Self-Teaching of VB.net, can one become profficient?

[Richard Aubin]

I'm really new to vb.net programming and programming in general.

I would like to teach myself on how to program effectively and I have the
financial and time resources to do so.

Can I anyone recommend and point me in the right direction where I should
start?

--
Richard Aubin
Newbie.

[One Handed Man \( OHM - Terry Burns \)]

When I see a question like this, the first thing that comes to mind is what
you mean by 'Proficient', it is a subjective term to use as one mans idea of
proficient is another's view of a layman.

So, I would personally say, lets choose a level which is not arbitrary. To
attain an MSCD is a recognised level of proficiency in most people's eyes. I
would recommend that you buy MCAD/MCSD Microsoft .NET core requirements.
This is a self study guide from Microsoft themselves which covers all the
exams you need to get to MCSD.

In addition to this, you should try and help out on the newsgroups for say
at least a couple of questions per day; this will help you get to learn
things you can't from a book. It will also make you part of the community,
where you yourself can also receive help from the regular's or self
confessed newbie's like yourself.

HTH
--

OHM ( Terry Burns )
. . . One-Handed-Man . . .
If U Need My Email ,Ask Me

Time flies when you don't know what you're doing

"Richard Aubin" <Ri**********@d iscussions.micr osoft.com> wrote in message
news:11******** *************** ***********@mic rosoft.com...

I'm really new to vb.net programming and programming in general.

I would like to teach myself on how to program effectively and I have the
financial and time resources to do so.

Can I anyone recommend and point me in the right direction where I should
start?

--
Richard Aubin
Newbie.

[One Handed Man \( OHM - Terry Burns \)]

Oh yes, In addition, be prepared to need to spend a minimum of 20 hours a
week on study/excercise work, otherwise your unlikely to make it.

--

OHM ( Terry Burns )
. . . One-Handed-Man . . .
If U Need My Email ,Ask Me

Time flies when you don't know what you're doing

"Richard Aubin" <Ri**********@d iscussions.micr osoft.com> wrote in message
news:11******** *************** ***********@mic rosoft.com...

I'm really new to vb.net programming and programming in general.

I would like to teach myself on how to program effectively and I have the
financial and time resources to do so.

Can I anyone recommend and point me in the right direction where I should
start?

--
Richard Aubin
Newbie.

[Richard Aubin]

Well hello Terry.

Thanks for the response.

MCAD/MCSD MS.NET Core Requirements... would you have a link for this? I'll
try to find it on my own in the meanwhile.

Richard.
"Self-Confessed Newbie"

"One Handed Man ( OHM - Terry Burns )" wrote:

When I see a question like this, the first thing that comes to mind is what
you mean by 'Proficient', it is a subjective term to use as one mans idea of
proficient is another's view of a layman.

So, I would personally say, lets choose a level which is not arbitrary. To
attain an MSCD is a recognised level of proficiency in most people's eyes. I
would recommend that you buy MCAD/MCSD Microsoft .NET core requirements.
This is a self study guide from Microsoft themselves which covers all the
exams you need to get to MCSD.

In addition to this, you should try and help out on the newsgroups for say
at least a couple of questions per day; this will help you get to learn
things you can't from a book. It will also make you part of the community,
where you yourself can also receive help from the regular's or self
confessed newbie's like yourself.

HTH
--

OHM ( Terry Burns )
. . . One-Handed-Man . . .
If U Need My Email ,Ask Me

Time flies when you don't know what you're doing

"Richard Aubin" <Ri**********@d iscussions.micr osoft.com> wrote in message
news:11******** *************** ***********@mic rosoft.com...

I'm really new to vb.net programming and programming in general.

I would like to teach myself on how to program effectively and I have the
financial and time resources to do so.

Can I anyone recommend and point me in the right direction where I should
start?

--
Richard Aubin
Newbie.

[One Handed Man \( OHM - Terry Burns \)]

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...23001?v=glance

--

OHM ( Terry Burns )
. . . One-Handed-Man . . .
If U Need My Email ,Ask Me

Time flies when you don't know what you're doing

"Richard Aubin" <Ri**********@d iscussions.micr osoft.com> wrote in message
news:B0******** *************** ***********@mic rosoft.com...

Well hello Terry.

Thanks for the response.

MCAD/MCSD MS.NET Core Requirements... would you have a link for this? I'll try to find it on my own in the meanwhile.

Richard.
"Self-Confessed Newbie"

"One Handed Man ( OHM - Terry Burns )" wrote:

When I see a question like this, the first thing that comes to mind is what you mean by 'Proficient', it is a subjective term to use as one mans idea of proficient is another's view of a layman.

