Programming Microsoft Visual Basic .NET (Core Reference) by Francesco Balena (Hardcover Edition): Booknear.com

Francesco Balena is no stranger to Visual Basic. He has written books for previous versions of the product and is intimately involved with Microsoft. He has also worked closely with Jeffrey Richter (see Applied .NET Framework Programming with Visual Basic, another excellent book), who is one of the lead consultants on the .NET Framework.

The expertise of the author, however, does not make this a great book. What makes this a great book is how much material is contained between its covers.

The book starts out with some "basics". While explained in simple terms, there are a lot of gems here, both for new programmers and for those intimately familiar with older versions of Visual Basic.

The book then moves on to OOP in Visual Basic .NET. While the basics are necessary for the newbie, this is where the experienced VB programmer will start to see the book pay off. Combined with the third section, which details huge sections of the .NET Framework base class library, it is a must read for anyone serious about programming .NET. For anyone brave enough to take the task, I would love to see a complete book on this.

Section 4 (Windows Applications), I, unfortunately, skipped through, with the exception of Chapter 19, which I find pertinent to my work as an Internet Architect.

Section 5 is a bit thin (only 200 pages) for my liking, and may be the one downside of the book. As there are plenty of books on ADO.NET which cover every aspect in detail, the material here can easily be supplemented.

Finally, section 6 is another gem. While I do not agree with all of the choices, the sheer amount of material devoted to web applications (300 pages) is a nice addition to a Visual Basic .NET book. As many tend to skip over this important topic and write about Windows Applications, this is a nice touch. Web applications and windows applications are, after all, cut from a very similar cloth, esp. when you look underneath the hood.

As many of the books on the market will put you to sleep, a few extra bonus points should be given to Balena for a nicely flowing book. It is not quite a Platt book (Introducing Microsoft .NET, Second Edition -- one of the most entertaining computer books I have ever read), but it is far from being a snorer.

The main audience for this book will be those who need to get up to speed on the new version of Visual Basic. While not a beginner's book, per se, the writing style and pace are such that a beginner would not get lost. If you are advanced and can only buy one book, aim for Applied Microsoft .NET Framework Programming with Visual Basic .NET. This book, however, is a nice addition to your library, as there are many techniques that few .NET programmers have written about.

One last bit of kudos on this book. As with many MSPress books, this tome comes with a copy of the book on CD-ROM. As the book would make a very large paperweight, if carried around, the addition of the e-book gets a huge thumbs up in my book. I wish more publishers would adopt this stance, as I often move from gig to gig and do not like having to carry large libraries with me.

As a final note, I sincerely believe MSPress has created some winners in the .NET space. Unlike the red books, who seems to be rushed to be first to market, the books are well thought out, and created, mostly, by people who have worked on the actual .NET product. As such, the books often have a deeper insight than the competition.

Summary of Programming Microsoft Visual Basic .NET (Core Reference)

Accelerate your productivity with Visual Basic® .NET—and quickly create powerful Win32® applications and high-performance, scalable applications for the Web—with this indispensable tutorial and reference. Building on the success of the author?s popular programming book for Visual Basic 6.0, this new book teaches you the best practices for porting and reusing existing Visual Basic code in the .NET Framework as well as for exploiting the language?s advanced new object-oriented capabilities. It covers the common language runtime (CLR), multithreaded programs, Windows® Forms applications, GDI+ graphic programming, Windows services, ADO.NET classes for database programs, ASP.NET Web Forms, and Web Services. It includes advanced optimization techniques and tips for leveraging the power of the Microsoft® Visual Studio® .NET environment.

Topics covered include:

Getting started with Visual Basic .NET
Modules, variables, and error handling
Object-oriented features, including inheritance
Delegates and attributes
Arrays, lists, and collections
Files, directories, and streams
Object serialization
Regular expressions
Threading
Assemblies and AppDomains
Reflection
Windows Forms applications and GDI+
Windows Forms custom control creation
Windows services
ADO.NET
XML
ASP.NET Web Forms applications
User controls and custom controls
XML Web services

CD+DVD INSIDE!

CD-ROM features:

A fully searchable electronic copy of PROGRAMMING MICROSOFT VISUAL BASIC 6.0
Sample applications written in Visual Basic .NET

A Note Regarding the CD or DVD

The print version of this book ships with a CD or DVD. For those customers purchasing one of the digital formats in which this book is available, we are pleased to offer the CD/DVD content as a free download via O'Reilly Media's Digital Distribution services. To download this content, please visit O'Reilly's web site, search for the title of this book to find its catalog page, and click on the link below the cover image (Examples, Companion Content, or Practice Files). Note that while we provide as much of the media content as we are able via free download, we are sometimes limited by licensing restrictions. Please direct any questions or concerns to booktech@oreilly.com.

The sheer size of this volume is its obvious distinguishing feature. Weighing in at over 1,600 pages, it's easily one of the largest programming books ever published. The scope of coverage here is wide-ranging and comprehensive. The author first presents a basic language-based tutorial of the new VB .NET, highlighting basic keywords, data types, and new class design features like inheritance, delegates, and events.

Patient, thorough coverage and plenty of short code examples are the guiding principles here. The tour of object-oriented features in VB .NET is among the best that you can find. Coverage of built-in .NET support for strings, math, date/time, and file I/O classes (and the like) will help you master these essential APIs. At many points, the author highlights what's new and different from VB 6. There's plenty of coverage of "traditional" VB applications, including the new Windows Forms, database programming with ADO.NET, and Win32 support including programming the Windows registry, MDI, graphics programming (with GDI+), Windows services, and the like. Later sections look at deploying VB .NET applications in assemblies.

Only in its final sections does this text turn toward ASP.NET and the Internet, with several solid chapters on essential Web Forms and new features like caching, configuration, and basic Web development techniques. By centering on essential VB .NET language features first and then covering a wide spectrum of programming APIs, this book offers a winning choice for anyone with previous VB experience who wants to work effectively with the new VB .NET. With its extremely rich range of topics, all backed up with plenty of code excerpts, this title offers a nearly unbeatable one-volume reference on what's inside the new Visual Basic .NET. --Richard Dragan

Programming Microsoft Visual Basic .NET (Core Reference)