Java + VB.NET + JavaScript + PHP/MySql...

[Markpyro]

My parents have agreed to buy me a few programming books If I buy them through ebay. I was wondering if anyone knew any good books for
1. Java
2. VB.NET
3. JavaScript
4. PHP/MySQL
5. Photoshop

Or if there were any others I should think of getting

Thanks,
-MP

[TimP]

For VB.NET, Programming VB.NET by Jesse Liberty.

[Graeme]

For PHP/MySQL, try out:
MySQL/PHP Database Applications (Second Edition) by Brad Bulger, Jay Greenspan and David Wall

It covers just about anything you would need to know, and even goes in depth in OOPHP with PHP 5 :). Edit: It looks like this - http://www.comcol.nl/detail/48132.htm

[BSTRhino]

Jesse Liberty is a good author, his books are funny. I always find the ones with a sense of humour are the ones who write the best books.

The Sams "Learn [insert-programming-language-here] in 21 Days" books are a range I would recommend, the "Learn Java 2.0 in 21 Days" by Rogers Cadenhead and Laura Lemay was quite inspiring to me. I've read a lot of Laura Lemay technical books and they're always humourous yet informative, so I would recommend all her books.

Photoshop has a lot of online resources, http://www.good-tutorials.com/ might send your brain into "creative" mode, as it has with many of the rest of us.

[Battlecruiser]

Yeah, most of us learnt photoshop from online, just using tutorials. I don't think you will need a book for it. But for the others, you do.

[Exedore]

O'Reilly books are usually good, but I've never read their books for any of those topics.

[Adovid]

An Intro To Programing in visual Basic.net by David I. Schneider. Is one that I like because it doesnt waste your time with explanitory jargon in the place of healthy examples.

Review about it can be found here:
http://visualbasic.about.com/library/blschneider1-1a.htm

I doubt if there are any good Java text books. I would recomomend taking a class for java.

There is the fact that you can't really learn VisualBasic.net unless you pay for the tools.

Java however is pretty much free.

[Smile-FRENCHES]

What tools are needed for VB.NET?

-BTW, read siggy

[Adovid]

Something like this:

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005RV4Y/liewvoonkiong/104-7819036-7512758

Unless you go to a school that has it available on their computers. Then you can do your stuff there just like me.

[TimP]

That's the IDE. The VB.NET compiler is free.

[Adovid]

Well, does anyone program with a different IDE?

Anything for a vb sdk for a compiler? Your not talking about the free plug-in that runs vb code on the net right?

I mean you need access to the entire .net framework library to do a lot of stuff.

Microsoft is pretty greedy when it comes to stuff like that. I wouldn't imagine a way to program with this stuff for free. Unless you have some underhanded way.

[edit]

Aparently it is free to an extent.


Microsoft .NET Framework Software Development Kit / Microsoft VB.NET / Free Visual Basic .NET Compiler (http://msdn.microsoft.com/netframework/downloads/updates/default.aspx) Unbelievably, the Microsoft Visual Basic .NET (VB.NET, generating .NET virtual machine code and not native code), along with C#, Visual C++ and JScript.NET, appears to be available from Microsoft for download in this free download from Microsoft. (Note that if you use the Opera web browser (http://www.regnow.com/softsell/visitor.cgi?affiliate=16087&action=site&vendor=7000) to go to this URL, set Opera to pretend that it is Mozilla (just hit F12 and select Mozilla 5.0), otherwise Microsoft's web server will redirect you to a dummy page. Their browser detection script, which serves different pages to different browsers, is broken.) I'm not entirely sure but you may also need to download the Microsoft Platform SDK (http://www.microsoft.com/msdownload/platformsdk/sdkupdate/) as well. The free VB compiler is the command line version. If you're looking for the complete IDE, you will need to buy either the commercial Microsoft Visual Basic .NET Standard (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000089GKW/christopherheng) or the Microsoft Visual Studio .NET Professional (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B00005RV4Z/christopherheng). I understand that there are a number of limitations to the free and standard versions. http://www.thefreecountry.com/compilers/basic.shtml

Take note that the price on the second one(visual studio.net) is extremely high because that is the entire microsoft programming environemnt which includes C++, VB, C#, and many more, as well as all of the documentation and help files you could ever need. That is what I use at school here.

[TimP]

You don't need any IDE. I write a good portion of my own personal C# ASP.NET code in Notepad. It's a little slower, but you don't rely as much on Intellisense and wizards which I think is good.

All of the .NET Framework/SDKs/compilers are FREE.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=9b3a2ca6-3647-4070-9f41-a333c6b9181d&displaylang=en

The Microsoft® .NET Framework Software Development Kit (SDK) version 1.1 includes everything developers need to write, build, test, and deploy .NET Framework applications—documentation, samples, and command-line tools and compilers.
Not to mention that the upcoming Visual Studio Express products, which inclues the next generation IDE, are available for free now, at least during the beta test period. Even if they charge for the final product, it would be minimal and from what I've seen from the betas, definitely worth it.
http://lab.msdn.microsoft.com/vs2005/