What are some beginner Visual Basic programming books?

Question

Hi guys,

I have recently found a job in my university which requires me to know Visual Basic (VB). Can you please advise me of some good books on this topic? I have not tried to learn VB yet, but I know the basics of Assembler, Pascal and C++ (a little bit).

It is highly likely that I'll be involved in database programming.

Thanks for the comments.

Answer 1

Are you going to be using VB.NET or VB6?

Answer 2

Actually I do not know, cause I do not distinguish them(

Answer 3

I really like the Murach book. There's a VB 2008 version as well although I haven't used that one.

Answer 4

If you want a nice quick and easy book then you should try "visual basic for really bright kids" I used it when I started visual when I transferred from BBC Basic. "visual basic for really bright kids" is a free e-book and the best thing is that it includes samples for many different types of programming in visual basic like the forms applications but the book does focus on Windows Forms Applications. It does touch on console applications though. I'll give you a link pretty soon...

Update: Yes the downloaded version can be found here if you dont want to download then this would be the best place to go The downloaded version has the sample code.

Answer 5

I received a new job and was told I must learn Visual Basic .net. In 3 months I learned a LOT. The foundation of my knowledge, having zero visual basic .net programming experience, came from the book:

Sams Teach Yourself Visual Basic 2008 in 24 Hours

Having programmed in C, C++, Cobol, and a little Java, I was so surprised by how Visual Basic .net was. While this book focused primarly on application based programs as opposed to web based, it was a HUGE help! In this book, it walks you through writing a program and continually adding to it in subsequent chapters. Sometimes you come across something a little more advanced and it states how it will cover that topic in a later chapter, rathering than giving you a ton of hard to remember info starting out.

To make sure you are learning correctly and for a guide, this book has a corresponding website where you can download the lessons to make sure you understand the code even more if you need to see it as an actual program and not just in a book. All the lessons and examples can be downloaded for free from that site.

Simply put, if anyone is planning on learning Visual Basic 2008 or higher I suggest this book. Between this book and Google, www.stackoverflow.com, I have learned a ton!