particular problem in VB.NET, you would be best to look elsewhere (as of today, this means to the future as all books out now are beta 1). The first section of this book deals with the programming mentality and the reasoning behind moving to .NET. If you have never studied the economics of programming, this is a nice subject to study. The next section is a bit of a history lesson, which is important to understand the why of .NET. When you see where you have been you can better understand the need. Once again, you will not see this in a typical VB.NET book. The meat of the book is in coding techniques. Even these are approached from a "why you do or do not do this" type of approach. I am in full agreement that many VB developers will mess up inheritance and threading when they start to play with these new "toys". The book is up to date with beta 2, so any samples you download from the site are beta 2 compliant. The samples, however, are not the focus, just the gravy. On my wish list, a discussion of design patterns would have completely sewn up the book (OO is going to be a radical change for VB programmers), but this is not a serious detraction with so much good stuff. Once again, if you want to be spoonfed some programming techniques, look elsewhere. If, instead, you wish to learn the reasoning behind dot net and how (and why) of using the many new features of VB.NET, you will like this book.
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Summary: Going from VB to VB.NET? This book is for you!
Review: Dan Appleman is one who hates books that are a rehash of the supplied documentation. Not only does he express this opinion, he's done something about it. This book is less about VB.NET syntax and more about how and why things work the way they do in .NET. Much, much more. He provides advice on when to use certain features that are now available to the programmer, and more importantly, when *not* to use them and why (such as inheritance, and multi-threading to name a couple in-depth topics presented). VB.NET is not simply an upgrade to Visual Basic 6, but is a new language. The COM/COM+ worlds are left behind, the .NET world is a new and exciting place that opens up a myriad of new possibilities for the VB developer. Dan does an excellent job in pointing out the differences, bringing the reader into the new .NET world. And he has the rare talent of taking very technical topics and explaining them so that we can easily grasp the concepts. This is not an introductory book, and is not for the beginner. This book is written by a very experienced VB developer for experienced VB developers. Don't take the plunge into the .NET world without first reading this book! The book is worth its weight in platinum.
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Summary: Hit the mark!
Review: This book was all I expected and more. It not only teaches VB .Net by example, but also positions VB .Net with VB 6 and explains Microsoft's reasons for dumping COM to go with CLR (Common Language Runtime). Issues of deployment and productivity are explained in a candid way, unlike the shill-like explanations that come out of MS Press. I'm on the Dan Appleman-as-a-guru bandwagon.
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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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