Visual Basic .NET

Deriving from Microsoft's Visual Basic (VB), Visual Basic .NET (VB.NET) is an improvement from classic VB. The enhancements of the computer language are targeted to use the Microsoft's .NET framework and to bridge the gap towards the C#. All the new languages tend to have the same set of core syntactic features while varying in the form so people can move with more ease from the old version. Visual Basic .NET is a complex system compared to other variants of BASIC.

Like C#, VB.NET compiles to MSIL which needs to be JITted as it is executed. The MSIL produced by VB.NET is identical to that produced by C#, which is why C# and VB.NET (and Managed C++ for that matter) can communicate directly with one another. Though the MSIL is identical between languages, C# has some features that VB.NET lacks.

Changes

Visual Basic starting from version 1 through version 6 and now in the version called .NET got more complex with each revision. The following simple example gives an idea

Classic VB example:

Private Sub Command1_Click()

   MsgBox ("Hello, World")

End Sub

A VB.NET example:

Private Sub button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles button1.Click

        MessageBox.Show("Hello, World")

End Sub

The documentation says that the rules of the language have partly changed, the way applications are debugged is different, deploying has changed and a part of the terminology has been changed as well.

External Links

• Microsoft's VB.NET site: http://msdn.microsoft.com/vbasic/
• GotDotNet .NET Resource Website (http://www.gotdotnet.com/)