Learning Visual Basic.NET Through Applications (Programming Series)

The chapters are short, the code is minimal, but you get applications that are really useful and you get to build those projects that always stump you, like how to I get to print something, or how do I program an OpenDialog box to display files? (Many of the current Help examples in Visual Studio 2003 don't work and are useless.)

There is also fun stuff: The chapters on Agents are worth the price of the book alone. This opened a whole new world to me and my 16 year old son.

The book is already in need of an update since I am now using VS2003, and a couple of the chapters don't quite work with the old code, and there are a number of IDE differences as well. But most all of the applications work and you can get to modify them to suit your own applications.

I would suggest an updated book with all the first 12 chapters removed, and with examples for Mobile devices added. Hint, hint, Mr. Crooks.

If you are a novice VB .NET programmer, this is one of the first books you should get. The other first books you should get have been rated in these reviews. Just find one with high marks and that explains how to use the IDE, and how to display "Hello, world".

Unfortunately, there are hardly any books on the new Visual Studio 2003, so you'll have slim pickings for those or just stuggle with the old books.


Great book & great examples   May 18, 2003
Lynn Thomas (Indianapolis, IN)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful

While there are a few small errors, this is a great book. I bought this book, and liked it so much that I decided to buy the authors REALbasic book. It was great as well. Keep up the good work.


Not perfect but close -   April 16, 2003
DBL (Hattiesburg, MS USA)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful

I read earlier reviews about some of the editing issues, but purchased the book anyway. I am glad I did. Mistakes are there, but if you are going to be a programmer, you can deal with them. I am a professional programmer studying .Net. Learning through the examples that are laid out within this book makes it extrordinairly easy. I have purchased many many books on programming and find that this is the best of the lot. It is not fancy, but it delivers the goods. To the author. Keep Writing.


Needs proofreading badly   November 30, 2002
Kevin Schumacher (Medina, OH USA)
4 out of 4 found this review helpful

This book could have been so much better. The premise is very promising - build real world applications while learning VB.NET at the same time. The execution, however, falls flat.

There are several problems with this book. First, as in any technical book, there are errors, both typographical and omissions. One chapter deals with accessing system information and printing it to a window. It leaves out the key detail of adding a reference to the system library needed to accomplish this task. In the same chapter there are several typographical errors, some within the code. No one is perfect, and these things happen. However, overall, the book has more typos than I have ever seen in any other computer book. The publisher's website has no way, other than a generic info@ email, to notify them of typos or code errors. There are no errata listings on the site or any way to submit them, as with WROX or O'Reilly.

The actual content of the book isn't bad, and the code works (for the most part); however there a much larger focus on just providing code than actually explaining step by step what you are doing. The provided CD contains all the code in the book; beyond the first chapters that deal with the basics of programming both in general and also specifically in VB.NET, the CD essentially contains the contents of the book. While those first few chapters are generally well-written, the explanations are not very deep and drop off sharply once you reach the application-building chapters.

Overall, I would rate it 2 stars. A second edition, one that has been proofread, would knock it up to 4.


MP3 players, encryption programs, DirectX 8.1 & more   November 8, 2002
Midwest Book Review (Oregon, WI USA)
2 out of 4 found this review helpful

Learning Visual Basic.NET Through Applicationsby Clayton E. Crooks II (a partner in Advanced Information Systems, a consulting company specializing in custom hardware and software solutions) is a straightforward companion reference and instructive guide to learning how to program in Visual Basic.NET while developing applications such as MP3 players, encryption programs, DirectX 8.1, word processors and much more. Easy-to-follow chapters cover an introduction to the VB.NET language, math and random functions, strings, error handling, and progress to more complex topics like Windows form applications drawing with VB.NET, and Microsoft Agent. Screenshots, sample code, and step-by-step instructions make Learning Visual Basic.NET Through Applications a superb supplement to any course in VB.NET, or even an excellent self-taught course. An accompanying CD-ROM offers numerous tools, figures, and source code for every project in the book - almost everything except for VB.NET itself is on it. Learning Visual Basic.NET Through Applications is very highly recommended to anyone needing to quickly and efficiently learn or deepen their understanding and utilization of VB.NET.