I am an experienced developer but fairly new to VB.NET. This book is not for beginners but it is great for someone like myself who knows what they want to do and just wants some good examples and tips. It's a great reference book and a good alterative to Google. The English is clear and to the point. The book is a sturdy hardback and the pages are well laid out. It's easy to read afters hous of staring at a screen. To sum up, I'm glad that I brought it. It has saved me time and money and you can't ask for much more than that :-)

There is a lot of information in this book, covering a broad range of subjects. It is well laid out and easy to reference. The CD comes with the current version of the book as well as the author's previous book on VB6. Not really a beginner's book as there are more intermediate and advanced topics. I had not used .NET and hadn't touched VB6 in a couple of years. I needed a resource to help jump from rusty VB6 skills to .NET - this book did it perfectly. It is also filled with advanced topics that I am not currently using but now know where to go when the need arrives.

Fast service, great quality... What more can you ask for. I recommend this seller.

I bought this book few years. It is an excelent source of information and writers style is very clear. I just came back to see if Balena has book for C# 2005. Looks like I found something. I am going get that one. However, present book is quite good, check if there is a newer release you may want to get that one.

I bought this book few years. It is an excelent source of information and writers style is very clear. I just came back to see if Balena has book for C# 2005. Looks like I found something. I am going get that one. However, present book is quite good, check if there is a newer release you may want to get that one.

This was the first .NET book I purchased, and in many ways if I hadn't bought any others it would have been sufficient. It has thorough coverage of the .NET environment, with lucid code examples in VB.NET. I found the chapters on ADO.NET and the framework internals to be most useful to my job as an ASP.NET developer, but the coverage is deep enough that a person with very little programming experience could read this book and come away as a well-rounded .NET programmer. Even if you're writing in C#, as I am, the book is worth the money. I would also recommend Dino Esposito's Programming Microsoft ASP.NET for more depth if you're a web developer.

This was the first .NET book I purchased, and in many ways if I hadn't bought any others it would have been sufficient. It has thorough coverage of the .NET environment, with lucid code examples in VB.NET. I found the chapters on ADO.NET and the framework internals to be most useful to my job as an ASP.NET developer, but the coverage is deep enough that a person with very little programming experience could read this book and come away as a well-rounded .NET programmer. Even if you're writing in C#, as I am, the book is worth the money. I would also recommend Dino Esposito's Programming Microsoft ASP.NET for more depth if you're a web developer.

This is an amazing book. Language is clear and to the point. A lot of code samples, which makes the reading through the concepts a lot easier. The book also has a wonderful eBook on supplemented CD. It's in PDF format, hence searchable. I am keeping it always open and no longer wander to web - everything I can ever dream of (yet) can be found there.
***Warning: This book is not for the beginners. Author assumes the reader already has a basic level of VB understanding.

This is an amazing book. Language is clear and to the point. A lot of code samples, which makes the reading through the concepts a lot easier. The book also has a wonderful eBook on supplemented CD. It's in PDF format, hence searchable. I am keeping it always open and no longer wander to web - everything I can ever dream of (yet) can be found there.
***Warning: This book is not for the beginners. Author assumes the reader already has a basic level of VB understanding.

Everyone else here has covered the technical aspects about this great book, but I just want to emphasize the writing style. This author, Francesco Balena, is absolutely a brilliant writer. His conversion of thoughts into words is truly incredible. And so is the organization. If you have the earlier edition of his first book by the same name, you would benefit from the upgrade. Definitely worth the money.

The intro says there's an electronic book on the CD. Huh? No electronic book. Apart from this, the book is outstanding. But beware: it's not for the faint-hearted neither for the beginner. If you don't belong to either of these categories, get the book - you won't regret it.

The intro says there's an electronic book on the CD. Huh? No electronic book. Apart from this, the book is outstanding. But beware: it's not for the faint-hearted neither for the beginner. If you don't belong to either of these categories, get the book - you won't regret it.

First off, let me say that this is not a beginner's book. It does touch a bit on the basics of each topic, but it is not a tutorial. There are plenty of those out there anyway. This book is for the programmer that has had enough of the basics and is ready to advance. I have read some reviews claiming this book talks too much about VB6. I do not agree. I started out learning VB.NET and never had much exposure at all to VB6. As a real world programmer trying to do more advanced things, such as interface with the WIN32 API, the VB6 content is required. When trying to make some of these API calls work, I have had to search out solutions on the internet. Most of these VB solutions are written in VB6 or earlier. While I don't think it is required to know everything about VB6, it is very useful (required in my opinion) to know how to read it. In addition, the explaination of how data is marshalled between the managed and unmanaged environment is very easy to understand.
To sum up, I have been long searching for a book to bring me to the next level in VB.NET. I believe I have found it.

I suspect most people who have reviewed this book are experienced developers, and I imagine this book is great for them. However, I found that the book was not very useful for a less-than-experienced reader (specifically, me).

The main thing that bugged me was that the cover makes it sound like a complete reference for everyone, but if you dig deep enough into the introduction, you're told that the book is written specifically for VB6 developers - and the rest of the book very much bears that out. If you are not a VB6 developer you may feel like this book was not written for you, and that's correct - it was not.

This VB6 slant is so pronounced that I believe the front or back cover should have stated - very clearly - that this book is wirtten with the VB6 developer in mind. Better yet, the title should have "for VB6 developers" in it somewhere. In either case I would have (correctly) avoided wasting money on a book that is not written for my needs.

I have spent at least $1000 on programming books and this book by far is one of the best I have read. If you are a VB 6 programming or even have an understanding of basic programming concept you will get much more from this, but it does briefly explain the basic concepts as well. Ranging in topics from the .NET composition, OOP, Databases, Security, Remoting, Graphics, Custom Controls, and so much more, this is the book you're looking for!

This is indeed a very good book, goes through most of the requirement for .Net programming. I use it as a reference all the time.

It does lack in-depth insight into all the things it explained but that is impossible for a book with this kind of scope.

Incredible, so many aspects covered. I bought the first edition in 2002 without experience in .Net Universe. Reading it 2 times and trying exemples. From a VB6 programmer view, .Net is so biggggg, but after a while, with the help of this book, I grab some good understanding. Now, I bought the new edition, better than ever. Clear,concise and well written.

Don't buy any other books if you don't have lot of cash. THIS one is... SIMPLY THE BEST EVER.

This book and .NET XML Web Services Step by Step by Adam Freeman and Allen Jones have answered virtually all of my questions about building production distributed database applications using XML Web services. If you're interested, you can download a sample of my working code at www.opointe.com

I have used Francesco's book extensively with very good results. I think it is a programmer's toolkit with very direct examples and it goes straight to the point.

It obviously is a book you will find more useful the more you are involved with VB.NET programming and may not be particularly good for a beginner.