You'll need more than this book to learn VBA
342484
This is a fairly good book for those that want to learn VBA in the Excel environment period. Want to learn more powerful features find a better book.
2523651
not all you need, but good to learn some basics
3692880
This book is advertised as a "Beginner's Guide" to Visual Basic 2005 and any beginner might benefit from this book. On the other hand I would recommend this book as a Reference Manual for those already familiar with VB Express and not as a beginning guide.

The author covers nearly every aspect of the Visual Basic(VB)IDE (Integrated Development Environment) via examples contained within the book; however, one begins to wonder where or what is the ultimate outcome.

Perhaps some practical application examples may enhance the learning process of anyone totally unfamiliar with this IDE but the author's methodology of explaining the various aspects of this programming environmnet was un-appealing.

On the other hand, anyone really dedicated to becoming a VB Programmer will find this reference material very useful.
3738008
Perfect -- I am an Access developer, do not know VBA at all, and only used it a few times by simply copying some code found in internet forums.  For a while I REALY have wanted to learn it, but was not able to find anything helpful.  I tried Shepherd - Access 2010 VBA Macro Programming, and Mansfield Mastering VBA for MS Office 2016, but these books seem to fail to start at the beginning.  It's as if the authors cannot understand that some people do not know certain things.  If you start writing code, without telling me what it means, I'm lost and discouraged, and it goes nowhere.  Basically I need another bood to learn the terms that are used in the first pages of these books, You must start somewhare.  What does "dim" mean?  So technical writers should learn from Korol, who does it perfectly.  She is understanding, empathetic enough to see that the reader who is STRUGGLING TO GET STARTED may not know what "dim" means, and is willing to explain it. It's not for the reviewer who already knows and uses VBA, and complains that it's too basic.  The title says it's basic.  That's what the word "primer" means.  I love this book becaause the author knows how to teach --- starting at the very beginning with the very basics and definitions, and building on that in a very logical and do-able way.  Anyone who reads this book will have an excellent and well-rounded foundation.  It takes you from knowing nothing about VBA to knowing how to write and use VBA, and prepares you for other books if you want to continue with more sophisticated and complex programming.
3537817
I bought this book when I needed to learn how to write a VB program that accesses an Access database, and I learned that.  This book teaches what it wants to competently, with many in-depth examples.
For example, when the author wanted to demonstrate how SQL statements work, he gave step-by-step  instructions on how to build a "query tester" program.  Marvelous!
However, this is also the only programming book I've read that  gave me a headache.  I don't mean that it was too complicated, obtuse, or  boring.  My forehead, physically, hurts when I read this book for extened  periods.  Maybe it's the printsize.  Who knows.
Regardless, if you want  to "Begin VB Database Programming" get this book.  If you already  know VB (and have a few aspirin handy) you'll be up and running in a day.
2431189
VBA for Modelers: Developing Decision Support Systems with Microsoft Office Excel - Kindle version
This is a very good book if we look to the content: good tutorials on VBA, very useful examples, clear explanations.
But, unfortunately, it is a bad product. There is no access to the codes, as promissed in the preface:
"The companion Web site for this book can be accessed at www.cengagebrain.com. There you will have access to all of the Excel (.xlsx and .xlsm) and other files mentioned in the chapters, including those in the exercises."
At such site there is a box for product registering, but the access code (should be similar to PP8XLP3XD528HC, as informed there) was never provided.
Also, if we spend a time trying to obtain any support, we only find FAQ technical support and sales support. By trying to register a question, after filling a series of boxes, we must inform the educational institution. As a common customer isn't linked to any institution, in practical terms, it is impossible to register the customer or the book in this site.
So, if you like to read extreme small letters (all the codes are small images which size is always the same small, independent of text size you set), if you like to type large codes and if you like to support yourself, then this book is for you.
1484016
I was really careful in researching before I purchased the book.  I was starting transcription and found that my time spent far outweighed the profits so I felt like I needed a little coaching, some time saving tips, some smarter ways to work.  I looked at the Section headings and was convinced that this book, above others, was the perfect find. Not so.  This book is strictly a workbook - without a classroom and instructor, it will have little use.  There are questions at the end of each section to be completed and turned in to the instructor - no answers in the book.  Exercises to complete and submit - that won't be graded, dictation CD that no one will listen to.  The text "Complete Course" on the cover does not mean that it provides a complete course of information - it means it contains the worksheets for the complete course. Much of the information contained is either already known or not really relevant, e.g. Dictation explains how to speak into the recorder (you will seldom be transcribing recordings of yourself) or, in other places, spells the proper names to be transcribed from the CD.  Also, after completing your work, there is no way to check it - The answer sheet is not in the book.

