VB.NET Programming: With the Public Beta - Softcover

Hollis, Billy; Lhotka, Rockford

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1861004915 ISBN 13: 9781861004918

Publisher: WROX Press Ltd, 2001

Synopsis

The .NET framework is the first development platform designed from the ground up with the Internet in mind. In order to incorporate VB developers within this framework, Microsoft have introduced a number of new features to VB.NET, not least a move to full object-oriented programming and greatly enhanced web design facilities.

This book will give the experienced programmer insight into these new and enhanced features, so as to allow them to begin designing and writing real-world applications, which fully utilize the exciting power of VB.NET.

About this title

Review

Early on in VB.NET Programming the authors state there will be changes before the production version of the software appears and a lot of beta software is required to work with VB.NET. Thus much of the early part of the book is a discussion of development platforms, software versions and installation order for the various components. In the end though, you'll be looking at the VS.NET IDE which runs on top of the .NET Framework SDK. The latter supports VB, C and C++ with the option for vendors to add more languages.

As a .NET programmer you're writing for--effectively--a virtual machine; the CLR (Common Language Runtime) which abstracts out Windows API calls--the first step in creating portable programs. For the first time you're also writing in a genuine object-oriented environment complete with inheritance.

The authors compare the new with the old (to the detriment of the old) and go into detail when the differences affect the way you work. For example, forms are now classes, .frm is replaced with code in the class and events are handled differently. Similarly, ASP is replaced with ASP.NET and more importantly, Webforms, while DCOM is replaced with the lighter weight SOAP. Then there's the ubiquitous XML to deal with.

Windows programmers who don't move to .NET will end up maintaining legacy code, so it makes sense to get started now. VB.NET Programming is a great introduction. Read it and you'll land running when .NET programming software goes gold. --Steve Patient

About the Author

Billy Hollis has written many articles, reviews, and columns, appearing in such publications as the Visual Basic Programmers Journal, Unisphere, and Computer User Magazine. He is a frequent speaker at industry events such as the Visual Basic Insiders Technical Summit (VBITS) and Comdex. He presented two sessions at VBITS New York in June 2000 on Getting Ready for Web Forms and A COM Component for Browser Independence. His session at VBITS 99 in Chicago was the highest rated session at the conference. His most recent presentation was at the Wrox conference in Las Vegas (September 2000) on What's new in VB.NET. He is also currently writing the introductory chapter for the Wrox book (in production) previewing Microsoft.NET.

Billy is the Microsoft MSDN Regional Director for Nashville, Tennessee, and collaborates with Microsoft to put on Developer Days in Nashville. He is considered a Subject Matter Expert at Microsoft, and is on the content committee to develop the content for Developers Days 2000.

Rockford Lhotka. Rockford is the author of Professional Visual Basic 6 Distributed Objects and Visual Basic 6 Business Objects both published by Wrox Press and is a contributing author for Visual Basic Programmers Journal and DevX. He has presented at numerous conferences including Microsoft Tech Ed and VBITS. He has over 14 years experience in software development and has worked on many projects in various roles, including software architecture, design and development, network administration and project management. Rockford is the Principal Technology Evangelist for Magenic Technologies, one of the nation's premiere Microsoft Certified Solution Providers dedicated to solving today's most challenging business problems using 100% Microsoft tools and technology.

Edition details

• Publisher: WROX Press Ltd
• Publication date: 2001
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1861004915
• ISBN 13: 9781861004918
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 433