Rating: 
Summary: Informative, but not always practical.
Review: The most appealing aspects of McKinney's book are the author's insights and perspective into Windows and Visual Basic. I didn't always sympathize with the projects the author was trying to bring off, since there are other tools besides Visual Basic which are better suited to handle object programming and low-level Windows API calls. But McKinney is a tack sharp programmer with a conversational literary style, a genuine desire to provide helpful information, and a can-do attitude. The CD-ROM which accompanies the book contains a lot of example programs to illustrate the implementation of the many difficult tasks McKinney treats in the book. So much material (code) is on the CD-ROM, in fact, that McKinney sometimes throws up his hands, unable to discuss all aspects of a particular project
Rating:
Summary: Very Good Book
Review: This book gives the visual basic programmer a very good peek at what is going on when visual basic runs. This book is well worth the money and should enable visual basic programming to be done with a little less hack and a bit more science. One complaint is that the author has a picked very odd programming style from the may styles available and seems to push it a little hard.
Rating: 
Summary: What a Great Book
Review: This book is the BEST if you're an advanced VB programmer who wants to go further. The title says it all, HARDCORE. All the things that Visual Basic shouldn't be able to do without C++ and this book tells you how to do it with VB.
With this and Dan Appleman's guide to the Win32 API you will want for nothing in Windows programming (well very little and not a C++ header in sight).
Comes with DLLs and class modules you can start using straight away. This book is a joy to read and use.
If you want to program seriously in VB, you have to have this book.
The best fifty quid I ever spent. Bruce McKinney deserves a knighthood.
Rating:
Summary: Yes you can do that in VB
Review: This book takes great care to show you how to acheive the impossible. People who read, understand, and use the techniques described in this book are definitely a cut above the rest. However, after reading this book I found that I had the desire to do alot more complex stuff in VB. And I became frustrated that you have to jump through so many hoops to do it. Thus, I have devoted my full attention to learning Delphi. Why? because you can do all the complex stuff and it is a heck of alot easier and it's faster exe's and no runtime dll dependencies. If you find yourself using the techniques described in this book you might ask yourself why, and whether or not VB is the best tool for your needs.
Rating:
Summary: Good Book but...
Review: This book will almost certainly be of no use to you unless you're a full time, fully fledged VB programmer. If you are, then there's a wealth of information in here about to do things VB was never designed to do. It describes how to do many things 'properly' but, in my experience, it's weak on how to do things simply. More often that is what is more important in the long run.This book will enable you to develop the fastest, most versatile VB applications ever but unless you're a concientious as well as a competent coder, no-one will ever be able to maintain you're code again.
Rating:
Summary: Probably the most advanced VB book on the market
Review: This book will almost certainly be of no use to you unless you're a full time, fully fledged VB programmer. If you are, then there's a wealth of information in here about to do things VB was never designed to do. It describes how to do many things 'properly' but, in my experience, it's weak on how to do things simply. More often that is what is more important in the long run. This book will enable you to develop the fastest, most versatile VB applications ever but unless you're a concientious as well as a competent coder, no-one will ever be able to maintain you're code again.
Rating:
Summary: Invaluable resource for serious VB programmers
Review: This is a book for people who consider themselves accomplished Visual Basic programmers. It is chock full of great ideas and concepts. To me, programming is a war of ideas. There are as many great ideas in a single chapter of Hardcore VB as in most other entire books on VB. This will equip you well for that "war of ideas". This book is humorous, and the author imparts a great deal of knowledge at the same time. This is one of the best VB books ever, and is head and shoulders above the rest. I highly recommend this book to ALL my students.
Rating:
Summary: It takes up where the Programmer's Manual Leaves Off
Review: This is a great book that goes into subjects that you will never find in the "manuals," and the source code is *useful* not *filler*. I advise everyone to buy this book and skip VB version 6.
Rating:
Summary: You can't live without it
Review: This is THE book if you wan't to reach the cutting edge of VB programming. Bruce M has written a funny, easy to read but still advanced book. My only problem with it is the sample code. There's just too much of it!
Oh, one little complaint though, because of Bruce's coding style it's a bit difficult to "steal" code from the examples...
Rating:
Summary: How to make VB do what VB can't do
Review: Visual Basic is undoubtedly one of the easiest programming languages to learn. This ease comes at a price; many program capabilities are held at arm's length from a programmer. McKinney's now-classic book shows how, with a little understanding of what's really going on combined with some lore, a VB programmer can make VB do things it was never intended to do. Once you have learned the basics and middle level of difficulty of VB, this is a great intro to the master level
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