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Allow customers to order company products over the Net and youll gain the instant respect of fellow developers worldwide. Mention the thin-client, rather fat-server model and youll be granted access to some of Londons classiest geek-joints. Slip out the words n-tier every now and then and youll be sure to catch the attention of passing female geekesses.
On the other hand, if you arent too hot when it comes to Internet development or perhaps you feel its simply time the opposite sex looked beyond those milk-bottle glasses you may be interested in the latest Prima production Hands On VB6 for Web Development.
Part of the popular Hands On series, this book opens with a simple introduction to the Internet and related nerdy terminology. It then blabbers about HTML tags and the like before finally moving onto the fourth chapter, where the real juice starts flowing.
The tutorial hosts an excellent series of four distinct projects each with a definitive purpose, gradually building on the readers knowledge and experience. The first VBBrowser project covers ActiveX controls and e-mail. The second, VBResearcher moves onto FrontPage and Active Server Pages (whoopee!). The third, CustomerTracker improves on the previous example. And the very last project the Real Estate Companion utilises the real upper-class features of Visual Basic 6, from dynamic HTML to ADO.
Although this unique hands on hands dirty approach to learning certainly has many advantages, I personally found it difficult to skip direct to the juicy stuff due to later presumptions regarding earlier reading.
Conclusion
If youre looking for a general all-round grounding in Visual Basic Web development and are prepared to start at page one, look no further. Whilst no freebie at #37.49 ($32), you could do much, much worse. Hey – trust me, Im a programmer.
Review by Karl Moore
