Hello
I would like to learn VBA, I have very little, let's just say no understanding on how to write VBA. I am interested in learning but there are a lot of books out there for beginners that claim to help but would like recommendations of books or authors.
Thanks in advance.
Last edited by AccountingJ; 12-05-2017 at 05:08 PM.
The very first thread in this forum would be a good start. It's highlighted in blue.
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Practice makes perfect. I'm very far from perfect so I'm still practising.
oh gosh, lol. I'm sorry and thank you.
You are very welcome.No need to apologize. We've all been there!
The "Excel Bible" series by Walkenbach are good. They give you the required foundation in Excel itself and then a good primer on starting VBA. "Writing Excel Macros" by Roman is a good VBA book, its old but gives a good foundation.
You should also lookup and research common programming concepts like; variables, objects, loops, If-then-else, sorting algorithms, etc. When people aim to learn a specific language they typically mean to learn its syntax, object model, properties, methods, classes, etc. It however is important (and many VBA books I am sure will teach it) to have a understanding of the core concepts that most/all programming languages share.
One of the most important things to learn re VBA is when NOT to use it. Its like having a Ferrari in the garage but knowing when to take the Mini Van out. I often have to ask myself "If I should do x?" not "Can I do x?" with VBA. If you can solve a problem with built in features, formulas, etc that is often a better, less complex and easier to use solution than VBA can be.
I would also stress as was stressed to me, learn how to use error handlers and comment your code. Others may disagree, but I am of the belief that all VBA code should have an error handler. A user should never be presented with a debug option and/or a cryptic error. Comments will aid in revisiting your code either as you write it or down the road when you need to fix or update it and will help others should they need to work with it.
Lastly, keep in mind that anyone can write code, but few of them write good/proper code. Hopefully you aim for the later.
Thank you Zer0Cool, I'm currently shopping for books so I will be in the lookout for that book as well. I'm obsessive with anything I do, so I'll always aim to be write good and proper code.
A noble aim but you'll find that there is no single definition of good/proper code.There aren't even that many best practices that everyone (or most) will agree on. Comments and error handlers are two places where you will find significant disagreement even amongst seasoned programmers.
Even though I do agree with the comment about knowing when not to use VBA, I suspect there will be different interpretations of when that point is too.
Don
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