Visual Basic 6 for Dummies Quick Reference (For Dummies: Quick Reference (Computers))

Though it eases interface creation and automates certain data-access operations, Visual Basic is hardly a piece of cake. It's a programming language with its share of obscure keywords, obfuscated syntax, and general confusion. Visual Basic 6 adds more features, making it even harder to fathom.

In Visual Basic 6 for Dummies Quick Reference, Namir Shammas provides what would be called an executive summary of VB6--if executives wrote code. He's culled all the important features of the language into a handy, spiral-bound book that's just right for reference. It's a fine place to turn when you want to know how to structure an If-Then-Else statement or what properties the Print dialog box supports. He even goes into a little bit of detail on how to run the VB6 IDE. This book would be a lot better, though, if it had more information on ActiveX Control creation. That capability is a big selling point for VB6, and its documentation here is pretty feeble. For general-purpose programming, though, this reference hits the mark.

Can you learn VB6 with this book? Kind of, though that's not really what it's for. You'll find Visual Basic 6 for Dummies Quick Reference most useful as a refresher when you've been away from VB for a while, or as a source for quick answers to basic questions. --David Wall