The latest
Deitel book (I reviewed a couple of chapters and got a freebie) arrived today.
Visual Basic 2005 for Programmers, Second Edition runs nearly 1300 pages and boasts dozens of Microsoft, industry, and academic reviewers.
I'm a person who learns to program by hacking about at the keyboard, playing with examples, writing up chapters and articles, and reviewing books. With no formal training in computers (I'm a broadcast journalist by education), I'm overwhelmed at how much there is to learn if you study object-oriented programming in a structured way from start to finish.
There's certainly an advantage to formal education with textbooks and instructors because it keeps your nose to the grindstone and gives you depth. While I find applied study admirable, I stumble along with my own style of "just-in-time learning". That's where I desperately seek answers/examples in online documentation to get out of coding trouble or to avoid being "found out" because I didn't know something that I should know.
Anyway, people have different modes of learning, and it seems that I crave instant gratification - or is it instant relief - rather than real study.