Now, For Something Completely Different

While experienced Visual Basic programmers will find Visual Basic .NET syntax comfortable to learn, make no mistake: This is not your father's Visual Basic. The syntax is different while retaining a similarity; data types have changed (strings are now an object class) and the built-in functions are completely different: Old ones are no longer available; their functionality has been gathered into objects and exposed as methods.

Why in the world were these changes made? Primarily, it was to support the Common Language Runtime (CLR) that all .NET languages compile to. The benefit is that no language, not C++, VB or Java (J++) will have an ability not shared by the others; so the programmer can select a language by personal preference rather than because some feature is only available in one and not the others. As a result, Visual Basic .NET winds up gaining much of the power previously possessed only by C++. On the downside, though, is the fact that there is a learning curve, even for the experienced VB programmer, before he or she can be really productive with this new platform.

We supply two upgrade courses: One that describes only the differences, and one that goes on from there to teach how to create full, compliant, applications. The Introduction course starts from scratch for programmers unfamiliar with Visual Basic.