The Section Headings did not really reflect the content in a meaningful way.  There are 2 major sections then a Reference Section
Part I - Orientation to Machine Transcription (pg. 1 - 58)
Part II - Transcription Lessons (pg. 59 - 251)
Part III - Appendix (pg. 253 - 269)

Part I contains general, basic knowledge information. It doesn't really tell 'how' to do these, only that you need to learn to do them.  I have supplied brief overviews)

Section 1 - You - A Machine Transcriptionist (Enourages you to do a good job)
Section 2 - Machine Transcription - on the job (Shows how to use your machine)
Section 3 - Transcribing Techniques - (The right tools, concentrating, listening to instructions, etc.)
Section 4 - Effective Listening (Encourages you to really hear what is on the tape)
Section 5 - Dictation (Tips on how to speak into a recorder)

Part 2 (contains 21 Sections which all consist of the same basic format).  There are detachable pages to fill your answers in and turn them in to the instructor.

Part 3 - Appendix
-Spelling Word Review Summary.  (A list of the words you studied in Part 2)
-Word Study Review Summary.  (List and definitions of words you studied in Part 2)
-Reference Handbook.  (The most helpful section.  This covers some grammar usage questions).

I would not purchase this book without being enrolled in a class that required it.
719493
Although my specialty is QA, I have been a developer off and on for over 25 years. 25 years ago I took a couple college courses as electives and I have been self taught ever since. I have coded professionally on over 20 languages, and although I had learned Visual FoxPro, and non-Visual BASIC's, I had never studied Visual Basic. But I agreed to maintain some code for a friend who had lost his custom programmer, and needed to learn VB and ADO fast. I spent hours on Amazon.com looking for the right book and more hours at the bookstar, before coming across this Murach book, which promised to do in one book what I was considering buying two for.
Having taught programming at community college for years, I can tell you that this book probably wouldn't cut it if you have had zero experience in development. But if you've written macros or learned a non-visual language, or are adept at other visual languages, then this book should do the trick for you in record time.
The content more than makes up for not having a CD and the code is available in a compact bundle on the Net.
For me this was the ideal format and I look forward to learning more languages this way.
4845707
This book would have been better if the author had not attempted to cover so many topics at once. The book waffles between management theory, the history of Microsoft, and actual code. The scarcity of real usable code that is specific to Office is what ruined the book for me. Mostly the book serves as a beginning VB(A) textbook.  All in all the book is ok if aimed at someone who is primarily involved in document publishing rather than code or to a true novice developer.  It's selling point as 'an updated edition of the successful Developing Applications with Microsoft Office 95' is pretty weak, considering how little code there is in the book actually relating to the Office suite programs. Don't expect to find any object module listing.  I would recommend instead Office 97 Visual Basic Programmer's Guide..
3025201
The worst thing about this book is that it is the SAME as my copy of Excel 2013 Power Programming with VBA that I did not see on my shelf until after I got this.

Power programming is an overstatement. I have seen much more useful and sophisticated code FOR FREE on the internet.

