Since I published my own VB.NET for Beginners, I have received a few emails from readers saying they still can't understand it. For all those who have written (and all those who are thinking about it too), relief has arrived: Small Basic from Microsoft. The problem with VB.NET Express, the system I use in my tutorial, is that it's still the complete Framework 3.5 based VB.NET language. Microsoft has simply not included a few of the features that are in the versions they charge for. VB.NET Express still has all of the power - and all of the complexity - of the upper division products. Small Basic, however, is designed for simplicity and learning. Try it out! It's a free download. I've reviewed it at this link.

This four part tutorial is for people who have no experience at all in programming. We use the free, downloadable Visual Basic Express so there is no cost whatsoever. If you've got a friend who is interested in learning about programming, suggest this course to get started. Lesson 4, the most recently posted lesson, is all about how to fix bugs ... and how to avoid them in the first place. In Lesson 4, a "Try - Catch" block is added to the example program to demonstrate how to avoid problems. Stepping through the code with the Visual Studio debugger shows how to find the information you need to fix bugs. Check it out: Lesson 4.

Types, Procedures, Properties, and Methods

Lesson 3 of the Visual Basic .NET for Beginners tutorial has been posted. The tutorial is for people new to programming Visual Basic. This course totally replaces a previous course with this same name on the site. Lesson three focuses in on the symmetry between "types" in VB.NET and "properties" in objects and between "procedures" and "methods" to help you really get your head around the idea of programming objects. An updated version of the example program used in the lessons shows how to compute "days between dates" with the MonthCalendar component. . .

Lesson 1

Lesson 2

Lesson 3

Lesson 2 of the Visual Basic .NET for Beginners - the tutorial for people new to programming Visual Basic - has been posted. This course totally replaces a previous course with this same name on the site. . . .

Lesson 1

Lesson 2