REVIEW - Bug Proofing Visual Basic - A Guide to Error Handling and Prevention


Title:

Bug Proofing Visual Basic

A Guide to Error Handling and Prevention

Author:

Rod Stephens

ISBN:

Publisher:

Wiley (1998)

Pages:

416pp

Reviewer:

Edward Crosby

Reviewed:

August 1999

Rating:

★★☆☆☆


There are many books dedicated to 'bug proofing' in one form or another. Earlier examples include Code Complete and Writing Solid Code . Programmers from all areas of the industry are faced with similar problems and apply the same rules and guidance irrespective of programming language. This book is dedicated to VB. It covers the same fundamentals about programming philosophy, good design, coding style, error-trapping, etc. and intersperses these with some interesting examples. It includes VB error handlers and has a chapter dedicated to the Visual Basic code profiler.

A lot of what is said is common sense and yet many programmers sacrifice the obvious. This book is targeted at the less experienced individuals with the intention of encouraging good practice. However, the book lacks in coding style. It is not sufficient just for a coder to be able to read their own code, but for other programmers to read the same code at the same level. With programmers frequently moving around the industry this need is even greater and consequently a convergence of coding styles becomes more and more important. Many developers will be aware of Microsoft's coding style (see MSDN) now adopted by some major corporations.

The book is comprehensive but as good coding style is fundamental to bug proofing, I have reservations about this book. For an example of error handling in VB read chapter 1 in Advanced Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 2nd Edition (ISBN 1572318937) and at the same time look at the coding convention.


Book cover image courtesy of Open Library.





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