So whether the tutorial in this product is sufficient to teach the VB fundamentals or not, the product is still needed as the software environment you have to install before delving into any tutorial, whether that tutorial comes with or without a CD. Am I right or does Windows already have the VB software hidden where I can't find it?!!!!

Would someone, please, advise! I need to buy something soon. Thanks.

"There is a better, cheaper product available"
For [$] you can get the book "Learn to Program with Visual Basic 6" by John Smiley. It is for beginners, comes with a CD, and is very easy to understand.

"Visual Basic 6.0 LE Differences Between the Editions"
Microsoft provides the Learning Edition in my opinion as a starting point for programmers in Visual Basic (VB) and the other languages they sell IDE enviroments for, as I do not know of any other learning edition products by them.

The product comes boxed up for $... as of now, and this is a very good price for an integrated devleopment enviroment (IDE), especially by them - the professional edition costs several hundred dollars more, and the enterprise edition - a thousand or so more.

The learning edition comes with several tutorials, but those aren't mine to speak of because I skipped them 9 I bought Visual Basic Step by Step by Micheal Halvorson, Microsoft Press instead).

Moving along, the learning edition does not have several things that the professional edition offers, just as the enterprise edition has several things the professional edition doesn't have available.

The learnign edition is meant for beginners who don't plan to do any higher scale programming - it doesn't come with the MAPI email control nor the Internet transfer control, so internet programming with Microsoft controls is not an option - Also not available are "User Controls" these are a special type of Visual Basic project that are similiar to regular ActiveX controls. These things allow reusable graphical interfaces which are pre programmed to be inserted into the program. Also not available are property pages - something used when creating a compiled ActiveX control. And finally for soem odd reason User Documents aren't insertable - Not sure why though.

The Professional edition comes with extra controls such as the MCI audio and Internet/MAPI controls. These can be useful, and I use third party controls for doing these tasks as I do not need the extra features of the Professional Edition, which I will discuss briefly in a moment.

The learning edition is meant for beginners, hence the name 'learning' edition. As such it does not include any of the more advanced compiling options and project types. There are things such as what kind of CPU code should be outputted ot the binary, or what type of machine it shoudl be compield for (16 BIT or 32 BIT)...

As the editions move up in broadness and price, more project types become available. In the professional edition the option to make compiled ActiveX controls and Dynamic Link Libraries is available. Moving up to the biggest - the Enterprise Edition, things such as Management Console snapins can be written (a tool for managing large networks).

Overall, Microsoft's Visual Basic development enviroment is not the most powerful, and there is much better out there. The things possible in VB are canned routines - getting deeper into the Windows Application Programing Interface (API) requires declaring long winded blocks of code with HEX constants and other values to call them.

Note: The API is for performing functions directly related ot controllign the Windows enviroment (i.e. making a program window stay on top at all times)

I've tried to sum up the differences and the reasoning behind how Microsoft constructed their Visual Basic product line as best I could, and if I am incorrect, I apologize - and please let me know.

"Exe files with Visual Basic Learning Edition"
Mr. Geoffery Brown is incorrect in his statement that the Learning Edition will not make an EXE file. I have been in contact with a Mr. "Lee Thornton" who assures me that it will in fact make an EXE file as well as build apps that will self-install (Setup). I found Mr. Browns review very confusing.

"Very limited, ultimately"
I bought this book in hopes that I would be able to "pick up" VB since I had programmed for many years: COBOL, various assembly languages, etc.

VB, of course, is a different kind of language -- more like an RPG than a COBOL because so much of VB consists of canned routines that you can either find in the interface or you cannot. A lot of using VB efficiently is a matter of being able to remember which pull-down menu has what you need on it, and what the options (properties, I think, is the right word) for each control are.

As far as leading you through that maze, the book is pretty good.

One huge limitation in the Learning Edition is that you can use it only for learning. In other words, you cannot make an executable file with it. I finally got frustrated and took a college course in VB. At the first lecture, the professor warned us against getting the Learning Edition -- because we would not be able to e-mail him the executable from the labs we would be doing for him. The Professional Edition lets you do this.

In other words, buying the Learning Edition is a little bit like buying a car without an engine. You can practice all you want with it, but you can't drive it anywhere.

Best advice is save your money and buy the real thing.