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An Introduction to Object-Oriented Programming with Visual Basic .NET
by Dan Clark

Publisher: Apress Buy it Now! 

ISBN: 1590590155
Format: Paperback, 432pp
CD: NO

OOP, or Object Oriented Programming, is a type of programming in which programmers define not only the data type of a data structure, but also the types of operations (functions) that can be applied to the data structure. In this way, the data structure becomes an object that includes both data and functions.

Visual Basic .NET is not Visual Basic 6.0 with real OOP (inheritance) tacked onto it. Rather, Visual Basic .NET has been entirely rewritten to be fully object-oriented. In fact, everything in Visual Basic .NET can be treated as an object. Yes, even your strings and integers can be accessed as objects in Visual Basic .NET.

The goal of this book is to provide you with the information needed to understand how one goes about arhitecting an object-oriented programming solution aimed at solving a business problem. This is what the first 100 pages are about. The first part of the book delves into object-oriented programming methodology and design concepts. The author uses UML and a free modeling tool to help understanding a process of modeling an OOP solution. At the conclusion of this part, a case study walks you through the design of a solution based on a real-world scenario. To be honest I don't see a real reason for spending about one third of the book for a discussion on UML and using it to learn VB. NET OOP. If you are a beginner in VB.NET (as this book is aimed to) than 100 pages about UML are just too much and somehow are frightening me to move on to some serious OOP usage in VB.NET.

I do believe that all VB 6 developers will really need to learn OOP in order to stay current in the development world with the rest of us using true OOP languages like Delphi. Suppose you have been programming with VB6 before, and you find yourself to be an intermediate developer, with VB.NET several programming techniques are about to change - the major change is introduction of real OOP. Now, all you (I) want to find in such a book is an exhaustive discussion of how VB.NET deals with three main *words* in OOP: encapsulation, inheritance and polymorphism - even from a book aimed at beginners (in OOP not in VB development). Of course, this first part has no VB code at all.

Let's move on to the second part of the book. Finally, a part that looks at how object-oriented programming is implemented in Visual Basic .NET. This part consists of just 4 chapter. The first one, Introducing VB .NET, will walk you through the basics of .NET framework and the Visual Studio Integrated Development Environment. Ok, next chapter (if I wanted to learn about VB.NET I needed to buy some other book - therefore I'm already familiar with the VS IDE). Finally, starting on page 135 (1/3 of the book) a chapter called Creating Classes. The *first* chapter in the book to show some real examples of OOP in VB.NET. In several (small) examples you'll learn hot to create a class, build constructors and destructors (methods), how to create and destroy an object (derived from a class) and how to overload a class method. The next two chapters, Creating Class Hierarchies and Implementing Object Collaboration, will give you a foundation at understanding and implementing inheritance and polymorphism; plus how class structures and object collaboration are implemented in VB.NET. Now, I'm on page 223 (2/3 of the book) - Let's see how to use my, just acquired knowledge.

Part 3, Developing Applications with Visual Basic .NET. The author returns to the case study introduced at the end of Part One. Using the knowledge gained in Part Two, you will transform the design into a functional VB .NET application. Chapter 10, Developing Windows Applications, looks at a VB.NET Windows application, to implement the interface of an application. You'll see how to respond to form and control events and implement modal dialog boxes. Ha I knew it - here comes a chapter on developing Web application with ASP and VB .NET. Why, oh why does every book that, in its title has ".NET" need to include a chapter on ASP.NET. If I want to learn ASP I'll pick a title called: "Moving To ASP.NET: Web Development with VB.NET". I have to see I don't see to much OOP (how to understand and use one) in such a chapter. Moving on...two appendixes. First, Fundamental Programming Concepts, is for readers who are new to programming, ok I say I always like chapters on fundamental programming techniques - it seems many developers simply forget that they can use CASE instead of IF, ELSEIF, ... Appendix B: Exception Handling in VB .NET - hopefully only several pages. It is true that exception handling has improved in VB.NET - nut to know how to use it, you'll need to read more than 2.5 pages.

All in all, I'm pretty disappointed. Some could say, "Without a doubt, I got my money's worth with this book.", me not.

However, if you need a book on UML and using it to *draw* OOP; and you really need a kick in using OOP in VB.NET, buy this book - it's only ~30$. You will explore the structure of classes, class hierarchies, inheritance, and interfaces.