Rating:  Summary: Technically, everything you need -- except experience Review: Many people think they can just pass the VB6 exams without experience and/or think that all the exam guides should just give them the answers. This is a huge misconception. Microsoft tests (at least for the MCSD track) are designed to fail those who only have book knowledge and not used the product.Hawhee's VB5 book was "overcomplete" it was a big huge mess that if you could get through it (and I couldn't) *practicing* each skill along the way, you could pass the exam (and I didn't.) However the VB6 book is nicely trimmed down to it's most pertinent points. There isn't much coverage on IIS applications and DHTML applications, but far more than there is any of the other books. It's still far more than you need for the exam, but if you practice the exercises, and really study the questions and text, not only will you know most everything you need for the exam, but most everything you will need for VB as well. I passed the VB6 exams in a large part because this book filled in the holes that Foxall's book couldn't (or rather, wouldn't!) I would recommend this book be supplimented with Transcender exams though.
Rating:  Summary: Lots of mistakes and inconsistencies Review: The first time I took 070-176 I failed (in the 60% range). Then I decided I would try a book so I bought this one. After 2 weeks with the book I Passed 070-176 and two weeks more I passed 070-175. This book is the ONLY study material I used and I rarely even use the VB Development Enviornment.
Rating:  Summary: Full of errors and absolutely not for beginners Review: I have programmed in VBA for several years and have a fair amount of experience with Visual Basic 6. I thought this would be a good book to augment my VB6 knowledge. With that kind of background I did fairly well with this book until Chapter 12 (COM). A beginner would have problems with this book because the exercises often skip critical steps. For example, a couple of exercises in Chapter 12 instruct the reader to use a complied component from a previous exercise in the chapter as though it had already been compiled (and, therefore, registered), but the steps in the previous exercise never involved compiling. Also, exercise steps often refer to the same controls using different names in different steps. In short, you'll spend a lot of time filling in the blanks, that is, if you are already knowledgeable enough to spot and fix them. It is obvious that the exercises were created in a hurry and published with little, if any, verification. This book is a thought-starter for the exam concepts at best, but truly learning and feeling comfortable with them will require more of a hands-on approach.
|