Rating: 
Summary: Errors Aside - The Best Prep
Review: This is the third manual I have used in the pursuit of the MCP Certification in VB6. Overkill? Maybe. IF I had bought this book first, I would not have needed the others. The other 2 were Microsoft Press books (see my other reviews) that when combined, did not even come close to covering the material in this tome in appropriate detail. Although its 1300 pages may be daunting at first, it is packed with useful information for certification and beyond, without a lot of silly fluff. It covers in detail: ActiveX controls, COM components, callbacks, error-handling and debugging, data access, creating user-help, all the way through packaging and deploying your applications via disk, network or web. Beginners beware- this is not the book to start learning VB. Once you have the fundamentals of the language and want to take yourself to the next level with certification, then purchase this book.
Rating: 
Summary: Covers all exams objectives in details
Review: Buy it if you plan to take the test. It's well written, covers all exam objectives excellently, but it's rather bulky.
Rating:
Summary: Great Test Preparation Guide
Review: With no previous VB experience I used this book and MSDN Library and passed the MS 70-176 test on my first attempt. It took me quite awhile to get through the material and do the application exercises. While the book gave me a good foundation, it was not quite to the level required to pass the test so be sure to check other on-line sources the get a feel for the test and then augment as required with another reference.
Rating: 
Summary: A MAJOR DISAPPOINTMENT..ALMOST USELESS..BUT NOT COMPLETELY!
Review: The authors explanation of a topic often leaves me scratching my head in a stae of confusion. I am writing this review in a state of frustration as I 'attempt' to do the "Apply Your Knowledge" exercises at the end of Chapter 6. Nowhere in the book, on the CD, or at the New Riders website have I been able to find a "completed version" of the code needed to do the exercises. If you get stuck you're out of luck! This is already the second "Apply Your Knowledge" exercise that I have not been able to complete. The authors teaching style simply doesn't mesh with my learning style. Be forewarned, unless you already know VB inside out, don't expect to get through the exercises without another reference or a friendly mentor. (I have found some of the answers I needed in John Smileys book, "Learn To Program With Visul Basic Examples") Another warning: The code that IS provided does not always work. You'll have to do some tweaking to make it work. As another reviewer pointed out, the "Exam Questions" are not in the same league as Transcender. However, my knowledge of Visual Basic 6.0 has grown by reading and answering the "Exam Questions". Don't expect too much from the CD. It's basically useless. The book itself might be "somewhat" useful as a reference after the exam. I will end my review by quoting another reviewer. "The packaging is generally more professional than the package itself, and that's a bad reflection on both author Hawhee and publisher New Riders." Don't buy this book unless you can find it at a deeply discounted price. It's not worth $70!
Rating:
Summary: Not for beginners!
Review: I bought this book hoping to learn advanced Visual basic so I get prepared for the MCSD exams. Having read Microsoft's VB6 step by step as my only background, the Hawhee's book turned out to be too advanced for me. This book isn't for beginners. If somebody could help me with names of good books to get a professional , I would be grateful!(my email is F_magdy@hotmail.com)
Rating:
Summary: Not Useless, But Not Exactly A Gem, Either...
