VB.NET vs VB

[Chad Z. Hower aka Kudzu]

I have to make a case of why existing VB users should like VB.NET. ie, as a
VB (6 or other) user what in VB.NET would interest you as a developer?

I have a list that I am building, but would appreciate any additional ideas
that you guys have.


--
Chad Z. Hower (a.k.a. Kudzu) - http://www.hower.org/Kudzu/
"Programming is an art form that fights back"

Develop ASP.NET applications easier and in less time:
http://www.atozed.com/IntraWeb/

 

[Cor Ligthert]

Hi Kudzu,

I am not a classic VB programmer, however you can see in this newsgroups a
lot of messages as.

"I first was a afraid for VB.net because it did look so difficult, however I
would scream when they would pull me back to VB"

There are a lot of those messages.

I hope this give you an idea?

Cor

 

[Armin Zingler]

I have to make a case of why existing VB users should like VB.NET.
ie, as a VB (6 or other) user what in VB.NET would interest you as a
developer?

I have a list that I am building, but would appreciate any additional
ideas that you guys have.

Some keywords (from my list) without specific order:

- Option Strict
- Inheritance
- Namespaces
- Common type system
- Everything is an object
- VB6 "specials" removed:
-- Why can't Forms and Controls be declared Public?
-- What is the type of a control array?
-- Why do I get error 91 in the second line?
Command1(index) *is* a CommandButton.
Private Sub Command1_Click(Index As Integer)
Dim cmd As CommandButton
cmd = Command1(Index)
End Sub
-- What strange syntax is this:
pic.line (0,0) - (100, 100), vbWhite, BF
Why not always separate arguments by a ","? What is "BF"? A string,
a constant or what?
-- Why can't I write ".Line..." within a With block?
- free threading
- Interfaces
- constructors
- overloaded members
- IDE and app in separate processes
- less "under-the-hood"
- On errors: complete callstack including error line possible
- dynamic error handling (add-/removehandler)
- optimized performance due to inline compiling of simple property get
procedures
- Public fields are public fields, not properties
- IDE: "go to definition" includes types
- "rich" framework/runtime (e.g. encoding classes, reflection...)
- Delegates: typed function pointers
- full control, eg. overwriting WndProc
- variables at block level
- OrElse, AndAlso keywords
- Keywords as names in code
- No forced default Form instance
- Redim requires Dim
- Creation of empty arrays possible
- Improved variable declaration
- Nested classes
- Compiler checks ranks of arrays
- GC improves usage of circular object references
- improved performance due to GC (no reference counting)
- New operators (+=, -=, ...)
- (Improved) creation of new menuitems, menus, controls
- Improved way to handle enumeration
- Char, Long, Decimal data types
- Shared members
- Return statement
- MDI container and children in different projects
- Me.Member also possible for private members (intellisense)


--
Armin

How to quote and why:
http://www.plig.net/nnq/nquote.html
http://www.netmeister.org/news/learn2quote.html

 

[Chad Z. Hower aka Kudzu]

"I first was a afraid for VB.net because it did look so difficult,
however I would scream when they would pull me back to VB"

Oh yes, there are plenty of these for sure. Im looking for specifics to add
to my write up. I havent done any serious non VB work since 5. I dont think
I've ever used VB6 and most of my .NET work is C# related. Before Delphi I
did a LOT of VB work, but that was VB 1 for DOS, and VB 2/3 for Windows. And
then some in 4 (disaster version) and 5.

So I have quite a perspective but I'd like to get specifics from users
regarding what features about VB.NET vs VB6 really excite developers.



--
Chad Z. Hower (a.k.a. Kudzu) - http://www.hower.org/Kudzu/
"Programming is an art form that fights back"

Get your ASP.NET in gear with IntraWeb!
http://www.atozed.com/IntraWeb/

 

[Chad Z. Hower aka Kudzu]

- Option Strict

Yes, this is a very good one. I have to convince VBers its good though as
many have them have learned the poor (easy) way.

- Inheritance

VB6 still didnt have this? I know VB4 you could create basic objects and VB5
a bit more, but even then they were very limited and did not conform to many
of the standard aspects of an object. IIRC there were not even properties.

- Namespaces
- Common type system
- Everything is an object

..NET feaure, but I guess I have to cover those too.

- VB6 "specials" removed:

Since I stopped at VB5 - what were the VB6 specials? Id be happy if they
removed the VB4 specials - which I know the did.

-- Why can't Forms and Controls be declared Public?

Is there a specific reason behind this? I know that in VS they are declared
proteced, but in Delphi.NET they are public. It seems to be more of a
methodology in VS than the language or .NET.

On the rest that I cut - you certainly did an excellent job of listing
differences. But Im looking more for advantages, not just changes. So lets
say that a shop was using VB6 and looking at VB.NET. Specifically just VB.NET
- not necessarily .NET itself. What about VB.NET would make you want to
upgrade?

-- What strange syntax is this:
pic.line (0,0) - (100, 100), vbWhite, BF

I have to admit I dont know that one. Is that VB6 or VB.NET? The (0,0) is
either some kind of compiler magic to turn to a point or the ( ) - ( ) is
some special wierdo syntax for that func?

- On errors: complete callstack including error line possible

Its not just that, but fully exception handling. Ive got this listed of
course.

A lot of the other ones you listed are certainly useful, but are a collection
of minor ones. Im looking for major items.


--
Chad Z. Hower (a.k.a. Kudzu) - http://www.hower.org/Kudzu/
"Programming is an art form that fights back"

Empower ASP.NET with IntraWeb
http://www.atozed.com/IntraWeb/

 

[Calvin Luttrel/ProjectThunder.com]

Hi,
I believe that the Visual Studio 6 team worked in parallel with the Visual Studio.Net team. It explains why .Net is so much more different. I heard that at a MSDN event. In so many words the guy said that the Web Integration was a hack to get in to the market until the .Net team finished. He even went as far to remind us how often we had to reboot our NT4 servers. I think the biggest reason to get on board is that you don't sharpen your saw you're going to get left behind. Applications come together quicker and are more reliable in .Net.

-Calvin
ProjectThunder.com

 

[Kosher Coder]

Please be sure to post your list when you're done!

 

[Cor Ligthert]

Hi Kudzu,

I had to think on, what is in my opinion a benefit from all .Net program
languages however than therefore as well for VB.net, is that you can use a
much wider class library than ever has been.

As well can a VB programmer better use classes which are documentated
primaly for other languages, for that as sample the Webbrowser and Mshtml,
where the documentation is primaly in C++



Cor

 

[JLW]

My majow issue against .NET is the fact of the entire MSIL system. I miss
the Native/PCode binaries. I definatly like the XCopy deployement ( GoodBye
DLL Hell! ), and the free-threading and OOP. PInvoke is a little different,
but it works better in most cases. I like how close they have brought the
language to C style coding and techniques. It's strnage, but interesting.
Let's see, Inheritance, Method OverRide, Decleration OverLoading, Faster
String Concat., and I can go on for a very long time. Pretty much, I'd say
each to thier own, but I see alot of people moving to C++ ( Not VC++ ), or
Delphi.

HTH
JLW