Chapter 1. Why Should You Move to Visual Basic .NET?

IN THIS CHAPTER

• Visual Basic .NET: A New Framework

• The Common Language Runtime

• Managed Execution

• The Common Type System

• The .NET Framework Class Library

• Self-Describing Components

• Cross-Language Interoperability

• Security

A number of people have been grumbling about Visual Basic .NET (VB .NET). The main concern is the fact that they have to learn a new language, when they are comfortable with the current Visual Basic language. It's true that there are some dramatic changes, and that current VB developers have had three years to become comfortable with version 6.0. However, there are some compelling reasons to move to VB .NET, and the learning curve, although steep at first, can be tackled with an understanding of some of the new concepts, chiefly the .NET Framework.