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The .NET Languages: A Quick Translation Guide
by Brian Bischof

Publisher: Apress Buy it Now! 

ISBN: 1893115488
Format: Paperback, 383pp
CD: NO

This book, in author's words, is a quick reference guide to VB 6.0 and .NET programming languages. It contains the complete basic syntax of VB 6.0, VB.NET and C# with the accompanying examples written separately in all three languages. Additionally, there are chapters about ADO, math, date-time, collections, drawing and other important topics, which expose the new .NET way of handling things and compare it to the old VB 6.0 approach.

When I began to interest in moving from VB 6.0 to .NET, I was in a search for a book that would serve as a good starting point from me, but all the general .NET books that came through my hands had some major drawbacks. They either tried to cover as much of the framework and .NET classes as possible so one could easily become lost in their vastness, the other ones were dealing too much with the programming philosophy and beginner stuff, like what an OOP is, the difference between an object and a class, etc. The worst ones had that ridiculous approach - everything is easy, let's learn .NET in X days and yippee we have just made our first "Hello world" application. After reading quite a few books about .NET, where most of them were focused to a particular topic like ASP.NET or UI design and were assuming that you are already familiar with the .NET basics, I picked up the .NET syntax on the fly from more complex examples as well as from MSDN and internet. Recently, I came across this book and I wish I have read it earlier, it would have made my life easier during my .NET beginnings. Although nothing in it about VB.NET was new to me, it was still interesting to read it because of some details about C#.

More or less it is pure syntax and rules without too much philosophy. There are no excessive explanations and for more complicated topics (like understanding the power of OOP and inheritance) other books and sources are given as a reference. I especially like that at the beginning of each chapter there is a table of expressions for VB 6.0 and its .NET counterparts. The same goes for old ADO and ADO.NET, math functions, etc. Afterwards, the author gives more details about how to do something in VB 6.0 or how something was done before and how it is done in .NET. He clearly points out what you can or can't do in a particular language.

I would definitely recommend this book as a first pick to every .NET newcomer, it will give you solid grounds and confidence when moving to more advanced .NET topics. I consider it ideal for all those coming from VB 6.0 world and even a seasoned .NET developer profound only in VB.NET or C# may benefit from it. All in all, this book is always handy to keep in the shelf nearby.