Jeff Kent has written a book that will help the newcomer to Visual Basic (2005 or 2008) get into the water. I found his explanations clear and each topic came naturally from what had already been learned. There is even a brief introduction to ASP.NET. The examples all worked as expected, though I found the console.writeline() method a better way to go than debug.writeline() since it sends to the output window.



Each chapter has a quiz and there is a final comprehensive quiz as well. My only regret with the book is that it doesn't have a summary of the forms and methods used at the back.



If you haven't written a line of code, this book is a great way to get started. I wasn't surprised to find two copies of it at the local library. It's obvious Jeff is a good teacher and I'd bet his courses given live would be well worth taking.