About the Book
LEARN VISUAL BASIC is a comprehensive step-by-step programming tutorial covering object-oriented programming, the Visual Basic integrated development environment, building and distributing Windows applications using the Windows Installer, exception handling, sequential file access, graphics, multimedia, advanced topics such as web access, printing, and HTML help system authoring. The tutorial also introduces database applications (using ADO .NET) and web applications (using ASP.NET). This curriculum has been used in college and universities for over two decades. It is also used as a college prep advanced placement course for high school students.
The focus of LEARN VISUAL BASIC is to use the objects and capabilities of Visual Basic to build a wide variety of useful desktop applications. Students will also develop their own objects. Some of the applications built include: Stopwatch, Calendar Display, Loan Repayment Calculator, Flash Card Math Game, Database Input Screen, Statistics Calculator, Tic-Tac-Toe Game, Capital City Quiz, Information Tracker (with plotting), Blackjack, Line, Bar and Pie charts, a version of the first video game ever - Pong, and a Telephone Directory.
LEARN VISUAL BASIC is presented using a combination of over 900 pages of self-study notes and over 100 Visual Basic practical examples and applications. To grasp the concepts presented in LEARN VISUAL BASIC, you should possess a working knowledge of Windows and have had some exposure to programming concepts. Our Beginning Visual Basic course would provide you with this exposure.
LEARN VISUAL BASIC requires a Microsoft Windows operating system. This tutorial also requires the free Community Edition or Professional Edition of Microsoft Visual Studio 2019.
About the Author :
Philip Conrod has authored, co-authored and edited over two dozen computer programming books over the past thirty years. Philip holds a bachelor's degree in Computer Information Systems and a Master's certificate in the Essentials of Business Development from Regis University. Philip has served in various Information Technology leadership roles in companies like Sundstrand Aerospace, Safeco Insurance, FamilyLife, Kenworth Truck Company, and PACCAR. Philip also served as the Senior Vice President & Chief Information Officer (SVP & CIO) at Darigold for over a decade. Today, Philip serves as the President & Publisher of Kidware Software LLC which is based in Maple Valley, Washington. Lou Tylee holds BS and MS degrees in Mechanical Engineering and a PhD in Electrical Engineering. Lou has been programming computers since 1969 when he took his first Fortran course in college. He has written software to control suspensions for high speed ground vehicles, monitor nuclear power plants, lower noise levels in commercial jetliners, compute takeoff speeds for jetliners, locate and identify air and ground traffic and to let kids count bunnies, learn how to spell and do math problems. He has written several on-line texts teaching Visual Basic, Visual C# and Java to thousands of people. He taught computer programming courses for over 15 years at the University of Washington and currently teaches math and engineering courses at the Oregon Institute of Technology. Lou also works as a research engineer at a major Seattle aerospace firm. He is the proud father of five children, has six grandchildren and is married to an amazing woman. Lou and his family live in Seattle, Washington.
Review :
"As a programmer, a long time college programming instructor, and as the head of the department, I have reviewed countless programming books for almost all of the most popular programming languages. "Learn Visual Basic" by Conrod and Tylee is my favorite. The order in which the topics are presented is very easy for students to follow. The transitions from one topic to the next are so smooth it doesn't feel like steps but just a continuously smooth flow from start to finish. Object-oriented programming (OOP) is often difficult to explain to new programmers and most books give it no consideration until the second half of the book. The authors have made OOP clear, logical, and astonishingly easy to understand and they have successfully presented it in the third chapter...it is absolute genius. Consequently, every topic after that is much clearer and relevant to students. All of the examples in the book are interesting and easy to follow. I have worked through all of them line by line and found them easy to follow and duplicate. Students quickly become frustrated with examples that contain errors so the fact that these work so well is critically important to me. Topics included in "Learn Visual Basic" are date, time, and financial calculations which are lacking in most first year programming books. I really appreciate the chapters that include business graphics for pie and bar charts and general graphics applied to multimedia. The authors also use code to access databases instead of the Visual Studio wizards which seems to give the students a much better understanding of how databases work and how to program their interactions." - David Taylor, VB Professor & Retired Instructor, Seminole State College in Sanford, Florida
"I liked the Learn Visual Basic Tutorial because of the pacing. The tutorial is light and succinct and just enough to get one going with just the right amount of information to start off with." - Mike Martin, Teacher, Queensland, Australia
I really enjoyed the Learn Visual Basic tutorial, especially the examples it provided." - Bruce Chin, Amateur Developer, Toronto, Ontario
"This course [LEARN VISUAL BASIC] is a blessing. I have learned more in these lessons than I did taking VB two years ago in college for my information science degree." - CC, New York, New York.
Thank you for a truly great book [LEARN VISUAL BASIC] for someone who had no prior knowledge of programming." - JJ, Inverness, Florida.
"This tutorial is amazing. I have spent a lot of money on books and software but for some reason found them difficult to 'get into.' Not so with your tutorial!" - BW, London, England
"I just want to tell you that your product is excellent. I have had more fun applying your examples and building on to them through exploration than any book could ever provide - your chapters and examples help drive the information home and make programming fun." - BC, Houston, Texas
It is obvious you have a teaching background. Your approach to explaining material is excellent. Your tutorial has been met with great enthusiasm at my company." - BG, Cincinnati, Ohio
"I have published several 'textbooks' teaching various computer skills, spent 10 years as a computer instructor at the college level, and I want to commend you on the quality of these materials ." - SM, Reno, Nevada
