From Dan Mabbutt,
Your Guide to Visual Basic.
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Feb 16 2008

Visual Basic has always been a flagship language for Microsoft and this didn't change when .NET came out. Visual Basic remained a featured language for Microsoft development in the new .NET world although two new languages, J# and C# - .NET substitutes for Java and C++ - were announced at the same time.

There is also a .NET version of C++, but it's there mainly because a lot of companies put a lot of investment into early Windows software development in C++. It's just too much money to walk away from and it would be too difficult to recode all of it. There was a lot of pressure for Microsoft to provide a .NET version. It's too bad that VB 6 programmers didn't have this much clout with Microsoft!

Because the .NET Framework does most of the work, Visual Basic, and every other .NET language, is just the skin on top of .NET. Once you learn .NET ... switching to another language syntax is a lot easier. The really important things don't change.

There are getting to be quite a few .NET languages available now! Microsoft lists all these at their site:

• COBOL for Microsoft .NET.
• Perl for Microsoft .NET.
• Eiffel for Microsoft .NET.
• Python for Microsoft .NET.
• Pascal for Microsoft .NET.
• Mercury for Microsoft .NET.
• Mondrian for Microsoft .NET.
• Oberon for Microsoft .NET.
• Salford FTN95 (Fortran) for Microsoft .NET.
• SmallTalk for Microsoft .NET.
• Standard ML for Microsoft .NET.
• Dyalog APL for Microsoft .NET.

Visual Studio .NET versus Visual Basic Express

Visual Studio is not a part of the .NET Framework. It's an application that uses the .NET Framework. As amazing as Visual Studio is (and it's pretty amazing), it's not actually necessary to use Visual Studio (or VB Express) to write a VB.NET program. There are several other ways.

One way is to use the free, downloadable .NET SDK and write the VB code with a plain text editor (like Notepad) and the Command Line .NET compiler, VBC.EXE. It's not easy to create a VB.NET program that way, but it's possible. And, in fact, it's a good way to make sure you really understand .NET.

And there are other ways to develop Visual Basic .NET programs too! For example ...

SharpDevelop

It's not that difficult to write a very simple "Hello World" program and compile it using VBC. But anything more complex is a lot harder. That's what another non-Microsoft effort, SharpDevelop is all about. SharpDevelop is an open-source replacement for Visual Studio .NET.

In my opinion, we owe the good folks at SharpDevelop a debt of gratitude because they are probably one of the reasons why we can download Visual Basic .NET 2008 Express for free. But although SharpDevelop is good, VB.NET Express is better. Just a personal opinion of course.

One thing that should be clear is that Visual Basic .NET 2008 Express and Visual Studio 2008 are not the same, but .NET Framework 3.5 is the same for both of them. There are some interesting consequences because of this.

1. The code you create with VB Express and Visual Studio are completely equal. After they're compiled to executable code, they are the same.
2. The limitations you accept with the free VB Express are not limitations in what the language can do, they're just limitations in how easy it is to do it. Visual Studio is just a graphical front for the .NET Framework that generates the commands and parameter files to do what you need to do. The difference in the various versions is just the features of the front end.

I've said it before. "The only reason for choosing one .NET language over others is that you can code faster and create more understandable code. For me, that's Visual Basic."

Framework 3.5 has some interesting new components:

• Windows Workflow Foundation (WF)

Write code that describes a whole process, like an assembly line.

• Windows Communication Foundation (WCF)

The buzzword here is "connected systems". We used to call them "networks" but Microsoft has much more ambitious goals in mind.

• Windows Presentation Foundation (WPF)

Microsoft describes WPF (unfortunately using 'marketing language' instead of English) as "a unified programming model for building rich Windows smart client user experiences that incorporate UI, media, and documents."

What the heck does that mean?

For one thing, it means that a WPF application can be deployed on the desktop or hosted in a web browser. Microsoft wants to unify application services like 2D and 3D drawing, vector and raster graphics, typography and even audio and video. Microsoft Silverlight is a web-based subset of WPF. It's an ambitious goal!

VB.NET 2008 Express actually includes two new templates focusing directly on this new technology.

These technologies go way beyond the scope of this introduction course, but be aware that they're available when you need them.

There's another reason why this is the right time to learn VB.NET ... It's called the "Version 2.0 Rule". Learn about it on the next page.