Author: James Foxall
Publisher: Sams, 2008
Pages: 576
ISBN: 978-0672329845
Aimed at:  Beginners
Rating: 2.5
Pros: VB Express supplied on CD
Cons: Lacks theoretical framework
Reviewed by: Mike James

As an introduction to VB 2008 this book, the complete title of which is "Sams Teach Yourself Visual Basic 2008 in 24 Hours: Complete Starter Kit", has one advantage – a copy of VB Express bound into the back. Apart from this there is little to praise and little to deride. It is a fairly detailed account of how to write a VB program with a few asides on objects and bigger ideas. In the main, though, this book is about getting on with programming rather than worrying about theory. For a beginner’s book it probably goes a bit too far into topics such as database and ASP but this fits with the idea of a practically-oriented approach. If you are prepared to work through the details then you will gain some skills but you will still need so much more.

<Reviewed in VSJ>