I have my VB final due tommorrow. I have to agree with another reviewer. The examples don't explain what you need to know for the projects. My teacher is very smart but she grades hard. Between that and this difficult to learn from book our class has gone from 22 students to get this 4. There are 4 of us left in what should have been a beginner type programming class.
I am going to buy a Thompson Learning VB book instead. I am sure it will be better.
The only guy who did well with this book already had C++ I and II.

Simply the best book to get going in programming. I messed around with other books and they either didn't teach the right things or they were just too complicated for a beginner. Although there is a lot more to know this book gives you an excellent foundation. Great explanation, great examples, and great practice problems! It also includes a working edition copy of VB. Once you have completed this book you'll be ready for the full version of VB and more object oriented programming techniques.

Well, I do think that the comments on the book relies a lot on the reader's background(previous experience). I programmed with several programming languages such as BASIC, FORTRAN and C/C++ before. But I had no experience with Visual Basic at all. So I bought this book to self-study VB. I compared many books on VB, this book is definitely very well structured and easy to follow. It does not go deep into some specific topics such as Data Management with VB, Web Programming with VB, and OOP with VB etc. However, this book does cover the foundamentals. After practicing with VB for a while, I have purchased other more advanced books on VB. However, I still come back to this book often. This book may not be good for those who are experienced with VB, neither those totally new to programming. However, it should be a good book for those who are new to Visual Basic. Good luck!

Although it is of much help, to which the book lacks, it was disappointing to say the least. It did little to help simplify the understanding of the book; yet without it, one is much worse. If one needs to take trigonometry, this book will attempt to help, but lacks in great assistance.

Like all math books, this one is just an aid in the classroom. The main source of information is the instructor. This book has really good excersices. The layout is very clear clear. Dont listen to negative reviews, its probably their instructors

I bought the book to teach my 15 year old
son trigonometry and it is fantastic.
It has so many clear examples to illustrate
the concepts.
You can't go wrong with this book.

This book is not a good one for "Introduction" to Programming using VB. My opinion obviously, but I find the book to draw way too many assumptions about what the reader already knows about VB. Reading this text I find myself re-reading over and over again the concepts that I am supposed to learn. The author throws out several concepts, definitions and terms all within one sentence. It is difficult to digest. Have a pen ready with lots of ink- you will have to make your own notes to make sense of it. I have only read 130 pages and was forced to buy another text to fill in the gaps. Too bad- the other text is quite good (Murach's Beginning VB) but this is not the book used for my class. There are a billion examples- for me the approach that works best is type out every example and just study it with the help the other text, websites and online help. Perhaps is this is the best way to get it done- but I personally feel learning this way is too labor intensive.

This is a reworking of Schneider's earlier VB book(s). It is important at the outset to grasp that this book, like his others, is written from a traditional data processing perspective (ubiquitous bank/loan account examples). Strong emphasis on structured programming is demonstrated throughout. So it's quite traditional in how it approaches topics. It has a marvellous collection of exercises both short and project based. If you can work through these, you will have a very good knowledge of traditional core programming skills. And this is the key point of the text: it is primarily about teaching you how to program using VB.net as the instruction medium and not anything else.

This is no quick tips and tools book, though it obviously contains such. Secondly, it is not a how to do GUIs book. You won't find much here on building multimedia applications or graphical games. Instead, the book offers a shoehorning of masses of programming techniques into the VB.net environment. And the work is very high quality both in terms of the examples and their pedagogical value.

In terms of layout, the book is particularly good. For a start it more or less lies flat when you open it. Colour coding of programs is used, and each chaper and topic is illustrated with clearly flagged example code and displays. There is no shortage of well developed code, (though some of the examples may seem a little conservative).

The first two thirds of the book introduces a bit of history and traditional programming thinking: procedures, decision logic, loops, arrays and files. The remainder deals with controls, OO in VB.net and database access. The OO chapter uses a reasonable number of examples to convey techniques and the exercises are interesting, but it is introductory (don't expect a crash course in abstract datatypes). However the chapter has but one graphics based example which is a bit mean.

While the book has exemplary strengths over and above the majority in the field, there are a few weaknesses which indicate the need for at least one supplementary text.

In the first place, the book has nothing to say on GDI+ programming, and many will judge this oversight as a serious flaw. Secondly, the multiple document interface capacity of VB.net (changed somewhat from VB6) is not developed. Indeed with the exception of three pages on adding multiple forms (482-485), the rationale for multiwindowed displays is completely overlooked. In fairness, the book is not focused around user interface design issues (either a strength or a weakness depending on your needs).

The chapter on databases access is good but just above elementary. However, don't expect a run down on web servers and XML. These topics are not covered. Even a brief chapter on XML would not be out of place.

From a slightly more pedantic position, I am surprised that there is no general chapter on data structures. Arrays are given a very handsome chapter, and sorting a searching are developed well, but we don't explore explicitly stacks and queues. Now one of the strengths of VB.net is that stack and queue creation and manipulation are made trivial due to inbuilt functions. It would have been useful to see these in action. Moreover, trees and graphs are not covered, and that is a bit of a puzzle.

