Start-to-Finish Visual Basic 2005: Learn Visual Basic 2005 as You Design and Develop a Complete Application

Start-to-Finish Visual Basic 2005 | Tim Patrick | 0321398009 | CHM | 888 pages | 7.5 Mb


Writing a book is a lot like writing a Visual Basic application. Well, except for the parts about finding a publisher and working with an editor. And then there's that pesky rule about correct spelling. Come to think of it, they're really quite different. But in one way, books and programs are similar: They are both written to meet the needs of the user. When writing software applications, the user's needs drive the organization and features of the final program. When writing a book, like the one you're looking at now, the needs of the user��that's you, the reader��drive the organization and features of the final text.

So it was with you in mind that I set out to write this book. Oh, there's the fame and the prestige, but it's really about you. You, the person who seeks to understand Visual Basic and the .NET Framework on which it is built. When I thought about you and your needs, I came up with these ideas:

* You might know how to program, but maybe not. In the programming world, there are four types of people: (1) those who already program joyfully; (2) those who don't program, but will learn it and love it; (3) those who don't program, but will learn it and struggle; and (4) those who should return this book immediately to the bookstore. If you are in one of the first three groups, this book is definitely for you. I believe that anyone who can break down a task into its basic step-by-step instructions can successfully program in Visual Basic. If you are unsure about your ability to quantify tasks in this way, you might want to start out with a book on basic programming concepts. One example is Dan Appleman's How Computer Programming Works (Apress, 2000).
* You might know how to program in Visual Basic or .NET, but maybe not. And that's OK, because this book will teach you. Most of the chapters introduce important topics in Visual Basic and .NET development, like object-oriented programming concepts, or using the different types of variables available to you, or interacting with a database. If you already know how to use Visual Basic 6 or earlier, that's great, but it's not a prerequisite.
* You want to write programs. Most programming books teach you to write code in ten-line increments. At least that's what's scattered throughout their pages. I've put some of those "code snippets" in this book. But I spend my days writing real programs, not ten-line sample programs. If you want to write whole programs, you should learn using whole programs. And so I also put a program in my book��a whole program. Over the next several hundred pages, I will develop a real program��a database for a small library��and you will write it with me.

I put all of these ideas into 25 easy-to-read chapters and had Addison-Wesley glue the pages together for your convenience. When you reach the index, you will have learned how to write complete programs in Visual Basic and .NET. It will be a programming adventure, so let's get started!