This pocket reference aims to helps make the switch from C# to Visual Basic .NET and vice versa. Differences between the two languages occur in three main areas: syntax, object-oriented principles, and the Visual Studio.NET IDE. Object oriented differences are less obvious, and concern differences in implementation and feature sets between the two languages. IDE differences include things like compiler settings or attributes. There is also a fourth area of difference: language features that are present in one language but have no equivalent in the other. These unique language features are also covered in this book. Author Jose Mojica expects that the reader know one of the two languages, but does not make an assumption aboutwhich one. He presents the information in a language-neutral point of view so that programmers from either background can read a section and feel that it is targeted to them.

Table of Contents

Introduction Conventions Used in This Book Syntax Differences Case Sensitivity Line Termination Comments Namespace Declaration and Usage Variable Declaration Variable Initialization Declaring Function Parameters Passing Function Parameters Optional Parameters Parameter Lists Method Declaration Returning Output Parameters Program Startup Exiting Programs/Methods/Loops Member Scope Static and Shared Methods Classes Versus Modules If Statements Short-Circuiting Conditional Statement Properties and Indexers Arrays for Loops For/Each Loops Try/Catch Blocks Attribute Usage Control Characters Type Comparison and Conversion Object-Oriented Features Inheritance Syntax Method Overloading Constructors and Field Initializers Invoking Other Constructors Invoking Base Constructors Initializers Hiding Base Class Members Overriding Methods Requiring/Preventing Inheritance Declaring and Implementing Interfaces Delegates and Events Comparing Classes String Comparisons IDE Differences AssemblyInfo.x Default/Root Namespace Startup Object App.ico Imports / using COM References Compiler Constants Option Explicit, Option Strict, Option Compare Errors and Warnings Unique Language Features Unsafe Blocks (C SHARP) using (C SHARP) Documentation Comments (C SHARP) Operator Overloading (C SHARP) Late Binding (VB)

About the Author

Jose Mojica is an instructor and researcher at DevelopMentor, a company that's gained an international reputation for its experience with COM and COM+. He teaches various courses that focus on enterprise development in COM+, IIS, .NET, and Visual Basic. Before joining DevelopMentor, Jose was a consultant at IBM, writing DCOM servers that performed speech recognition and creating ActiveX controls in ATL for the ViaVoice SDK. He has worked with Visual Basic since Version 1.0. Jose is the author of Building ActiveX Controls with Visual Basic 5.0 and coauthor of Programming Internet Controls and Distributed Applications for Visual C++ 6.0 MCSD Training Kit.