Programming Microsoft Windows with Microsoft Visual Basic .Net (Core Reference)

by Charles Petzold

25-Word Description The top-selling author shows developers how to use Visual Basic .NET to get the most out of Windows Forms -- the next-generation Windows programming class library. 75-Word... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0735617996
• ISBN13: 9780735617995
• Release Date: August 2002
• Publisher: Microsoft Press
• Length: 1303 Pages
• Weight: 0.90 lbs.
• Dimensions: 2.5" x 7.5" x 9.3"

Customer Reviews

Definitely not another "me too" VB.NET book

Charles Petzold has been writing Windows programming books since the year one. He knows his subject and how to get it across to his readers. This is not intended to be another in an already long series of books on VB data base programming for the enterprise. Rather it is a clear exposition of VB.NET Windows programming with an emphasis on the inner workings of Windows. It will prepare its readers to create their own structures from the building blocks offered by the .NET Framework. It has excellent sections which explain how Windows paints and draws objects and others on how to use the built-in graphics functionality of Windows in your own projects. It is probably not for rank beginners. A useful complement, in a different style, is Francesco Balena's "Programming Microsoft Visual Basic .NET".

A Masterpiece

This is the one book I recommend for all VB.NET developer's coming from a VB6 background! Why? Consider it a first step in walking down a true developer's path. Throw away your Visual Studio .NET crutch, and you might begin to visualize the way Java and C++ programmers tackle real world problems.Be warned though, this is a book most VB developer's will not fully understand the value of! To prove this theory, make note of the mixed review scores for this book. Now, browse over to the C# version of this book and you will find only high review scores. Why would this be true? Because C# is, for the most part, being tackled by the Java and C++ communities, so you are dealing with two different levels of developers. I think you will find "Beziers and Other Splines" one of the most fascinating chapters in the book. Petzold explains these drawing tools exceptionally well! Another chapter worth noting, "Taming the Mouse" explains mouse capture/loss and how to deal with it. You might even learn a thing or two about utilizing an interface if you pay close attention.Once you read this book, you might find yourself shunning the visual designer all together (I prefer to code everything by hand myself), and this is a positive thing. You should know how to write every control outside the designer. This is actually a prerequisite for anyone interested in getting involved in enterprise level development (assuming you are working with a good program manager/senior developer).I also recommend purchasing "Applied .NET Framework Programming" by Richter. Together these books are a valuable addition to any professional developer's library, and should be read from beginning to end!

The definitive reference (VB version) and very readable too

I have two books on user interfaces in .NET. This one and "User Interfaces in VB .NET: Windows Forms and Custom Controls" by Mathew Macdonald's from Apress. Both are great books and I recommend both highly.Comparing this book to the one by Macdonald: Macdonald's book is much more manageable than Petzold but still seemed to contain everything I wanted to know about Windows forms. It however skipped over lots of wonderful "side roads" that I found very enjoyable (as I did Petzold's great style-he's one of the best writers in the business).Still, Petzold is more than twice as long as Macdonald and thus not likely to be a book you will read from cover to cover as I think you might with Macdonald.If you can afford it by all means get both books, if you only want one, then for a more condensed "what you need to know" book get Macdonald, if you want just one book that will then serve also as a reference, get Petzold...

Warning--Same book as Petzold's C# Book!

Not really a review, just a caveat to potential buyers. This is the SAME book as Petzold's Programming Microsoft Windows with C#. Only the sample code is changed (and that's available for free online). Buy either one, but don't buy both!