The first time I came across the Visual Basic programming language was when I was studying for my Higher National Diploma. This book was recommended to us and was frequently used by the tutor.
The book by Tim Anderson is designed with the novice in mind. The book covers all of the basics ... Read review
Advantages: Simplifies the VB programming approach Disadvantages: For the more advanced programmer, lacks detail
...time I came across the Visual Basic programming language was when I was studying for my Higher National Diploma. This book was recommended to us and was frequently used by the tutor.
The book by Tim Anderson is designed with the novice in mind. The book covers all of the basics the newcomer will require to get up and running with the Visual Basic language and covers Visual Basic 6.
The book starts by introducing the ... ...Learning Edition, Professional, Enterprise and Visual Basic for Applications in Office. The reader is taken through the application creation process, step by step, helping the reader to understand the practical side more. Whilst going through these stages, information is provided to explain various features that are used as part of the development environment, such as toolbars, the properties window and the project explorer.
The first time I came across the Visual Basic programming language was when I was studying for my Higher National Diploma. This book was recommended to us and was frequently used by the tutor.
The book by Tim Anderson is designed with the novice in mind. The book covers all of the basics the newcomer will require to get up and running with the Visual Basic language and covers Visual Basic 6.
The book starts by introducing the reader to Visual Basic. It provides an insight into the different versions that are available, in particular the difference between the Learning Edition, Professional, Enterprise and Visual Basic for Applications in Office. The reader is taken through the application creation process, step by step, helping the reader to understand the practical side more. Whilst going through these stages, information is provided to explain various features that are used as part of the development environment, such as toolbars, the properties window and the project explorer.
Once this initial background has been established, the reader is taken through the main controls that are available to the developer. These controls cover the various aspects that are seen within the Windows Operating System, throughout its normal use, such as buttons, text boxes and the Common Dialog Control (the open/save dialog box that is common in most Windows applications).
After the reader has been introduced and practiced using the main controls, Anderson goes on to explain how to create the code to provide the functionality (the code to make the controls work) to the previously mentioned controls. He also explains the features that are required as part of the program development process, such as variables, conditional statements and looks into user interaction.
As the book progresses, the focus becomes on using slightly more advanced techniques and making use of supplied tools. Anderson describes essential features like the menu editor, the debugger, and the reference manager, and how they can be used to create an application that does exactly what you want it to do.
The first four chapters cover the topics as mentioned above, but from here the reader is provided with more intricate details. Anderson provides an insight into creating a Visual Basic application to interface (connect to) a database. He introduces databases, describing what they are and how to create simple versions of them. He doesn’t go into too much detail about databases, as databases can be very complex and are beyond the scope of the VB newcomer.
The next stage that is covered is the relationship between Visual Basic and the Microsoft Office suite. Although Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) is slightly different to Visual Basic, it is available within all Office applications. Anderson describes how Visual Basic can be used within these Office applications and how these applications can be used from within your own Visual Basic application.
Chapter seven is devoted to providing an insight into using the Visual Basic suite in conjunction with the Internet. Anderson describes how to use some of the concepts of Visual Basic to create interactive web pages through the use of Visual Basic Script. He goes on to provide an overview of using advanced programming features such as ActiveX, Java, email and Dynamic HTML.
After describing how to create Visual Basic applications, Anderson finishes by describing features that will be useful for the expert user, such as how to reduce the amount of errors being introduced into your code and also trapping any unexpected errors, so that problems are less frightening to the user. The last thing the user wants to see is the Microsoft Windows 9x ‘blue screen’ error. He provides useful tips and techniques on how to improve the developed applications to ensure that they run reliably and fast.
The Anderson book is very good in respect to providing a good solid background into the VB subject. It focuses on the assuming the reader is a newcomer and so re-enforces the material with examples and diagrams/screenshots.
The book is available for £9.99 from a variety of bookshops and online stores such as Amazon. The book’s ISBN number is 1-84078-029-0 and I would recommend that anyone that is interested in learning VB or building upon their knowledge should get this book. It does not cover Visual Basic .Net, but Visual Basic 6.0 is still widely used and will provide a sound knowledge of programming using the Visual Basic environment.
Advantages: Great results with simple language Disadvantages: None I can think of
...me by one of my visual basics tutors. I started a visual basics (6) college course last year and had never come across the VB programme before so scoured the Internet for learning resources. I found many, planetsourcecode.com being one of my favourites but found very limited information (easy enough for me anyway) for starting from scratch. Once I had purchased this book online I found how easy programming can be. The book is aimed at the beginner ... ...an ‘A’ grade in my Visual Basics module. My fellow students have looked through it and bought their own copy (their not borrowing mine :-p) Now I have completed the module at college I still find the book incredibly useful as it gives loads of example programmes (which all work) and ideas for making my own programmes. As it says on the cover, “By the end of the book you know most of what you could ever need”. One of the best ...
Samanthac44 21.08.2001
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Ciao members have rated this review on average: helpful Review of Visual Basic in easy steps
