Learning VBScript
By
Don Jones
Score:
Synopsis:
I have followed Don Jones for a while now. I’ve seen some of his other videos and I have seen him speak at conferences. He’s really a world class speaker. He has a polished style that shows his vast experience teaching beginners. He explains things really well, and does it at a very comfortable pace. This video series is simply excellent. Don takes you from the very beginning with VBScript all the way to some fairly complicated scenarios. Each section has practice exercises at the end so you can try out what you’ve learned. He even gives you a solution in case you get stuck and just can’t figure it out. And every so often you get a much bigger script to write so you can really test yourself. I find this type of teaching to be lacking in so many tutorials and it’s refreshing to see it again. Not really being a Windows admin myself I was interested to see what I would get out of this. I’m a DBA by trade and I know ASP quite well, so I’m very familiar with VBScript. I was surprised to see that he explained things in a way that even I learned something. A couple things I thought I understood, I found out I only thought I knew how it worked. So even if you’ve worked with VBScript for a while it’s still worth picking this up because you never know what he’s going to touch on that you’ve never heard before. I often find that the mark of a good teacher. He can teach you something new about stuff you’re already familiar with. VBScript will be around for quite some time while it takes people to upgrade their skills to things like PowerShell, so it’s not a waste of time.
The only real complaint I have about it is the production quality. The sound was very annoying. The volume went up and down between sections. For example there’s this little musical interlude that plays at the beginning of each section. So while you’re finishing up the end of one section, you gently transition to the next… where the damn music just blows you out of your seat! Then you rush to turn it down, and you can’t hear the section now because it’s too low. The sound also wanders from one section to the next. In one, it’ll be in both ears, and in another it’ll be only on the left… now that’s just annoying. The sound also sounds like it was recorded in different locations with completely different hardware for different sections. One section will come in loud and clear while another one will still be perfectly clear, but it may sound like he’s recording the bathroom or something.
As well, sometimes the presentation software didn’t keep up with itself or advance like it should. If you quit in the middle of a lesson and go back to it on another day, the software may not automatically advance between the sections and you’ll have to do it manually. These are just small annoyances though and pale in comparison to the value the videos bring.
They’re easy to load though. All you have to really do is put them in and the lesson comes up and starts playing. It’s just that easy.
The question of value really comes into play here too. The main part of the series is 3 discs at just under $200/ea. So to learn everything you’d want to learn you’re looking at about $600. And that doesn’t even include the electives. Still though, as long as your company’s paying for it what do you care? It’s actually pretty cheap compared to a lot of the other video training out there. The good news is the electives are only $60/ea which is much easier to swallow. In all though, I’d say if you can afford it, Don will definitely put out, so you’ll at least get your money’s worth.
Who Should Get This Series?
This series is geared towards beginners with no prior knowledge, but I have a hard time believing experienced admins wouldn’t get something out of it as well. The truth is Don is such a polished teacher that he could teach an old camel to store water.
I ordinarily go into detail about here, but it’s just not necessary. The table of contents is fully available on the website and he does such a good job my comments wouldn’t add anything to the mix.