Visual Basic 6.0

[Jarrett]

Can anyone recommend a good book for learning Visual Basic. I'd like to create a few programs for some stuff at work. I've created some VBA stuff to run inside excel, but I'd like to make them stand alone applications. The book I'm using is old and very confusing.

 

[PBinWA]

I have some old books lying around but I'm not sure I would recommend them.

You know that MS has essentially discontinued support for Visual Basic and is encouraging (forcing) everyone towards the .NET Framework.

You should be looking to learn Visual Basic.NET. Microsoft has published the Visual Studio Tools for Office (VSTO) which essentially wrap the Office VBA COM interfaces in a .NET friendly code base. However, I haven't looked at this for a year or two so I don't know how good it is.

I still drag out VB6 for quick'n'dirty COM apps.

The O'Reilly series of books are usually good. Lots of good stuff on the web these days.

 

[MadReferee]

The local Barnes & Noble or any other large box book store will have a great selection of VB6 books. This will allow you a look see before you buy. The best written books for programmers that I have found are from WROX. My consulting business revolves around VB6, Crystal Reports and SQL databases. It's surprising how many companies are refusing to move to .NET. You should have no trouble taking your VBA knowledge and transferring it to VB "Classic".

 

[Jarrett]

The programs I want to do are pretty simple. They're just some calculations. I have no desire to really learn the programming in depth & become a programmer. I'm really just interested in learning enough to do a few simple programs. So far VB seems interesting. If VB 6.0 will work just fine, I'd rather not try to worry about the .NET stuff. Am I going about this the right way? I'm hoping to find a cheap used book on Amazon.

 

[dancer]

Though I used to be a programmer, I grew up and it quit being my "thing". Now, like you, I have an occasional need for VBA or VB 6.0 (though I like Visual FoxPro best). I find that sample programs are most helpful, so my suggestion is this: Go ahead and visit your local bookstore -- it would be Books-A-Million in our town -- and look through enough of the VB titles to find ones with included CD's of (lots of) sample programs. And don't forget the very helpful VB forums you can find all over the 'Net.

 

[khd]

VB 6.0 is still a great language. Visual Basic 6.0 From The Ground Up , Osborne is a good one and VB 6.0 Programmers Reference, Osborne gives you quick and dirty reference to the language.

VB.Net is also a pretty good language also but the syntactical changes screw me all up cause I never have the time to sit down and play with it. But, they have a free downloadable version that is quite comprehensive and would really sufice for what you are wanting to do.

Kevin