This and the following sections describe some generic problems I solved using VB.  They serve as a discussion theme and I would be glad to hear from you to see where you think I’m off the road.

I hope you find this information useful. If you do or if you really don’t, please send me feedback so that I can continue to update it.

Anyone is free to use the sourcecode as long as you don’t sell it (the source code). I would appreciate it if you would rename the projects if you decide to distribute them. This avoids name collisions on progIDs.  I haven’t released binaries (yet).

The sourcecode is organised in “packages”. These are things which can be compiled seperately.  The idea is that you combine packages to form an actual deployable component. I hope that by splitting the source code into packages, it is easier to understand.  Packages allow you to take the sourcecode “one packages at a time”. Allthough it is possible, I would advise against deploying the individual packages as seperate DLLs. It would make the program too heavy.

Most of the sourcecode uses the GoF design patterns as a central theme.  The GoF book is the best book I read in years and I can surely advise you to read it (allthough) it is not restricted to VB and the examples aren’t even in VB.

Here are some of the books I like :

Book	Comment
Design patterns : elements of reusable object-oriented software By Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson, John Vlissides	Very very good book. Highly recommended. My all-time favorite.
Pattern hatching : Design patterns applied by John Vlissides	Good book. Clearly documents some of the fundamental patterns and discusses some of them.  Also provides additional patterns that didn’t make it into GoF.
Java(tm) Design Patterns: A Tutorial James William Cooper	Bad book.  The quality of the book is very doubtable. Contains codesnippers that don’t even work.
Applying UML and Patterns by Craig Larman	Good book. Also defines a methodology to use for your entire project.
Pattern Languages of Program Design 1-4 by many various authors	These four books contain invaluable chapters explaining even more patterns. My personal favorite (regards project management) is caterpilar Fate. Also describes NullObject which I myself often use.
Refactoring : Improving the Design of Existing Code by Martin Fowler, Kent Beck , John Brant , William Opdyke, Don Roberts	Good book that explains how you should refactor existing code.
AntiPatterns: Refactoring Software, Architectures, and Projects in Crisis by William J. Brown, Raphael C. Malveau, William H. Brown, Hays W., III McCormick, Thomas J. Mowbray	Good book that summarizes the things not to do.
The Mythical-Man Month, Anniversary Edition : Essays on Software Engineering by Frederick P. Brooks	Very good book.  Although written more than 25 years ago still gives a good analysis of the problems in software engineering.
Extreme Programming Explained: Embrace Change by Kent Beck	Extremely good book. I’ve tried parts of them and most of them work very well. Team programming as well as minimal programming made it to my desk (allthough you might not think that)
The Practice of Programming by Brian W. Kernighan, Rob Pike	Good book - examples in C though.
Microsoft Visual Basic Design Patterns by William Stamatakis	Good book on some of the GoF design patterns.  Also introduces some new.
SanFrancisco Design Patterns: Blueprints for Business Software by James Carey, et al	Pretty heavy patterns for pretty heavy code. Too much of it if you ask me.
Corba Design Patterns by Thomas J. Mowbray, Raphael C. Malveau	My first book on patterns. A little disapointing. Covers too wide a range without much depth.
Pattern-Oriented Software Architecture, Volume 1: A System of Patterns by Frank Buschmann, Regine Meunier, Hans Rohnert, Peter Sommerlad, Michael Stal	Very good book although I personally prefer the GoF book.
Analysis Patterns : Reusable Object Models by Martin Fowler	Although I seldomly do analysis, I do like the book.  Some of the patterns are a little too heavy for every day usage but you always use the weaker forms.
Advanced Visual Basic 6 : Power Techniques for Everyday Programs, Book w/CD-ROM by Matthew J. Curland	Learned me things I didn’t know where possible with VB. The author gave me invaluable insights about OCA problems too. Written by a real guru.
Visual Basic Shell Programming by J. P. Hamilton, Ron Petrusha	Pretty heavy stuff that shows how you actually program the Windows Shell (Explorer) using VB. Uses similar but less structured approach than Currlands book.
Effective COM: 50 Ways to Improve Your COM and MTS-based Applications by Don Box , Keith Brown, Tim Ewald, Chris Sells	If you can answer the 50 problems in the book you defeitely know COM.  C++ oriented.
Inside Ole by Kraig Brockschmidt	Describes COM (at that time still OLE).  Very good reading.  Defines the structure of the various COM interfaces and the various things they deal with.  Required reading.
Generative Programming: Methods, Tools, and Applications by Krzysztof Czarnecki, Ulrich Eisenecker	If you like C++ templates, this book is definitively for you. Also describes Microsoft intentional programming. Good readign for any language designer.
Component Software : Beyond Object-Oriented Programming by Clemens Szyperski	Very good description of component systems.  Quite theoretical.
Visual Basic 6.0 Business Objects by Rockford Lhotka, Rocky Lhotka	Good book on business objects. Tends to create Fat business objects that cry for a common ancestor.  I myself use a variation of brokenRules. I don’t like “objects in modes”
Active Visual Basic 5.0 by Guy Eddon, Henry Eddon	Thought me a great deal about activeX controls.
Compilers : Principles, Techniques, and Tools by Alfred V. Aho, Ravi Sethi, Jeffrey D. Ullman	One of my favaorite books at the time. Still good reading for anyone serious about compiler constrruction.
Taligent's Guide to Designing Programs : Well-Mannered Object-Oriented Design in C++	Very good and truly beautiful book about C++ programming techniques. Quote that sticks : “managers are not objects”.  Recommended C++ reading.
The C++ Programming Language by Bjarne Stroustrup	No better reference for a language than the author.  Much bigger than the first edition.
The Annotated C++ Reference Manual by Margaret A. Ellis, Bjarne Stroustrup	Invaluable if you want to know why feature x in C++ was implemented the way it is.
Building Parsers With Java by Steven John Metsker	Strange book at first since it kind of throws away “old” parser technology and builds them completely object-oriented.  Very refreshing and very daring.

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