I knew VB5 and C++ very well going into this book and as a result, I think I was a little beyond it. It was still a great book. I ended up skipping large sections of it. This book really just gets you started. I just bought the book from Mike Blaszczak to do some real stuff now. I fear that very green programmers may not be able to see through the examples and build upon the knowledge. The click-click-compile example given by someone else here is a very good description. Still, it's a good beginner book which is the target audience. You'll probably want something more substantial when you're done.