The End of Hardcore Visual Basic

Hardcore Visual Basic is finally over. The book by that name is out of print, although the full text is available on the Internet. For those who already own the paper book, I have an on online update, but that's the end. No more.

The demise of my book makes little difference since Visual Basic as we know it is coming to an end anyway. With the release of Visual Basic.NET, the rules have changed so dramatically that all VB programmers are scrambling to either learn a completely new programming model or to find a new language.

Despite these monumental changes, a few of you out there may still be using VB5 and VB6. This page is for you.

The story of how I burnt the final bridges with VB6 is available in an article entitled Saying Goodbye to Hardcore Visual Basic (originally published on the Developer's Exchange). My final words on advanced VB programming include all the things readers of the first two versions of my book have come to expect -- flames, philosophical asides, historical background, technical detail unavailable anywhere else, and above all lots of hardcore code. The update also contains corrections to errors in the second edition, as reported by readers.

If you're a VB5 or VB6 programmer, this update has something useful for you:

• You own the book and you've upgraded to VB6, but you can't make my VB5 code or type library work with the new version. The update has all the book code and sample programs, and a new VB6-compatible type library.
• You own the book and VB5. The update has lots of bug fixes pointed out by readers of the second edition. The type library has many new entries, and some sample components and programs have new features. There are separate versions of the code and samples for VB5 users.
• You own VB5 or VB6, but not the book. You can find the full text of the book on the Internet. You also get the entire updated content of the book CD.

The update also has appendices with completely new material on pointer arithmetic and the Dictionary class. The update ends my direct support of the book.

The actual paper book Hardcore Visual Basic is usually not available in brick and web bookstores. Microsoft isn' t printing any more copies. Soon the book will only be available at eBay for $300 a copy. I can't complain. You can't expect any programming book to last for more than three years.

The text of the book used to be free to everyone on the MSDN web site, but they've moved on to more current books. It's not on new versions of the MSDN CD either. The book text is now  hosted by Karl E. Peterson's One-Stop SourceShop.

You can still find some useful VB resources and information on my web pages:

My Favorite Books and Web Sites

Why You Should Buy My Book (even though you can't)

Support for Owners of the Book

Thanks to all the readers who sent suggestions to make the second edition more correct than the first edition, and the online update more correct than the second edition. Many of you are named with your contributions in the update.

Good luck to all Visual Basic programmers in the coming trauma. It's been a fun ride, and you've been good company.