As the title suggests, this book has two separate - though intertwined - goals: a description of the general concepts of object-orientation, and how to do object-oriented programming in Visual Basic. Readers are assumed to have no more than a familiarity with Visual Basic and some rudimentary knowledge of programming. Working on this premise, Steve Roman introduces the abstract concepts of object orientation, such as class, abstraction, and encapsulation, and then shows how each is implemented in a meaningful and useful application. He uses a hands-on style throughout: plenty of code is given and discussed, including error-handling. As a result, Visual Basic programmers and students will find this an invaluable introduction to the topic.