Book of Visual Basic 2005
.NET Insight for Classic VB Developers
by Matthew MacDonald

May 2006, 512 pp.
ISBN: 978-1-59327-074-2
Contents | Reviews | Updates

View a sample chapter, Chapter 11: Threading

Download the code samples from the book

From the author of the highly acclaimed Book of VB .NET comes this comprehensive introduction to Visual Basic 2005, the newest version of Microsoft’s popular programming language. If you’re a developer who is new to the language, you will learn to use VB 2005 effectively. If you’re from the old school of VB but haven’t yet made the jump to .NET, you will be able to make the transition seamlessly. And you won’t have to wade through boring, unnecessary material before you get there.

This guide covers all the necessities, ditching jargon and getting right to the substance of how to:

  • Implement object-oriented programming with classes, interfaces, and inheritance
  • Design well-behaved multithreaded applications
  • Work with XML, file streams, and ADO.NET, the .NET toolkit for relational databases
  • Build code-driven web pages and rich Windows applications
  • Deploy your applications with snazzy setup programs

Conversational in tone and eminently readable, this book tackles VB 2005’s hot new features and explains how to work with .NET, but it doesn’t water the information down for beginners. After a brief overview of changes from VB 6, you’ll get real-world examples in each chapter that will get you up to speed and ready to perform in the VB 2005 environment. Helpful code examples, references to additional online material, and tips on planning, design, and architecture round out The Book of Visual Basic 2005.

Professional developers who need to master VB 2005 will want this book by their side.

About the Author

Matthew MacDonald is a developer, author, and educator in all things Visual Basic and .NET. He’s worked with Visual Basic and ASP since their initial versions, and written over a dozen books on the subject, including The Book of VB .NET (No Starch Press) and Visual Basic 2005: A Developer's Notebook (O’Reilly).

Table of Contents

Chapter 1: The .NET Revolution
Chapter 2: The Design Environment
Chapter 3: VB 2005 Basics
Chapter 4: Windows Forms
Chapter 5: Object-Oriented Programming
Chapter 6: Mastering Objects
Chapter 7: Assemblies and Components
Chapter 8: Bug Proofing
Chapter 9: Dealing with Data: Files, Printing, and XML
Chapter 10: Databases and ADO.NET
Chapter 11: Threading
Chapter 12: Web Forms and ASP.NET
Chapter 13: Web Services
Chapter 14: Setup and Deployment

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Reviews

Sample chapter posted
—FTPOnline (Read more)

"Highly recommended."
—Readers Preference (Read more)

"This book comes to the rescue by providing a convenient learning pathway . . . highly recommended."
—Midwest Book Review, October 2006 (Read more)

"If you want to understand the rationale behind .NET, and VB 2005 in particular, this is an excellent place to start."
—UK Computer Shopper, October 2006 (Read more)

"The vast majority of readers will find excellent value in this book."
—Denver Visual Studio .NET User Group, July 2006 (Read more)

"A well-written book in the clear, plain English, understandable style of an experienced author who knows his subject thoroughly . . . If you are ready to make the transition from Classic VB to VB2005, this book will be of great assistance to you in that process."
—DevCity, June 24, 2006 (Read more)

Book review written as a dialogue between two programmers:
Tom: No Starch Press...I've heard of those guys. They do that Wicked Cool programming series and the Cult of Mac book, don't they?
Jon: Yep, those are the ones.
Tom: So why this book, instead of any of the other dozens of books on VB?
Jon: Most of the other VB 2005 books are either written for the beginning non-programmer, or for experienced VB.NET users. This one is written for the classic VB developer, one who has experience with Visual Basic prior to the .NET days.
—MacCompanion, June 2006 (Read more)

Jerry Pournelle’s computer book pick of the month
—BYTE, May 29, 2006 (Read more)

Discussion leader plugs book in website forum
—VBCity, May 29, 2006 (Read more)

Article on debugging a web service includes tip from forthcoming Book of Visual Basic 2005
—VisualBasic.About.com (Read more)

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