Month: July 2003

Microsoft Visual Basic .NET Step by Step – Version 2003 (Step By Step (Microsoft))

Microsoft Visual Basic .NET Step by Step - Version 2003[rating:5/5]

This book is fabulous – I wish I had purchased it earlier. I have recently returned to school in order to study computer programming as part of an effort to make a career change. The first classes on programming and VB.NET required that we use the HORRIBLE Deitel books (save your money on those). I was not able to take a VB course last quarter and have just started the next class. Our instructor recommended this book as a `refresher’ for what we have already covered and I’m really glad he did! (BTW, he’s also dumped the Deitel books because there were so many complaints). Not only have I already brushed up on the skills I’ve already learned, but the writing is clear, editing is wonderful, and (most important of all) everything makes sense! I’m also learning a lot of new things! I will certainly look for more books by this author – he has a talent for explaining things in an easy to understand manner and yet doesn’t talk down to the reader.
In response to some of the other reviews – no, this book probably wouldn’t be too useful to an experienced programmer but it wasn’t meant to be. For someone new to programming, however, I haven’t found another book that even comes close to this one – buy it today!

Armageddon (Left Behind #11)

Armageddon (Left Behind #11)[rating:.5/5]

Come on guys, just END IT ALL. I was enthralled with the early books in the series . . . now; it’s like sitting around and watching the grass grow. I never realized that a “battle” could be so boring. The story line is nothing less than trite. The characters are completely shallow and the constant bouncing around, from one scene to another, gives the book a feeling of a cheaply produced rap video – yeeech – if the story line flickered any faster, the authors could evoke an epidemic of epileptic seizures in those that don’t even suffer from that horrible illness! Rayford on an ATV? Give us a break! At least he could have been on a moped! While the series initially captured a lot of dedicated readers who have been willing to suffer through the last several books just to finish what we started, there is no way that this series will continue to attract readers in the future – why would anyone want to spend the time and money in such a tortuously long series of books that reads like a comic book. Should a second edition of this series ever come out (let’s hope not), one suggestion would be to change the epilogue in each book to – “Same bat time, same bat channel,” same bat characters, same bat plot. . . etc., etc., etc.