Microsoft Visual Basic Design Patterns focuses on how to capitalize on the powerful object-oriented capabilities of Visual Basic. Specifically, the book introduces and explains how to employ a set of reusable software design patterns available within Visual Basic. Design patterns take objects to the next level, encouraging both reuse and more elegant development. While other books have attempted to define a common software development paradigm, their results can be largely categorized as esoteric-and none have spoken strictly within the context of Visual Basic. The author successfully turns theory into practice, offering 10 fully developed and immediately useful patterns for more productive Visual Basic programming. And because these frameworks are not version-dependent, this book will serve developers working with Visual Basic 5.0, 6.0.
It is often said by programmers, managers, and end users alike that most applications written in Microsoft Visual Basic are easy to start but hard to finish. The truth is that this problem crops up in all programming languages if the design of the system is an afterthought to the implementation. What motivates this approach is that with practically no programming experience, you could build a Microsoft Windows application in Visual Basic by making use of its vast feature set, such as the Form window, Menu Editor, data-aware controls, and so forth. Using the mouse more than using the keyboard, you could build a Windows application that interacts with a database, which is amazing. As a result, many Visual Basic applications start out as prototypes with a heavy emphasis on the user interface. Many of these prototypes evolve into production systems as functionality is added. The line between prototype and polished application becomes fuzzy. Production systems created from prototypes in this fashion usually do not scale to acceptable production quality.
Novice programmers tend to concentrate on the features of Visual Basic, such as the visual aspects, third-party controls, or the language itself. Understanding how to use these features is crucial, but that knowledge is counterproductive if a system design has not been developed. Without a system design, a programmer discovers problems as they occur, and provides a solution each time without insight about the ramifications. Expert programmers, on the other hand, start with a design. This means they have done some analysis of the problem domain and have devised solutions for all the issues they have identified.
Designing Visual Basic object-oriented systems is not simple, but the payoff far outweighs the difficulty. If correctly designed, an object-oriented system is scalable, extensible, and reusable. Design patterns help expert object-oriented programmers reach that goal.
The purpose of this book is to help you design and code better-quality object-oriented systems in Visual Basic by making effective use of design patterns.
