My friend and co-worker Martin Schray (check out his resources page) just sent me a copy of his new book – Jump Start Guide for Microsoft Visual Basic 2005. It’s a really useful book if you are upgrading from earlier versions of Visual Basic but it is also useful if you are looking for a better understanding of features so you can add a little extra to a course. The chapters include:

  1. Enhancements to Visual Studio 2005 – Read up on code snippits to make in-class demos go easier
  2. Visual Basic 2005 Language Enhancements – New graphics features, the My namespace and overloading
  3. Enhancements to Windows Forms Applications – Read about new containers and other new controls
  4. Enhancements to Web Forms Applications – New security and membership controls let you talk about web page security in new ways.
  5. Introduction to Mobile Application Development – Want to add programming for Pocket PCs and SmartPhones?
  6. Enhancements to ADO .NET – Good stuff about database access

This is not a textbook but it is a great learning tool for someone looking to come up to speed quickly on the latest enhancements and features in VB 2005. Martin knows his stuff and explains things very well. And of course there are a lot of screenshots to make it easier to follow along.

I’d be tempted to have a couple of copies for the lab as reference books. It’s also good for a student who learned on an earlier version of VB and is looking to do an Independent Study semester.