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Summary: Great book however techique not suit enterprise development
Review: Extentsive use of property procedures rather than use of functions in a stateless enviroment running under MTS make this book limited in value to the enterprise developer.
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Summary: Great jumpstart into OOD concepts and how they apply to VB6!
Review: I agree with some earlier reviews that this book may be preaching to the choir for many established developers. However, if you're a relatively inexperienced developer or new to OOD concepts this book is very well written and worth picking up. I appreciate Kurata's discussion of the development process from a OO perspective. This goes beyond the coding specifics, which can be found in many other books, and gives a process that can be used as a guideline for future projects. In an Op-Ed article in Aug/99 VBPJ the writer discussed why VB gets a bad rap. The author of the article states that essentially it's because of all the "programming wannabe's" never learn anything about application design, they just learn syntax and how to create code. By studying this book, and some of the books referenced by it, and utilizing some of the techniques you can avoid the pitfalls of becoming just another VB Hacker.
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Summary: Nothing is to basic when it comes to OOP:
Review: I could not put it any better then what Eric T. Nielsen stated earlier in the comments.The book is very clear and to the point. I hate to be maintaining the code of what others stated about this book such as; "nothing new....", "..waste of time....", "this is only a..." , "not intended for" and "weak". Keep it simple, read Kurata, then Balena (MS Programming VB 6.0).
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Summary: Do NOT Buy This Book
Review: I wanted to give this book zero stars but amazon wouldn't let me. This book is junk, don't waste your money. If your in taking a visual basic course and they are using this as a text get some other books that have a point or can explain what they are trying to say. I recommend the Wrox book "Beginning Visual Basic Objects"
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Summary: If you have already seen OOP, this book is a waste of time
Review: I was expecting this book to provide a good introduction to implementing OO concepts in VB. Instead, it introduces a weak proprietary methodology (GUIDS) in software design, and follows that up with some terribly pedantic code. It's clear that the author has not kept up-to-date with developments in OO analysis and design--all of the references are at least five years old. All of the important information in Kurata's book is covered in one chapter of Deitel's _VB6: How To Program_--a much more straightforward and "no nonsense" way to learn this material.
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Summary: Takes too long to get to the point
Review: Ms. Kurata is obviously an expert, but she often tells us too much. The book is too wordy for a great introduction to objects, so it's only fair in that area. (Try Peter Wright's books instead - they're great.) But it's not detailed enough and includes too much introductory material for an advanced objects book. (Better to try Rockford Lhotka's books for that.) Bottom line - it's neither fish nor fowl. When the VB4 version came out, it was groundbreaking and there was an excuse for it being too verbose. With two chances to clean it up, it should be a lot clearer and to the point by now.
Rating: 
Summary: Good basic introduction to VB objects
Review: One thing about Kurata's book is that for the most part it is readable, unlike the disconnected snippets that software companies provide in their online documentation. The heart of the book is in three chapters: 10-12 that describe the basics of VB classes, interfaces, polymorphism, delegation, collections, etc with good examples. The first part of the book is an overview of an application design process. The last part of the book provides only very brief discussions of many topics such as ActiveX Controls, DHTML, IIS, etc. But the book is not consistent in its level and completeness. This book is not for experienced VB programmers - but the assumption of knowledge concerning components and data/DB design makes the design section of questionable utility for inexperienced VB programmers. Who is this section for? But the intro to VB objects is right-on for the relative newcomer. Kurata leaves her topic of VB ActiveX components far too quickly. Her coverage of ActiveX EXE components leaves a lot to be desired with the explanations and ramificaations of the various project settings being no better than the fragmentary tidbits of online help. Examples have ceased at this point. The frustrating, obscure, and important subject of threading and apartments that lurks beneath VB EXE components is covered no better, if as well, as numerous other authors who claim to do so. I think a better book is in Kurata based on the promise of the heart of the book. Undoubtedly the superficial nature of the last of the book was a cave-in to the buzz-word, marketing types. Until someone can produce a coherent, complete, and readable book on ActiveX components for VB programmers [and there is not one on the market], the programming community will have to rely on unsatisfactory MS or MS-aided articles that give us "clever" or "ingenious" ways of achieving programming tasks beyond the ordinary. At this point VB is one of the most "trial-and-error" tools available. Hopefully that is not because of its internal incoherence. If not, we do not need "tricks" articles.
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Summary: For Professionals ???? Umm... I don't think so
Review: The back of this book claims this is written for the 'Profession' level. I disagree, although I don't know who this is really intended for - newbies to OOA&D, maybe. I have a basic understanding of OO principles and have been programming with VB for three years. Besides the chapter on interfaces, inheritance and polymorphism there was nothing really new for me here and anything that was new was covered in such brevity as to be completely worthless (DHTML, ActiveX controls). Anything slightly technical was brushed off. In fact, it seemed most of the VB portions of this book was spent asking readers to read other books/articles to get the real facts (a thorough bibliography is a good thing but don't rely on it as the basis for your entire book). Warning!!! - The first half of this book is about OOA&D (the GUIDS methodology) and has hardly any reference to VB. The GUIDS methodology would only be useful to someone who is completely new to OO concepts. In other words there is nothing new here. I think this could be a better book if the VB portion of the book was expanded and GUIDS methodology portion was removed completely (maybe put it into its own book). One final thing I found particularly offensive was the front cover which listed topics that were to be covered in the book. The majority of these topics were barely covered in any kind of depth (e.g. DHTML, IIS applications, 3-tiered components)- false advertising in my book.
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Summary: Professional Software Design Methodology
Review: The whole first half of the book presents a complete OO design methodology (GUIDS) that really helped me keep organized and focused. The problem was that as my programs got longer and more involved they became confussed with redundant code and new features and bugs creeping in.
Rating:
Summary: Professional Software Design Methodology
Review: The whole first half of the book presents a complete OO design methodology (GUIDS) that really helped me keep organized and focused. The problem was that as my programs got longer and more involved they became confussed with redundant code and new features and bugs creeping in.
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