Below are some of our favorite books for the engineer wanting to learn more about software technologies whether they be simple or complex ones. Many of these books are required reading for our technical staff and are considered invaluable references around our engineering offices. This section is provided in association with Amazon.com.

VB COM - one of our favorite books for showing VB programmers how to build ActiveX controls and DLLs using Visual Basic. This book is one of the few we have found that explains the Microsoft Component Object Model (COM) from a higher level in terminology a VB programmer can understand. Purchase or get more information at Amazon.com Understanding ActiveX and OLE - one of the "ah hah" books we recommend. We found that people who read just the first 3 or 4 chapters of this book get at least a dozen "oh so that is why that works that way" reactions. Although parts of this book do delve pretty deep into some COM concepts, the overall overview is a good one and complements what you would learn in the book VB COM fairly well. Purchase or get more information at Amazon.com Code Complete - the "technical bible" of all dedicated software developers around the world. If you are serious about software development as a profession, you need to read this book. Yes it's long, yes it can be dry and very computer science oriented at times, but the lessons it teaches can save you many sleepless nights and earn you many times it's price over. Purchase or get more information at Amazon.com Paul Sheriff Teaches Visual Basic 6 - one of the great values for teaching yourself how to program in Visual Basic. Paul Sheriff has taught Visual Basic long enough to know what beginning programmers want. This book is designed for programmers that have little or no Visual Basic or Windows programming experience. Purchase or get more information at Amazon.com