programming language

The fact that you are reading the details of a book titled "Microsoft Visual Basic .NET Programming for the Absolute Beginner" means that this is the book you are looking for! The review saying this book is not for a beginner must have a Visual Basic .NET book of their own on Amazon!

IMPORTANT: Not all books claiming to be for "BEGINNERS" are what you think! Because VB.NET is a NEW language and not a new version of Visual Basic, even advanced VB programmers are "Beginners" to VB.NET. However, all the terminology and concepts are still the same, there are just new ways to write the code. If you are a true beginner and buy the wrong book, you'll be back on Amazon looking for a book on Visual Basic 6.0 so you can understand your book on Visual Basic.NET!

This book is for TRUE beginners with NO past experience with Visual Basic!

That said...

If you are like me and learn from "hands on" experience, this book is for you. I was on a mission to learn VB.NET and I had absolutely no experience with Visual Basic or Visual Studio. I spent $1000 for an ElementK subscription because they offered two separate eLearning courses on VB.NET that were created by Microsoft. After a full day of taking a course, all I had to show for it was 30 pages of notes that contained nothing but definitions and snippets of code. I never saw a single example of code that made up a complete application.

Frustrated, I decided to see if I could find a good ebook from Books24X7. Since there were over 50 of them on VB.NET, I had to play "Eenie-Meenie-Minie-Mo" on several occasions. Luckily I didn't have to pay each time I chose a book because all the ebooks seemed great until I realized after a couple chapters that I was supposed to have experience with Visual Basic or Visual Studio version 6.

Then I came across this ebook in the ElementK Resource section. I learned more about VB.NET in one hour than I did using Microsoft's training!

Each chapter ends by having you create a program using what you've learned. After a few chapters, you've subconsciously learned the same information and more through repetition rather than trying to memorize your way to VB.NET.

(So you don't get the wrong opinion about ElementK, only the VB.NET courses are made by Microsoft. All the others they offer are excellent)

Trust me! You can't go wrong with this book if you are a beginner. And if you have a background in VB, you an jump to Chapter 5 and start learning new information right away.

You won't just learn how to program with VB.NET, you'll have EXPERIENCE programming VB.NET applications.

I have never taken the time to write a review on ANYTHING! (And seeing how much effort it took to write this one, it will be the last! ha ha!) But, I know what it feels like to have a sea of books to choose from. It's like putting your all your money on "Hope This Is Useful" to win in the fifth! Not to mention that you don't won't know what they meant by "Beginner" until you open the book.

I wish someone pointed me to this book from the start, so I figure I might as well be a pointer for someone else.

Thanks for reading my lengthy review...

Ed, What are you smoking?! My 12 year old brother uses this book!This book is PERFECT for beginners and a really great read! Harbour did a great job from beginning to end! A great little book, crammed packed with useful information!

I have read many books on programming and other computing topics and they have all fallen foul of the same problem; they become very hard to read after the first few chapters/lessons!

I have a shelf full of "Teach Yourself XYZ in 24 hours" books, most of which have been a real struggle after the initial enthusiasm has dwindled (Usually by chapter 3 or 4) as the subject is too often delivered in a boring manner with little to show for your study. They seem to not work toward anything and it's hard to see a "Real world" point to anything you learn.

Like no book on the subject I have ever read, "Visual Basic .NET programming for the absolute beginner" breaks the mould and teaches the subject of Visual Basic.NET in a fun and interesting manner. The book uses games as examples while pointing out the "Real World" application for the things you learn. Using games is a splendid idea, making this a fun book to read and leaving the reader with some useful projects to build and expand upon. I would often find myself looking forward to getting home from work so I can start the next chapter.

Another nice point is that the books author, Jonathan Harbour, runs a group on Yahoo!. He reads any posts there and offers advice and tips to folk who visit the forum (He answered a question of mine on there so I know it's true).

If I have to make some criticisms, I would say that the summaries and "end of chapter" projects can be a little tough for the novice. More than once I was a little stumped as to how to approach the challenge, though after reading a few more chapters I was able to return and complete them. That said, one could argue that this approach is a good way to re-enforce the skills learned, as you go back to earlier projects to apply what you have most recently learned.

So there you have it, I am highly recommending this book to anyone who wants to learn VB.NET in a fun, informative and highly refreshing way.