Big mistake .. but I had a B&N gift card
2460527
The examples are wrong which is making things harder to understand and the web site for the book doesn't have an amendment section but it does have the scripts which seem to be working, so far anyway.

I know just enough about scripting to steal somebody else's working script and get it to work for my needs but I was looking to get a true understanding of VBSripting.

 I have not yet completely finished the book but I feel I have wasted my money.

I'll update when I have finished but want to give others a heads up.
1598157
Good book. Fun and easy to read. Exercises are easy to do, and all you need is Excel. No other sw needed. This book gives you a starting familiarity with Excel VBA.
But, it is very basic. You'll need to go beyond this book if you are going to write actual real life VB applications.
2318048
I took a basic class and didn't really learn anything new. Its common sense in most of the techniques like cut and paste charts or worksheets into word or Powerpoint or email.... its only helpful to beginners. Its doesnt really explain the pivot tables too much or formulas and functions either. its basic stuff. I had to buy other excel books.
4741497
The title of the book is all about learning Python. But what it failed to highlight was, it is actually a book for the intermediate to advance users.
The book is not structured for the beginner and often enough, if you are a beginner you will find your self lost in a maze of analogies and technical jargon. For example, the author tries to convey the best technique for sound programming in Python, but He goes off on a tangent and provided you with some other details of how not to program in Python. If you are a beginner, you will become lost, and won't be able to track back on some of these examples. At the end of the chapter, you will have to read it again in order to grasp a clearer understanding of how Python works. But then again, Python is all about simplicity, this book is not simple at all. The coding examples provided also does not provide you with enough details on real life and practical usage of how it is applied in the real world, and does not quite teach the beginner about its inner workings.
2030964
This book did not give enough instructions to complete the projects.  Every time I tried to do one of the projects, I had to go to an experienced VB programmer to see what was missing.  The programmer confirms that it is not ME!!  He says that there is no way the projects could work if you follow the instructions the way they are written in the book.  There were always key parts left out.
1286431
I got this book to write some VBA in Word97.  32 out of the 900+ pages  are devoted to exactly that... almost.  The problem is that this book  doesn't give you the definitions of the objects and their parameters, so  it's like trying to learn to speak (or write) a languange without a  dictionary.  Lots more examples for Excel and Access.  Interesting that the  object SELECTION is referenced under the section devoted to RANGE, when  Woody Leonhard of the Annoyances series of books says SELECTION is superior  (in Word, at least.)  Also very few examples of using the code.  I might be  able to figure out the definitions by watching what the code does, but  without examples....  Excel people will have better luck.
4293635
Let's face it, there aren't many Visual Basic/XML related books out there right now.  My best suggestion is really think about why you want this book. I bought it because I'm primarily a Visual Basic programmer and I had been working with XML over the web, and I wanted to pick up this book and see what ideas these authors had for integrating XML in to their VB app projects.  I wasn't working on a relevant project myself and that was part of the reason I lost interest in this book so fast.
This book definitely is not for beginners of Visual Basic and in fact, I would definitely suggest having some prior knowledge of XML even though the first two chapters provide a quick intro to XML.  Perhaps this isn't a comment so much about the book as it is about using XML in VB, but having to learn and use the Microsoft XML DOM 3.0 library reference within Visual Basic meant there were tons of examples and lots and lots of code to type up.  In fact, the authors actually create a VB program that parses XML code and it is somewhere along the lines of 10 pages of code!
This book has its moments, I liked the sample application chapter to see how it all tied together and if you love examples, you will see TONS of them throughout this book -- if you are familiar with Wrox, half the text in this book is in grey shading (meaning code example).  But overall, as other reviewers have also pointed out, it covers a great deal of stuff without doing one particular thing exceptionally well (sample application withstanding).  If your boss has definitely said "Mix XML into your VB app!", this book is probably your best choice.  But if there was one thing I learned from this book, it's that I'd rather continue to use XML over the web than in my desktop or distributed VB applications right now.