Effective Visual Basic
How to Improve Your VB/COM+ Applications
Published on 20. June 2001
Book
Paperback/Softback
320 pages
978-0-201-70476-1 (ISBN)
Description
Effective Visual Basic has four goals: to help developers learn superior VB practices; identify the best solutions to common design and coding problems; apply VB to new technologies such as COM+, MTS+, MSMQ+, XML, and the Web; and leverage the full power of n-tier application and database environments. Drawing on Scott Meyers' classic Effective C++ for inspiration, a world-class team of VB instructors presents more than 50 best practices for building Visual Basic code that is more robust, efficient, scalable, and maintainable. They present enterprise-class solutions that address both mainstream Windows environments and Microsoft's latest technologies, including Windows 2000 and .NET. They also offer practical guidance on architecting applications to take full advantage of XML and the Web. For every developer with a working knowledge of Visual Basic -- a community of over 4,000,000 professionals.
More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Boston
United States
Publishing group
Pearson Education (US)
Target group
College/higher education
Dimensions
Height: 233 mm
Width: 187 mm
Thickness: 20 mm
Weight
643 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-201-70476-1 (9780201704761)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Dr. Joe Hummel is an assistant professor of computer science at Lake Forest College and a .NET trainer for DevelopMentor. He has a Ph.D. in Computer Science from the University of California, Irvine, and has been working with DevelopMentor and Visual Basic since 1993.
Ted Pattison is a cofounder of Barracuda.NET, a company dedicated to helping developers and companies become successful in building networked applications. Ted has worked in the software industry as a developer and educator since 1990. His primary focus over the last decade has been teaching software developers how to use technologies and tools associated with Microsoft's development platform. Ted is the best-selling author of Programming Distributed Applications with COM+ and VB 6.0 and is a regular contributor toMSDN magazine, where he writes the "Basic Instincts" column.
Justin Gehtland is a founding member of Relevance, LLC, a partnership dedicated to elevating the practice of software development.
Doug Turnure is an instructor at DevelopMentor and an occasional speaker at software conferences. Through his company, Aggelos Incorporated, Doug provides services to help companies develop and deploy software solutions. Brian A. Randell is an instructor and researcher at DevelopMentor specializing in COM+ and VB. Brian is also a senior consultant at MCW Technologies, a Microsoft Solution Provider.
0201704765AB10162003
Ted Pattison is a cofounder of Barracuda.NET, a company dedicated to helping developers and companies become successful in building networked applications. Ted has worked in the software industry as a developer and educator since 1990. His primary focus over the last decade has been teaching software developers how to use technologies and tools associated with Microsoft's development platform. Ted is the best-selling author of Programming Distributed Applications with COM+ and VB 6.0 and is a regular contributor toMSDN magazine, where he writes the "Basic Instincts" column.
Justin Gehtland is a founding member of Relevance, LLC, a partnership dedicated to elevating the practice of software development.
Doug Turnure is an instructor at DevelopMentor and an occasional speaker at software conferences. Through his company, Aggelos Incorporated, Doug provides services to help companies develop and deploy software solutions. Brian A. Randell is an instructor and researcher at DevelopMentor specializing in COM+ and VB. Brian is also a senior consultant at MCW Technologies, a Microsoft Solution Provider.
0201704765AB10162003
Content
1. Shifting from Liberal Arts to Software Engineering.
Maximize the Potential of VB's Compile-Time Type Checking.
Make Assumptions Explicit Via Debug.Assert.
Consider #If When Compile-Time Conditions Differ.
Raise Errors to Signal Exceptional Conditions.
Trap Locally, Act Globally: Effective Error Handling.
Know the Difference Between Type and Class.
Embrace Good Object-Oriented Design, Not Just VB.
Prefer UDTs Over Classes for Value Types.
Automate Mundane Tasks.
2. Designing, Building, and Working with COM-Based Components.
Think in Terms of Interfaces.
Use Custom Interfaces.
Define Custom Interfaces Separately, Preferably Using IDL.
Avoid the Limitations of Class-Based Events with Custom Call-Backs.
