object databases

I thoroughly enjoyed reading Murach's VB.NET Database Programming with ADO.NET by Doug Lowe, Anne Prince. I found it to be comprehensive yet concice. It is a particularly effective combination of pratical examples and theory, and I know that I will refer back to this book for years to come.

As a small business owner who has just moved up from Access to SQL Server, I needed a book that would get me up to speed on VB.net programming quickly so that I could start creating the applications I need for my business. Like every small business owner I realized that I would never be able to afford the technical help to get what I needed done, so I was going to have to learn to do it myself.

I have a small library of books now, including many of the very fine Wrox books, but I found the Murach series to be the best so far for me: a business owner who needs to learn programming geared towards business problems quickly. The other books seemed to spend an exorbitant amount of time on non essential issues, and I bogged down in creating non relevant examples. This book went right to the heart of the matter: creating a usable interface to my sql server database and explained it all very clearly. I have learned more in the last two days with this book than in the last month with the other titles. In fact, this book will probably provide clarity for those other books on my shelf and allow me to understand their concepts more clearly as well. If you are like me: a small business owner, not a professional programmer, this book is for you. I have spent over a $1,000 in books in the last month. I would have saved myself a lot of money had I bought this first.

A good book for experienced VB.NET / ADO.NET programmers but if you were, you wouldn't be buying a book on the subject. Maybe not intentionally, but there are many important details omittted from the program examples. Many will not work because of the missing information or assumption that "you should know this" or it was overlooked.