Visual Basic .NET

Visual Basic .NET (VB.NET) is the most recent incarnation of the Visual Basic language set. It incorporates standards that make the language compatible with the .NET framework libraries that Microsoft has written to allow for speedier software development.

VB.NET and by extension other Visual Basic languages are Managed Code languages in that the programmer need not worry about garbage collection (the deleting of objects and values and freeing of memory after execution) or memory management. This is opposed to Unmanaged Code languages like C and C++ where such details are required.

Prerequisites

Possession of a copy of Visual Studio (preferably a recent edition)
Understanding of basic computing concepts in Windows

This is an introductory course in the field of computer programming. It does not require any prior knowledge of computer programming.

Course Description

This course is intended to teach all aspects of programming with Visual Basic .NET. Please keep in mind that this course is not yet complete and thus may be of less benefit that other sources.

Readings

Lessons

Tools

Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition (90-day Trial)
.NET Framework 3.5 SP1
SQL Server 2008 180 Day Trial - Will be used in later lessons

Additionally, for those who are students in highschool or college (an e-mail address with a .edu top level domain is required for this), Microsoft has graciously extended unlimited versions of many of its development softwares for free at the following address:

[1]

Software offered (as of 18 Nov 09):

Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate Beta 2	Visual Studio 2008 Professional
Visual Studio 2005 Professional	Visual Web Developer 2008 Express
Windows Server 2008 R2 Standard	Windows Server 2008 Standard
Expression Studio 3	XNA Game Studio
SQL Server Express	Visual Basic 2008 Express
Visual C++ 2008 Express	Visual C# 2008 Express
Virtual PC	CCR and DSS Toolkit
Windows Server 2003	Robotics Developer Studio 2008 R2
SQL Server 2008 Developer

External Links