I enjoyed reading this book, esp. on serialization and some topics on transitioning from VB 6 to .net. Not for beginners, but if you know how to program, it won't hurt to have this book and go through the topics, you will learn a lot from it. I'm given this 4 stars only as I'm looking for a book that will be able to answer my VB questions clearly.
Recommended!

'The Book of Visual Basic 2005: .NET Insight for Classic VB Developers' by Matthew MacDonald is another fantastic book written by the busy author Matthew MacDonald. Presented in a very entertaining and fun format thanks to the No Starch line, this book will cover Visual Basic 2005 from top to bottom and show you why it's one of the most popular and easy languages to develop in. With ~500 pages of material and 14 chapters, this book doesn't skimp on any of the good stuff (plenty of whip cream and jimmies for everyone).

If you are a VB programmer and want to learn about how far it's come and why the .NET framework makes RAD ever more RAD than ever before, pick up this book, read it, and enjoy it.

Easy to read and even easier to recommend, this is a solid best buy.

***** HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Are you a Visual Basic 6 developer? If you are, then this book is for you. Author Matthew MacDonald, has done an outstanding job of writing a book about Visual Basic 6 developers who want to shed some of their current habits and start learning more about how the .NET platform works and thinks.

MacDonald, begins by showing you why Microsoft decided to create a whole new framework for programming and what it threw in. Then, the author provides an overview of the design environment. Next, he looks at the .NET world, with an overview of language changes, an exploration of the class library, and an introduction to namespaces. The author also provides an overview of Windows Forms. He continues by showing you the basics of object-oriented development, the most modern and elegant way tosolve almost any programming problem. Then, the author explores VB 2005's object oriented features and advanced class construction techniques including interfaces nd inheritance, the most anticipated Visual enhancement ever. Next, he shows you how to make your own components and get the essentials you need to know in order to transfer your applications to other computers. The author also describes debugging in the IDE, outlines some tips for making bug-resistant code, and introduces structured exception handling. He continues by showing you how to deal with Data: Files, Printing and XML. Then, the author presents an overview of databases and ADO.NET. Next, he provides some advice about when to create threads and how to use them safely. The author also describes the basics of ASP.NET, Microsoft's all-in-one solution for creating web-based applications. He continues by showing you how to create web services and, best of all, let .NET take care of all the plumbing. Finally, he shows you how to deploy your application: the streamlined web-based ClickOnce model, and the more comprehensive Visual Studio setup project.

Throughout this most excellent book, the author strives to give you the essential facts and insights. More importantly, the emphasis here isn't on becoming a "language nerd," but on gaining the insights you'll need in order to understand .NET development and to continue learning on your own.

Are you a Visual Basic 6 developer? If you are, then this book is for you. Author Matthew MacDonald, has done an outstanding job of writing a book about Visual Basic 6 developers who want to shed some of their current habits and start learning more about how the .NET platform works and thinks.

MacDonald, begins by showing you why Microsoft decided to create a whole new framework for programming and what it threw in. Then, the author provides an overview of the design environment. Next, he looks at the .NET world, with an overview of language changes, an exploration of the class library, and an introduction to namespaces. The author also provides an overview of Windows Forms. He continues by showing you the basics of object-oriented development, the most modern and elegant way tosolve almost any programming problem. Then, the author explores VB 2005's object oriented features and advanced class construction techniques including interfaces nd inheritance, the most anticipated Visual enhancement ever. Next, he shows you how to make your own components and get the essentials you need to know in order to transfer your applications to other computers. The author also describes debugging in the IDE, outlines some tips for making bug-resistant code, and introduces structured exception handling. He continues by showing you how to deal with Data: Files, Printing and XML. Then, the author presents an overview of databases and ADO.NET. Next, he provides some advice about when to create threads and how to use them safely. The author also describes the basics of ASP.NET, Microsoft's all-in-one solution for creating web-based applications. He continues by showing you how to create web services and, best of all, let .NET take care of all the plumbing. Finally, he shows you how to deploy your application: the streamlined web-based ClickOnce model, and the more comprehensive Visual Studio setup project.

Throughout this most excellent book, the author strives to give you the essential facts and insights. More importantly, the emphasis here isn't on becoming a "language nerd," but on gaining the insights you'll need in order to understand .NET development and to continue learning on your own.

The focus of this book is to take a traditional Visual Basic developer who is already experienced writing Visual Basic programs and use that as a base to move them to the .NET platform. One of the problems of the traditional Visual Basic program has been that it has its own way of doing things and is built on a platform that is different from other object-oriented languages such as C++ and Java. Of course this is not the only problem but if you program in more than one language then Visual Basic's dlls would often replace and create problems for the other language and vice-versa. The vision of .NET was to create a common language runtime with common classes that can be used for all languages. The problem is that this meant a complete rewrite of Visual Basic and many of the expressions used before no longer work. This need to relearn how to do so many things has slowed the adoption of the .NET framework for Visual Basic. This book comes to the rescue by providing a convenient learning pathway that starts with the familiar for the Visual Basic 6 programmer and moves them from there to the correct use of the .Net framework to accomplish the same goal. For the Visual Basic programmer making the move to the .NET platform The Book of Visual Basic 2005 is highly recommended.

Very well written and organized. I've read it once and am re-reading it again. Highly recommended.

This is definitely not a complete work on VB or .NET. It does serve as a good walkthrough of the features of .NET and their use through Visual Basic. So as long as you know what you are buying you will likely be pleased.

The writing is solid, and the graphics are used effectively. This is not one of the screenshot heavy tomes so often seen in the VB world.