emjay said:
I'm trying to use Visual Basic Express 2005 and it appears I have to
learn
VB.net. (I have a little experience with VB 4).
The Balena book "Programming VB.NET ver. 2003 looks the most interesting
to
me but it might be out-of-date with the 2005 software. Suggestions?
VB.Net generally refers to the 2003 version, and uses version 1.1 of the
..Net Framework.
VB2005 refers to the 2005 version, and uses version 2.0 of the .Net
Framework. It has a lot of features not available in the prior version.
There is a new version of that book called "Microsoft Visual Basic 2005:
The Language" by Mr. Balena that is exemplary. It does not have anything
about forms or data, but the info about the language is great. I found it
really helpful.
For data, check out Dave Sceppa's book ADO.Net: Core Reference, or Bill
Vaughn's book (Hitchhiker's Guide to SQLServer and Visual Studio 2005, I
think). Bill's has more stuff about SQLServer and doing stuff in Visual
Studio; Dave's is more focused on ADO itself.
If you want to learn how to separate your app into layers (data access,
business, and UI), check out Deborah Kurata's new book, "Doing Objects in
VB2005". This book really helped me. Aside from the 3-layer model, it had a
lot of neat and useful info, like application settings, how to administer
SQLServer from inside Visual Studio, code snippets, etc.
Or check out Tim Patrick's Start-to-Finish VB2005. It covers a *lot* of
stuff and is really readable. You end up building an entire app, although
his code isn't exactly standard. But I thought this was a great book and
fun to read.
Good luck.
Robin S.
Ts'i mahnu uterna ot twan ot geifur hingts uto.