Overall the book is a superb programming text. Dated perhaps in some of its focus, but still a better introduction to programming than many notionally equivalent texts, which are perhaps more glamorous, but almost certainly less thoughtful.

if you don't know know anything about programming, and you have to use visual basic, you should use this book. after reading it at least until chapter 8, and you want to read books like Deitel&deitel or Coding Technique, i believe you will understand it much3x better.

I think that this book is too tough to follow up with. I really understood the language better by taking a course than reading the book. The book is really confusing and rambles on about nothing.

I am a fairly expierenced programmer, but I decided to take a look at this book anyway.

Nearly 5 years ago, Vol 1 introduced me to VB. Everyone told me that QBasic (A language known as Structured) was dead, and to learn Visual Basic (Known as Object Oriented Programming) instead. I tried and tried, but I could not grasp Visual Basic. I came accross this book, which introduced QBasic to me. It did it clearly, which is an acomplishment is itself. Best of all, it let me learn VB and QBasic, which I still use to this day.

On to this volume. Since QB hasn't changed since '91, the QB section has grown in detail. Many advanced elements are introduced, like machine language and controlling memmory. Also, the so called "DOS API" is demystifided.

The VB code is not quite as great. Much of the time consuming QB code like PRINT and INPUT is now gone in VB, replaced by 2 mouse actions. The bulk of this section is re-explaining QB information, which becomes redudant. The Windows API is briefly introduced, but not expanded upon. If you need detailed, advanced VB information, look elsewhere. The bridge is made and is effective, but certain necessary skills are not made in the VB section.

The book comes with VB on CD, but be warned. It is a fully functional copy of VB, minus the ability to make EXEs. The reason Microsoft made this available was to further there new Active-X controls Internet market. Besides that, VB5CCE (what is included on this disk) can be downloaded as a 9.5MB file from [Microsoft]. having it on a CD is a nice convience though.

Despite redundancy and some oversimplification, this is a extremely valuable learning resource.

The beginning student rarely understands the development of programming very well, and thus it's confusing trying to understand the connection between QBasic -- little used anymore -- and VBasic, which looks quite different, at least initially. This book dissolves the confusion.

QBasic remains important, because it is an excellent tool for learning the fundamentals of programming. But obviously VBasic is the more useful state-of-the-art tool. Thus, connecting the two is a very effective way to learn the "basics" and the subsequent development of programming techniques.

The book is clear and concise, uses nice examples and exercises, and is well-organized and thought out. I would recommend it very highly as an introductory programming text.

Dr. William A. Bradnan

There are no answers to the back of the book, there is no accompanying study guide and no solutions manual.

That said, this is still an excellent book for detailed explanations of the concepts of discrete math, if you already have a book with answers.

The other reviewers don't spill the beans! Basically, this book is wonderful. It teaches the kind of undergrad discrete math that underlies any good computer science course. (In fact, I think this material should be the first math topic encountered by any student taking math courses.) What makes the experience of this book different from the mortal tedium normally associated with textbooks on this subject, is that these guys really teach you HOW TO DO MATH.

Discrete math is usually taught as a fairly motley collection of ideas and techniques, none of which really relate to each other. When you've read a book or taken a course on the stuff, you're left thinking "so what?". In contrast, this book begins by showing you how to USE propositional and predicate logic to a) model things, and then b) reason (i.e. prove theorems) about your models by simple algebraic calculation (the kind of stuff you did in high-school). They then show that this logic is "the glue" that binds together all the other notions by using it to define and prove properties of sets, relations, functions, sequences, numbers and induction, and so on.

The logic alone is worth buying the book for. Instead of skating over the material, throwing in a few truth tables to define the operators, and then getting you to check a couple of laws by making your own truth tables (boring and ultimately useless), they take the time to show you how to prove logical theorems by calculation. What's really good is that they give lots of practical heuristics to guide you though these calculations, and demonstrate them on loads of examples. Do the exercises and your view of mathematics will be changed forever (for the better!). I promise.

Recently, the late Yehudi Menuhin said that learning a musical instrument can be a worthwhile experience even if you don't want to be a performer, because mastering a skill empowers you as a human being. It builds your self-confidence and raises your standards. What I get from this book is that the authors seem to hold to a similar philosophy: that by mastering these skills (early in the curriculum), you'll be able to tackle other technical material with greater confidence than before. You get the feeling that they really want to empower you with this stuff and believe you can master it. The writing style is immediately accessible: you feel like they're there in person, taking you through the calculations. All you have to do is practice. Every teacher of math (and programming) should read this book.

My only quibble actually holds for many of the books in this (Springer-Verlag) series: it's a bit pricey (or, at least, in Ireland). If you want undergrads to learn this stuff, you've got to bring it within their price range. The book should be available in paperback, with larger length/width dimensions, to make it thinner and less formal-looking (no pun intended).

Ah, if only every math/computer science book was like this! If you think this review is OTT, check out your college library and see for yourself. If the library aint got it, demand a refund of your fees and study somewhere else.