Review: I think a novice would be at risk in using this book, whether to learn Visual Basic, to prepare for the exams, or both. Prospective buyers should know right up front that this book contains several inexcusable errors. Plan a solid half hour to download the errata from the publisher's website and then mark up the corrections before beginning to read. (The publisher's errata file is by no means comprehensive, however, so you must still be on your guard--and the downloadable PDF errata file itself was so poorly formatted that the text ran irreparably past the margins, and I had to guess at the missing words of several sentences.) The CDROM-based practice exams provided with the book are marginal at best, and are no substitute for the Transcender exams (which I highly recommend). Some of the questions are either dead wrong or address topics completely ignored in the book (one purveyor of the MS documentation style is enough, thank you!). The inexperienced will learn erroneous things through the exams, and experienced VB users may soon question the value of their purchase. In printing the user's incorrect exam answers for review, the software behaves more like a prototype than something for commercial release (developers: don't let this happen to you!), offering the user only the default printer and no control over page margins, font size, etc. This is just one of many "little things" that could have rendered the whole book/CD package a more professional product, had it been done right. Having said all of the above, there are some good aspects of the book. It provides some useful coverage of most of VB's features, and it could certainly serve as a post-exam resource or refresher. But this is almost certainly not the best book to serve that purpose. I'm not sorry I bought this book, but I'm disappointed in the product which it--together with the CD--comprises. The packaging is generally more professional than the package itself, and that's a bad reflection on both author Hawhee and publisher New Riders. --TW
Rating:
Summary: Good exam prep, in spite of errors
Review: I passed both exams using this book and the trancenders. I would guess that this book alone, along with practical experience would be enough, but the trancenders definately help. The book covers all objectives, most of which very well. My only complaints: there are several errors in the text and examples; also I would have preferred having the book broken up by exam.
Rating:
Summary: Best book for VB tests.
Review: This book covers most all of what is needed for both exams. With this book combined with Transcender, you should pass both test easily. This book was my primary source of study of material for both exams and I did fairly well. If you are considering a VB certification book, I would strongly suggest using this one. If you are going for an MCSD, you might want to check-out the reviews on the other certification books in the MCSD Training series the publisher has put out - they all have very good reviews. I just wished they offered the MCSD 4-pack when I bought this book. Over the past several years I've read over a dozen books on VB and this is one of the few which impressed me. Strong Points: * Very well written and easy to read. * A well structured book which follows the requirements of the exams. * Enough to pass exams. * Test Questions well done. * Great reference book for VB. * Good last minute review section. * Got COM? If not, then read this book. There are a few weak areas about the book: * No coverage of N-tier development 5 - 7 tier development, which is on the distributed test. * Creating distributed media on CD (haven't seen this in any study guide, but there is a related question on the test). * Explaining DCOM vs MTS development. * There were of course some errors in the book, but nothing significantly bad. * Wish there were more on IIS and DHTML development, but since these were barely touched-on in the test, the information was enough. * This book was not around when I took the desk top test for the first time and had to use another book - and failed! The readability of the book is very high the examples are well done. Don't let the 1300 pages scare you - remember there are two test - ie 1300/2 = 650 average pages per test. I used the book by reading all chapters except the ones for the distributed test, then took the Desktop Test. Next, I read the remaining few chapters and took the distributed test. NOTE: Like all VB certification books, this is not a book for those just starting in VB; the reader should have a mid-level of knowledge of VB before beginning to study for the exams.
Rating:
Summary: RM
Review: I'll try to summarize having read the book, took and passed both exams, and read everything below. 1. This is a very good overview of VB6. 2. This is a very good preparation for 176 - VB6 Desktop. 3. This is an OK preparation for 175 Distributed. You will probably not pass 175 if you rely on this book. Very short of MTS and DCOM material. As below, I suggest Transcender Test Exams. I used them for the first time on 175 and they were very good. They covered exactly the right material and they were harder than the actual exam.
Rating:
Summary: Significantly better than average!
Review: Overall: One of the best technical books I have ever read. A reference worthy of keeping on the shelf even after you've passed. I passed 70-076 with a 94% and 70-175 with a 90% after reading this book. I agree with the other reviewers on these points: There are a few errors (grammatical and technical). Sure, it is a LOT of material (more than you need to pass), but it is a well rounded overview of the features of VB6. You won't regret reading it. The coverage of the 70-175 exam objectives is a bit thin. Use Transcender test prep to supplement this book. I found Transcender to be much closer to the actual exam than the questions in the book and on the CD Rom. Many questions on the actual exam were exactly the same as the Transcender questions. I posted this review 7-13-2000. Email me at MGrosso@bwn.net if you have questions. Good luck!
| 
