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Rating: 
Summary: Adequate but too expensive
Review: I am a university instructor who has used this book for a few sessions of an introductory information systems course, part of which covers programming concepts using Visual Basic. I will be switching to another book for my next session.This book is better than some other introductory texts because it explains the details (with nice flowcharts) of things like IF..THEN..ELSE logic and DO..WHILE loops, and it addresses the issue of saving Projects and Forms correctly (unfortunately, this is a much trickier task than it ought to be). Some other texts don't explain these details very well or at all. One other text didn't even include AND and OR logical operators! But there are gaps in even the few basic concepts we cover in our class. There is no mention of the ELSEIF method for using IF..THEN..ELSE statements. The author has a strange bias for using DO WHILE..LOOP but not DO..LOOP WHILE, and for using DO..LOOP UNTIL but not DO UNTIL..LOOP - and then he gives an example of using DO WHILE NOT EOF for reading a file, when clearly DO UNTIL EOF is much simpler and easier to understand (why use NOT if you don't have to?) These are admittedly just minor annoyances - but why should students pay so much for an introductory book that is just adequate? I will be using "Sams Teach Yourself Visual Basic 6 in 24 Hours" by Perry and Hettihewa for my next session. It covers all the basics we need and it's much more affordable!
Rating: 
Summary: College course text book
Review: The book is written by a math instructor and it shows. Lots and lots of exercises. Solutions in back for some exercises, No comprehensive solutions manual for other than instructors. This book follows the classic structure of a university intro programming course - intro, problem solving, fundamental of programing VB6, procedures, decisions, repetition, arrays, sequential files, graphical display of data, VERY very short blip on Database and so on. Fourth edition of same book and still basically the same (pun intended).If you want a true intro college text on VB6, this is it.
Rating: 
Summary: Want to learn the software or how to program Look Elsewhere
Review: The only reason I gave this book a one is because there was no lower option. The book is well organized yet goes into no detail on most operations. The author starts the text as if the reader has no knowledge of a computer what so ever. Then blazes through operations leaving out most of the power of the software, telling the reader that is what the help files are for. Yet he does state that many VB6.0 packages are on the market that don't include help files in their package of which I am the proud owner of one of these packages. The software that came with the book is corrupt and useless other than some of the sample code he has with the chapters. Most operations that are heavily explained in this book are only allowed two pages. Functions for instance are allowed three paragraphs on less than one page and leave the reader lost. String Manipulation he describes more toward "stupid computer tricks" and once you need to use these operations to test data input you are left on your own. As a stand-alone text to learn the software or how to program look elsewhere. I got the book, as it was the assigned text for a college class that has turned the class into a nightmare. Our drop rate is high and we haven't even been tested on the material yet. The only thing that has saved me is I was fluent in C/C++ and visual C++. Yet it has been quite a few years since I have programmed and the class has been an around the clock excursion. I've acquired several other texts that do explain the software and do explain operations several ways so the reader can pick a logical approach that aligns with the way they think. For what this text costs I acquired two other texts that are close to a 1000 pages each. This text is just over 300 pages and half of that are exercises. The exercises are the major strong point of the book as programming is a skill and needs to be practiced. Yet no one can short cut the information to fifteen percent of mostly what's out on the market and gain success. This text is no exception. The exercises are great but I'm sure with a little research one could acquire an exercise book at a fraction of the nearly $60 this book goes for.
Rating:
Summary: Want to learn the software or how to program Look Elsewhere
Review: The only reason I gave this book a one is because there was no lower option. The book is well organized yet goes into no detail on most operations. The author starts the text as if the reader has no knowledge of a computer what so ever. Then blazes through operations leaving out most of the power of the software, telling the reader that is what the help files are for. Yet he does state that many VB6.0 packages are on the market that don't include help files in their package of which I am the proud owner of one of these packages. The software that came with the book is corrupt and useless other than some of the sample code he has with the chapters. Most operations that are heavily explained in this book are only allowed two pages. Functions for instance are allowed three paragraphs on less than one page and leave the reader lost. String Manipulation he describes more toward "stupid computer tricks" and once you need to use these operations to test data input you are left on your own. As a stand-alone text to learn the software or how to program look elsewhere. I got the book, as it was the assigned text for a college class that has turned the class into a nightmare. Our drop rate is high and we haven't even been tested on the material yet. The only thing that has saved me is I was fluent in C/C++ and visual C++. Yet it has been quite a few years since I have programmed and the class has been an around the clock excursion. I've acquired several other texts that do explain the software and do explain operations several ways so the reader can pick a logical approach that aligns with the way they think. For what this text costs I acquired two other texts that are close to a 1000 pages each. This text is just over 300 pages and half of that are exercises. The exercises are the major strong point of the book as programming is a skill and needs to be practiced. Yet no one can short cut the information to fifteen percent of mostly what's out on the market and gain success. This text is no exception. The exercises are great but I'm sure with a little research one could acquire an exercise book at a fraction of the nearly $60 this book goes for.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent; with lots and lots of problems for practice.
Review: Unlike a lot of "do it yourself, learn anything in seven easy lessons" books, this book has hundreds of practice problems with solutions provided for about 50%. Personally, I think it could use more problems. Bring on the problems!
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