Excel 2003 Power Programming with VBA (Excel Power Programming With Vba)

Professional Excel Development : The Definitive Guide to Developing Applications Using Microsoft(R) Excel and VBA(R)

Programming

Excel VBA Programming For Dummies (For Dummies (Computer/Tech))

Format: Paperback
Author: John Walkenbach
ReleaseDate: 20 August, 2004
Publisher: For Dummies
Rating:

A nice introduction
It does a nice job of exposing the reader to the most vital features of VBA for Excel. A good book to start with. Someone with no programming experience can read this and finish capable of writing a wide range of useful macros for their needs.

Great book
If you want to learn how to program in Excel environment - this is the best place to start. Very valuable material is condensed and presented in such a way that you can learn it in a very short time. And it'll be a great reference afterwards.

If you intend to do serious Excel development you might want to get "Professional Excel Development" by Stephen Bullen, but for 90% of people working with Excel VBA this one should do it.

This is the place to start with Excel VBA
We're going along with our busy non-programming related work when all of a sudden *bam!* the boss decides we are the perfect candidates to either implement a new software solution or simplify/refine an existing one. Plenty of fellow office workers have all come upon the same plight I did not too long ago. I'd dabbled in C++ and Liberty Basic for my own personal use before, but had absolutely no experience whatsoever working in Visual Basic for Applications, and no knowledge of how to make all the different components of the Microsoft Office suite work in tandem. "Excel VBA Programming for Dummies" entered stage left, and completely saved me from bringing down the whole play.

Someone with absolutely no programming experience at all could pick this book up and be pumping out simple VBA applications within a day. The whole thing is very user friendly, and includes a lot of tips that individuals new to VBA or the office suite won't think to check. The first chapter briefly describes exactly what VBA is, how it interacts with the office suite, and then gives an overview of the different versions of Excel and how they differ. From chapter two onward it's all VBA, progressively adding on new concepts to move the reader upward towards VBA mastery. As this is a "For Dummies" book, all the basic information such as code syntax and the various dialog boxes are presented in detail, providing a firm foundation for the user to expand on in his own experimentation and further study. A few tidbits of more advanced information, pertaining to the most frequently needed solutions, are presented throughout the book. For example, towards the end the author clearly explains how to use VBA to open up a blank e-mail and populate it with information from an Excel spreadsheet, as this is a rather commonly needed use for VBA, but it does require a little extra knowledge beyond the absolute basics. My only real complaint about this book would be that it never adequately explains when VBA should be used versus when normal Excel forumulas would suffice, or most importantly, when a good combination of the two are called for. As the focus of the book is on teaching VBA basics however, this can be overlooked.

Anyone needing to learn the basics of VBA quickly but lacking a teacher to explain everything should do themselves the favor of picking Excel VBA Programming for Dummies. If you need info beyond the basics, and want to take your skills to the next level, move on to "Professional Excel Development : The Definitive Guide to Developing Applications Using Microsoft Excel and VBA" after mastering the info presented in this book. .