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Sams Teach Yourself Visual Basic 6 in 21 Days (Sams Teach Yourself)
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by Greg Perry
Sales Rank: 90545
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Discount: 30 %
List Price: $39.99
$28.70
At Amazon
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Paperback: 880 pages
Publisher: Sams August 23, 1998
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0672313103
ISBN-13: 978-0672313103
Product Dimensions:
8.8 x 7.4 x 2 inches
Shipping Weight: 2.8 pounds
Product Review
"Wordy and plodding, but a nicely paced introduction to the Visual Basic world."
This book has all the earmarks of a series designed in-house. This is a bad thing. It means the book contains elements that obviously are the result of compromises made by people sitting through endless meetings and eventually settling on the most stubborn person's ideas because, well, everyone was tired and wanted to go home and watch the Pacers game on TV. And none of those people actually have read any computer books, let alone tried to learn a programming language from one.
The in-house style earmarks are aplenty: the ubiquitous Do and Do Not sidebars; Note and Tip boxes; the New Term paragraphs; Summaries; Q&As; Workshops; and end-of-chapter quizzes and exercises. Gadzooks. Whatever happened to an experienced programmer trying to explain the best way to learn something in well-written, down-to-earth, right-to-the-point prose? Well, you won't find it here, not in your allotted three weeks.
On the plus side, this book does have you create your first program on page 24 (day one), which is pretty quick. It's not really a program, though--it's a "project," or something that Visual Basic can whip together for anyone who's ever used one of the Windows wizards. Is that cheating? I don't know. But I'll give Greg Perry a happy face for letting the reader actually do something at that early stage of the game.
As with any book on Visual Basic, the decision is whether to document the programming language or the application environment first. Like everyone else, Perry documents the environment for the first week or so. (At which point I'm beginning to wonder whether any book will bother to document the programming language itself.) And I do admire his logical flow; the days and weeks build on each other nicely. The pace is pretty even throughout the book.
On the downside, the book has no soul. It's really routine and, well, kind of boring. The programs lack some of the insanity you would find in Wally Wang's Dummies book. But I do like the way Perry presents the steps--at over 800 pages, he gives his steps the space they need. Not bad, but, peppered with some insights, it could have been better. --Dan Gookin
Book Description
Visual Basic programming techniques are presented in a logical and easy-to-follow sequence that helps you really understand the principles involved in developing programs. The reader begins with learning the basics to write a first program and then moves on to adding voice, music, sound, and graphics. After reading this book, the reader will be able to write their own DLLs, create ActiveX controls, use object linking and embedding (OLE) and write Visual Basic programs that support multiple document interface, and much more. Various topics covered are: - Properties, Controls, and Objects - Graphics, Controls & Methods - Interfacing with Windows - Arrays, OLE, and other topics - Data Control and SQL - Multiple Document Interface - ActiveX- Sound Programming and DirectSound - Building ActiveX Controls and all the latest features of Visual Basic.
Customer Reviews & Comments
I bought this book bundled with More VB6 in 21 days and a copy of VB6 working edition, all for less than... Based on previous experience with Sams 21 Day books, I thought this package was a bargain. I've made it through the first 7 of 21 days. What a piece of excrement this book is! It is riddled with typos and other errors. Unclear and obtuse writing. No examples when introducing critical new concepts (example -- lesson 7 on advanced keyboard and screen support provides few examples and none at all on some of the functions). I'm going to look for a better introductory text. And will not be going on to waste my time with the "More" volume! To keep this in context, note that I'm not a novice -- I've been a FORTRAN and BASIC programmer for nearly 30 years. I generally don't bother to post unfavorable reviews here, but be warned! By the way, the working edition of VB (which doesn't compile or come with any of the MSDN documentation) can be had for the price of shipping from Microsoft. Save your bucks for the VB Learning Edition (which has MSDN) or the Professional edition (which does lots more).
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Sams Teach Yourself Visual Basic 6 in 21 Days (Sams Teach Yourself)
List Price: $39.99
Discount: 30 %
Available from Amazon
Price: $28.70
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