PRObooks
Moving to VB.NET: Strategies, Concepts, and Code
Moving to VB.NET is probably the most important book for VB programmers contemplating the .NET world. It covers all the questions I had about VB .NET. There is no need to have Visual Studio: Most of the code examples can be run at the Console Window of the .NET Framework.
The book is a well-organized and lucid exploration of Visual Basic .NET, discussing how VB .NET differs from VB6 and C#. It gives well-reasoned answers for VB programmers who ask if they should learn C# or VB .NET. It covers .NET adoption strategies, COM+ under .NET, inheritance, memory management, language syntax, data types and operators, .NET namespaces, and how to approach a .NET Windows application vs. a .NET Internet application or service.
Dan Appleman has written some great books and has experience digging through low-level aspects of programming, the interaction between VB and the operating system, as well as ActiveX and COM.
He also has the experience to write about the good, the bad, and the ugly of using Microsoft tools. His discussion of multi-threading is superb in its reasoning on why to avoid it. All points are illustrated with lots of code examples and diagrams.
What a breath of fresh air! The readability and tone of this book is partly due to the publishing company, which was founded by a group of programmers (including Dan Appleman) intent on alleviating the glut of low-quality books. This book has a no-nonsense, fact-filled, and high-usability profile.
Thomas Wagner
Moving to VB.NET: Strategies, Concepts, and Code by Dan Appleman, Apress, http://www.apress.com.
Rating:
ISBN: 1-893115-97-6
Cover Price: US$39.95
(560 pages)