Be Deliberate about Maintaining Compatibility.
Choose the Right COM Activation Technique.
Beware of Class_Terminate.
Model in Terms of Scenarios Instead of Entities.
Avoid ActiveX EXEs Except for Simple, Small-Scale Needs.
3. MTS, COM+, and VB-The Middle Tier.
Understand the Design of MTS and COM+.
Don't Use Singletons in MTS and COM+.
Know When to Use New versus CreateObject versus GetObjectContext.CreateInstance.
Understand the Real Motivation for SetComplete.
Consider an Auto-Abort Style with Transactions.
Don't Reinvent the DBMS.
Don't Feel Obligated to Configure All Your Components.
Avoid Compiling Things into DLLs that You'll Later Regret.
Best Practices for Porting MTS Code into COM+.
Best Practices for Writing Code that Runs on MTS and COM+.
4. The Web and VB.
Understand the IIS Architecture.
Manage Application State to Maximize Efficiency.
Manage Session State to Maximize Scalability.
Understand the Differences Between DCOM and HTTP.
Write COM Components for Scripting Environments (like ASP).
Understand How Your COM Objects Interact with ASP.
Use XML Instead of Proprietary Data Formats.
Be Deliberate about Presentation vs. Business Logic.
Use XSLT to Move from Data to Presentation.
5. Effective Data Access from VB.
Efficiency Basics: Roundtrips, SQL Statements, and Providers.
Don't Over-Encapsulate Data Access.
Never Hold Database Connections as Data Members.
Deadlock is Common; Develop Defensively.
Use Firehose Cursors whenever Possible.
Make the Right Data Searching Decision (Avoid SelectSingleNode Abuse).
Index.
Maximize the Potential of VB's Compile-Time Type Checking.
Make Assumptions Explicit Via Debug.Assert.
Consider #If When Compile-Time Conditions Differ.
Raise Errors to Signal Exceptional Conditions.
Trap Locally, Act Globally: Effective Error Handling.
Know the Difference Between Type and Class.
Embrace Good Object-Oriented Design, Not Just VB.
Prefer UDTs Over Classes for Value Types.
Automate Mundane Tasks.
2. Designing, Building, and Working with COM-Based Components.
Think in Terms of Interfaces.
Use Custom Interfaces.
Define Custom Interfaces Separately, Preferably Using IDL.
Avoid the Limitations of Class-Based Events with Custom Call-Backs.
Be Deliberate about Maintaining Compatibility.
Choose the Right COM Activation Technique.
Beware of Class_Terminate.
Model in Terms of Scenarios Instead of Entities.
Avoid ActiveX EXEs Except for Simple, Small-Scale Needs.
3. MTS, COM+, and VB-The Middle Tier.
Understand the Design of MTS and COM+.
Don't Use Singletons in MTS and COM+.
Know When to Use New versus CreateObject versus GetObjectContext.CreateInstance.
Understand the Real Motivation for SetComplete.
Consider an Auto-Abort Style with Transactions.
Don't Reinvent the DBMS.
Don't Feel Obligated to Configure All Your Components.
Avoid Compiling Things into DLLs that You'll Later Regret.
Best Practices for Porting MTS Code into COM+.
Best Practices for Writing Code that Runs on MTS and COM+.
4. The Web and VB.
Understand the IIS Architecture.
Manage Application State to Maximize Efficiency.
Manage Session State to Maximize Scalability.
Understand the Differences Between DCOM and HTTP.
Write COM Components for Scripting Environments (like ASP).
Understand How Your COM Objects Interact with ASP.
Use XML Instead of Proprietary Data Formats.
Be Deliberate about Presentation vs. Business Logic.
Use XSLT to Move from Data to Presentation.
5. Effective Data Access from VB.
Efficiency Basics: Roundtrips, SQL Statements, and Providers.
Don't Over-Encapsulate Data Access.
Never Hold Database Connections as Data Members.
Deadlock is Common; Develop Defensively.
Use Firehose Cursors whenever Possible.
Make the Right Data Searching Decision (Avoid SelectSingleNode Abuse).
Index.