The previous reviewer knows not of what they speak. Yes, the book does teach calculation independent of meaning (equational logic), and this is so that one may arrive at results, at insights, at meaning, which one would _not_ have otherwise, or at least not with such great ease. To wit, solving Portia's suitor's dilemma is reduced to a trivial two step manipulation, rather than, for example a 21-step formal natural-deduction solution. I cannot overemphasize the astounding increase in problem solving power available to you when you can manipulate a problem without having to keep the meaning of everything in your head.... I searched for quite some time before finally finding this book, and I will be forever happy that I've been able to read it. Can't say that about too many math books. :-) Contains excellent reference summaries too, including card stock tear out duplicates of same.

This is a book that I read during the internet frenzy and recently revisited.

During the frenzy I thought it did a decent job of defining various roles a product producing or telecom company can have, separating a company to it's functional componenets, and did the usual job of having a company focus on it's core competencies. It only addressed supply chain companies, a card that was overplayed back then, yet a decent area of improvement with the application of the internet.

Yet it seemed like the authors struggled on every page to not say that Cicso is great, all companies should be Cisco, and if you hire them they wil make you into a Cisco by copying what Cicso did, and you'd get a Cisco market multiple. The catch is a variety of factors helped Cisco evolve organically, and a retroactive fit is risky in the sense that it would be artificial and thus unsustainable. Also, the whole think-tank and incubator type centralized company was en-vouge and this book tried to compliment a potential client/company that they could be in that special inner circle. Yet not everyone can be a chef in a time of limited kitchens, busboys, customers, etc. Beyond that, it seemed like the normal strategic rhetoric of putting your company in the middle of some diagram or four box chart, or citing some survey from what is most likely a 24 year old's opinion when faced with a deadline. A final reaction from reading it in 2000 was that it was also free lottery ticket in the sense that the salesmen authors tried to sell a major major overhaul to firms, and as career consultants it would be unlikely that they would be able to implement or take responsibility. But lottery tickets were free back then.

Now that I've revisited the book, I see that it was actually a joke even with the hindsight bias. If a company divests all assets and becomes a brand name, it brings tremendous risk into it's ongoing existance. This is underscored by the fact that all poster child companies mentioned in the book are now either out of business or trading [cheap], with the exception of course with Cisco.

The value in the book now would be similar to the Pets.com puppet, or putting one share of webvan in a picture frame. The catch is that nobody cared about this book back then, so it loses it's nostalgic value.

This book is merely a sales pitch written by PwC executives looking to drum up e-business sales. It is full of "e" cliches and flies in the face of accepted business theories -- such as transaction cost economics. This type of thinking by top PwC partners is clearly the reason why that firm is currently merging with IBM Global Services.

Die Autoren verkaufen alten Wein in neuen Schläuchen. Verschiedenste Managementkonzepte wie das Supply Chain Management oder der Trend zum Outsourcing sind altbekannt. Das einzige, das den bisherigen Trend vorantreibt oder verstärkt ist die technologische Entwicklung, welche die Autoren ebenfalls erwähnen.

Das Buch lässt sich theoretisch auf vier Seiten zusammenfassen. Es werden neue Ausdrücke kreeirt, welche - wenn überhaupt - nur dürftig erklärt werden. Den Diagrammen mangelt es an Aussagekraft, die auch im Text nicht wettgemacht wird. Verschiedenste aneinandergereihte Schlagworte tragen zu einem erschwerten Verständnis bei. Argumentativ befinden sich die Autoren auf tiefem Niveau. Es erstaunt nicht, dass die Autoren dieses Werk in zwei Monaten fertiggestellt hatten. Fazit: Als Anregung in Ordnung, aber sicher nicht kaufenswert.

Badly written and superficial. A bad specimen of Buddhist or gay literature.

I didn't know Issan Dorsey, but reading this book made me wish I did if only because he seemed a terribly interesting person and the course of his life is...well...amazing. I highly recommend it. As a gay man with an interest in Buddhism, this book was like a door opening.

This work is so important to both the Buddhist community and anyone who has any inkling of how to create community. Isaan Dorsey was an example of the best teachings of Jesus and the best promises of Buddha. Kudos to David Schneider, et. al, for their exhaustive work and beautful tapestry. -TJ, Santa Fe, NM, USA

The book is decent. But is not a great text book. It's highlihgted formulas, etc... are very helpful, but it doesn't seem to explain a lot of things in a way to make them easily understandable. I have used many different math books, and I would not use this one unless you are teaaching extremely bright students.

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.

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!

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.

I want to start by saying this book cost me ... and it is useless, i use VB in Collage and i can tell you that a book on how to make a cake will tell you more about VB then this book.

Absloute ...

This book is an excellent source of additional information. As a beginning programmer I found the contents easy to read...although there is almost too much information you will seem like you're fighting your way through a jungle. The only other problem is that the answers aren't always correct, as you will see if you try to run the problems through V.B. 6.0.

This book covers the basic fundamentals of Visual Basic 6.0 and is an excellent book for non-programmers.