InfoQ Homepage Visual Basic.NET Content on InfoQ
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Performance Problems Continue for VS 2008
Like its predecessors, Visual Studio 2008 continues to have performance issues. Unlike VS 2003 and 2005, Microsoft is actively working on performance patches, if only you know where to look.
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The End of XSLT for .NET Programmers?
Microsoft's VB team is starting a series of articles on how to use XML Literals. Many of these articles will demonstrate how to replace XSLT code with VB by making direct comparisons between the two languages.
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Implicit line continuations in Visual Basic
Line continuation characters have always been a wart on the VB syntax. Unlike languages in the Pascal and C families, Visual Basic does not require a trailing semi-colon to denote the end of a statement. The trade-off for this is that it does need a character to indicate when the statement does not end. Paul Vic is proposing to eliminate continuation characters in most common cases.
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VB 6 to VB.NET Migration Proceeds Ever So Slowly
Six years after VB.NET was released, Microsoft is still slowly working towards a true migration path for VB 6 applications. Recently Microsoft released "Visual Basic Power Packs 3.0". This release adds the Data Repeater, an important control for layouts.
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Bringing Scripting back to VB
Historically Visual Basic has its roots in scripting and dynamic programming, but never fully embraced it. This is seen in mismatched language features such as the ability to consume objects via late binding, a.k.a. duck typing, but no ability to define them. In a presentation at Lang.NET, Paul Vick talks about bringing scripting back to VB.
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Presentation: Erik Meijer on C# 3.0 and LINQ
In this QCon presentation Erik Meijer talks about C# 3.0 and LINQ. He builds upon his theme of democratizing the web while discussing the new language features of C#.
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Another Look at Anonymous Types in VB
Anonymous types in C# are a rather simple affair, as they are always immutable. VB allows both mutable and immutable anonymous types, with subtly different rules for each.
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Complex VB Compiler Bug Results in Lines of Code Being Skipped
The full title of KB 945425 is "Lines of code may be missing if you compile a solution that has a complex project structure in Visual Studio 2008". They are not kidding, you need a complex mix of at least 5 projects, some of which are referenced by both file and project to trigger this.
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Visual Basic's Questionable Place in Microsoft's Roadmap
Since the beginning, Microsoft has publicly claimed that Visual Basic and C# would be equally supported on the .NET platform. The community, on the other hand, has constantly accused Microsoft of not supporting VB. So where does the truth lie?
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Jonathan Allen on Equality Operator Overloading
Jonathan Allen provides guidance through a systematic walkthrough of both a reference type and value type that support equality. Jonathan provides code samples in both VB and C# to demonstrate the nuances of each .NET language. He also covers usage in both structures and classes.
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Extension Methods, DSLs, and Fluent Interface
A brief look at Domain Specific Langauges, Fluent Interfaces, and how Extension Methods allow them to be used from C# and VB. Plus a tip on using extension methods in the .NET 2.0 framework.
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Borrowing Functional APIs from F#
The Common Language Specification ensures that any conforming .NET language can access libraries created by any other language. This means imperative languages like VB and C# can call functional libraries created primarily for F#. In fact, many can be converted directly into C# code.
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Visual Studio 2008 to be Released this Month
Today Somasegar, vice president of Microsoft's Developer Division, announced that .NET 3.5 and Visual Studio 2008 will be released by the end of November.
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Visual Basic 9 Specification Released
Microsoft has released the specifications for Visual Basic 9. This implies that the language is hardening and probably will not change much between now and the release date, expected to be later this year.
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Visual Basic and C#: Differences in Nullable Types
When .NET 1.0 was released, VB and C# were very similar. But with the fourth version nearing release, the differences are really mounting. Today we look at the subtle differences in nullable types that can trip up developers.