So, I would personally say, lets choose a level which is not arbitrary. To attain an MSCD is a recognised level of proficiency in most people's eyes. I would recommend that you buy MCAD/MCSD Microsoft .NET core requirements.
This is a self study guide from Microsoft themselves which covers all the exams you need to get to MCSD.

In addition to this, you should try and help out on the newsgroups for say at least a couple of questions per day; this will help you get to learn
things you can't from a book. It will also make you part of the community, where you yourself can also receive help from the regular's or self
confessed newbie's like yourself.

HTH
--

OHM ( Terry Burns )
. . . One-Handed-Man . . .
If U Need My Email ,Ask Me

Time flies when you don't know what you're doing

"Richard Aubin" <Ri**********@d iscussions.micr osoft.com> wrote in message news:11******** *************** ***********@mic rosoft.com...

I'm really new to vb.net programming and programming in general.

I would like to teach myself on how to program effectively and I have the financial and time resources to do so.

Can I anyone recommend and point me in the right direction where I should start?

--
Richard Aubin
Newbie.

[David]

On 2004-08-15, Richard Aubin <Ri**********@d iscussions.micr osoft.com> wrote:

I'm really new to vb.net programming and programming in general.

I would like to teach myself on how to program effectively and I have the
financial and time resources to do so.
One can become proficient through self-teaching, but whether you can
depends entirely on you. Have you ever taught yourself a serious field
before (say, a foreign language or field of math or something)? I tend
to find that some people are fine with self-teaching while others do
much better in a structured environment. One is no better than the
other, just different folks work different ways.
Can I anyone recommend and point me in the right direction where I should
start?

My tuppence...

Choose a beginning VB.Net book, pretty much any one will do, and go
through it typing in the code and understanding why the tutorials work
(do not download the code or take it from the CD-ROM, fixing your syntax
errors is an important part of the exercise). Get a second book and do
the same thing.

Next, choose a program that you wish to write and write it. A personal
web page with database access is usually a good choice, since that's
something most people can see a use for. One of the first apps I wrote
in .Net was a web-based job search database. Why? Because I was looking
for a job at the time, so the tool was useful for me. The choice of a
good first application depends entirely on you: what you want to study
and what you can see a need for.

At that point, you're "proficient ". Becoming good is a much, much
harder task, but that's another task you can deal with later.

PS. I disagree with the person who suggested MCSD materials. IMHO,
they're not the right choice for a beginning programmer. Start with a
book that has the word "Beginner" or "Beginning" in the title.

PSS. If you don't know how to touch-type, start with that. Otherwise
step 1 above is going to kill you.

[Richard Aubin]

Hello David,

I'm a great typist, have been working with computers for over 20 years, Just
now deciding to get into programming.

I've actually already chosen the route you've suggested, and thanks to my
local book store, I can go in and skim through material before purchasing it.

I discovered after my second program from my 1st book that actually typing
it in was more instructful than downloading or loading it up from disk.

I will digest 2-3 books along this fashion then I will consider more formal
training. I don't think I will need MS certification for the projects I have
in mind.

Thanks David.

Richard.

"David" wrote:

On 2004-08-15, Richard Aubin <Ri**********@d iscussions.micr osoft.com> wrote:

I'm really new to vb.net programming and programming in general.

I would like to teach myself on how to program effectively and I have the
financial and time resources to do so.

One can become proficient through self-teaching, but whether you can
depends entirely on you. Have you ever taught yourself a serious field
before (say, a foreign language or field of math or something)? I tend
to find that some people are fine with self-teaching while others do
much better in a structured environment. One is no better than the
other, just different folks work different ways.

Can I anyone recommend and point me in the right direction where I should
start?

My tuppence...

Choose a beginning VB.Net book, pretty much any one will do, and go
through it typing in the code and understanding why the tutorials work
(do not download the code or take it from the CD-ROM, fixing your syntax
errors is an important part of the exercise). Get a second book and do
the same thing.

Next, choose a program that you wish to write and write it. A personal
web page with database access is usually a good choice, since that's
something most people can see a use for. One of the first apps I wrote
in .Net was a web-based job search database. Why? Because I was looking
for a job at the time, so the tool was useful for me. The choice of a
good first application depends entirely on you: what you want to study
and what you can see a need for.

At that point, you're "proficient ". Becoming good is a much, much
harder task, but that's another task you can deal with later.

PS. I disagree with the person who suggested MCSD materials. IMHO,
they're not the right choice for a beginning programmer. Start with a
book that has the word "Beginner" or "Beginning" in the title.

