Programming in Visual Basic 2010: The Very Beginner's Guide [Hardcover]

Jim McKeown's Programming in Visual Basic 2010 is both an excellent guide to programming in Basic and a tutorial on the use of the Visual Basic 2010 application. I had my worries that the subtitle "The Very Beginner's Guide" assumed I was a stupid person or would only introduce the most basic material. But this only means that nothing is taken for granted. Being a person with experience programming in multiple languages and systems, but no formal training and no understanding of modern computing concepts (like "objects" and "controls" etc.), this provided solid and thorough guidance that rounded out my understanding of the basics, and gave an excellent presentation of the aspects that were new to me.

His writing style is easy-going and humorous, but still clear and concise. The materials in each chapter include a good conceptual introduction, followed by a specific line-by-line walk through code, many example programs that handle specific practical scenarios, a section on problems you can expect and exercise in debugging problems, occasional quizzes, concept review and Summary, a glossary of terms, and a test at the end (with answers in the back of the book). The example programs are all available as functioning VB2010 projects or Demos that can be downloaded from [...] (for Free).

To truthfully disclose all of my observations, I am obliged to point out a couple of things. Mr. McKeown recommends a programming style that seems to me to be almost fanatically concerned with organization. He likes all his variables to be named with a three-letter code in lower case that tells the variable type. He likes all input to be complete before doing any processing, and all processing done before any output (and he almost apologizes when one example goes out of that order). He loves Flowcharts. I will certainly agree that disorganized code can breed errors, but I don't believe that you have to be insane about it! Well, I wouldn't say the man is insane, he just likes his way, and he would really like it if you followed his way.

Some reviews might mention as a criticism that this book is not comprehensive or encyclopedic, but who likes reading an encyclopedia? (It has as many pages as some "encyclopedic" books about programming in Basic) I got enough understanding from this book that I could now actually use and comprehend some of the more comprehensive resources there are (like the VB2010 "Help" file -- what a name!).

I doubt I can now claim to have the skills and understanding of a professional programmer. But I do now possess the knowledge to develop useful applications in Basic. I'm a functional programmer after just a few days with this book! I like that!

This is a user friendly, excellent book for learning the use of Visual Basic. The book is a complete begineers program for learning. The author is concise, understandable, and funny. It makes learning fun. The book offers helpful examples, reviews, and problems for learning. The answers for problems may be found on the author's internet site. Also of importance to the beginner is that each chapter builds on itself, reinforcing the material presented.

I strongly recommend this book for the young and old. It is presented in such a manner that it is a teaching aid and should be considered such. This is not a reference book, although it may be used as one. I am hoping the author will write a book at the next level because I plan to purchase it. This is a book which is a joy to learn from.

When I say "simple," I mean I am using this Cambridge University textbook to teach my 12-year-old how to program in Visual Basic, and she seems to be absorbing it effortlessly. Has quizzes, hands-on work, and exams to test comprehension. I wouldn't hand this to a young child and walk away, of course, but with a little over-the-shoulder guidance, her success underscores how usable this class book is. Highly recommended.