PSS. If you don't know how to touch-type, start with that. Otherwise
step 1 above is going to kill you.

[Herfried K. Wagner [MVP]]

* "=?Utf-8?B?UmljaGFyZCB BdWJpbg==?=" <Ri**********@d iscussions.micr osoft.com> scripsit:

I'm really new to vb.net programming and programming in general.

I would like to teach myself on how to program effectively and I have the
financial and time resources to do so.

From my FAQ:

If you want to take a quick look at Visual Basic, I currently would
install the Express beta and play around with it:

<URL:http://lab.msdn.micros oft.com/express/vbasic/>

Alternatively, you can order the trial version of VS.NET:

<URL:http://msdn.microsoft. com/vstudio/productinfo/trial/>

General information about VB can be found here:

<URL:http://msdn.microsoft. com/vbasic/>

For beginners' tasks, VB at the Movies may be helpful:

<URL:http://msdn.microsoft. com/vbasic/atthemovies/>

The Visual Basic .NET Resource Kit contains a test version of VS.NET,
some free components and a lot of training material:

<URL:http://msdn.microsoft. com/vbasic/vbrkit/>

Quickstarts on various topics of the .NET Framework can be found here:

<URL:http://samples.gotdotn et.com/quickstart/>

For VB6 programmers, there are separate documents about the switch to
VB.NET:

VB.NET for VB Veterans
<URL:http://msdn.microsoft. com/library/en-us/vbcon/html/vboriintroducti ontovisualbasic 70forvisualbasi cveterans.asp>

--
Herfried K. Wagner [MVP]
<URL:http://dotnet.mvps.org/>

[Richard Aubin]

Hello Kerfried,

I've already purchased VB.NET Standard 2003.

I've purchased Sams Teach Yourself VB.net 2003 in 21 days and have learned
alot already.

I'm getting quite comfortable with the "basic" concept and am eager to get
into the next level.

Does anyone have any comments in regards to:
http://www.appdev.com/ and the teaching materials they offer?
"Herfried K. Wagner [MVP]" wrote:

* "=?Utf-8?B?UmljaGFyZCB BdWJpbg==?=" <Ri**********@d iscussions.micr osoft.com> scripsit:

I'm really new to vb.net programming and programming in general.

I would like to teach myself on how to program effectively and I have the
financial and time resources to do so.

From my FAQ:

If you want to take a quick look at Visual Basic, I currently would
install the Express beta and play around with it:

<URL:http://lab.msdn.micros oft.com/express/vbasic/>

Alternatively, you can order the trial version of VS.NET:

<URL:http://msdn.microsoft. com/vstudio/productinfo/trial/>

General information about VB can be found here:

<URL:http://msdn.microsoft. com/vbasic/>

For beginners' tasks, VB at the Movies may be helpful:

<URL:http://msdn.microsoft. com/vbasic/atthemovies/>

The Visual Basic .NET Resource Kit contains a test version of VS.NET,
some free components and a lot of training material:

<URL:http://msdn.microsoft. com/vbasic/vbrkit/>

Quickstarts on various topics of the .NET Framework can be found here:

<URL:http://samples.gotdotn et.com/quickstart/>

For VB6 programmers, there are separate documents about the switch to
VB.NET:

VB.NET for VB Veterans
<URL:http://msdn.microsoft. com/library/en-us/vbcon/html/vboriintroducti ontovisualbasic 70forvisualbasi cveterans.asp>

--
Herfried K. Wagner [MVP]
<URL:http://dotnet.mvps.org/>

[Bernie Yaeger]

Hi Richard,

Good luck! You've chosen a very challenging and rewarding
vocation/avocation.

Here are a few ideas:
1. get a few good books on the basics - balena (MS Press) is a good place
to start. Also, a book on ado .net (Sceppa's or Vaughn's).
2. write short programs that do something - and then test them and try to
break them (input numbers where they shouldn't be, press 'ok' before it is,
etc).

One of the earlier suggestions was great - review the questions and answers
on this and other newsgroups - I've learned a lot, as I suspect others have,
from simply reviewing these posts.

To be a good programmer you need 3 things: a brain, hard work,
self-confidence. I'm sure you can do it.

HTH,

Bernie Yaeger

"Richard Aubin" <Ri**********@d iscussions.micr osoft.com> wrote in message
news:11******** *************** ***********@mic rosoft.com...

I'm really new to vb.net programming and programming in general.

I would like to teach myself on how to program effectively and I have the
financial and time resources to do so.

Can I anyone recommend and point me in the right direction where I should
start?

--
Richard Aubin
Newbie.