<s>
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
.NET	I-Language
was	O
released	O
by	O
Microsoft	O
in	O
2002	O
as	O
a	O
successor	O
to	O
the	O
original	O
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
computer	O
programming	O
language	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Programmers	O
familiar	O
only	O
with	O
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
would	O
probably	O
have	O
encountered	O
difficulties	O
working	O
with	O
the	O
new	O
version	O
or	O
adapting	O
existing	O
programs	O
for	O
it	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
While	O
programmers	O
expected	O
to	O
be	O
able	O
to	O
recompile	O
their	O
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
source	O
to	O
a	O
.NET	O
target	O
,	O
the	O
reality	O
of	O
the	O
situation	O
was	O
that	O
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
.NET	I-Language
was	O
a	O
vastly	O
different	O
paradigm	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Obvious	O
syntax	O
differences	O
aside	O
,	O
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
.NET	I-Language
provides	O
much	O
the	O
same	O
functionality	O
as	O
C#	B-Application
(	O
since	O
they	O
both	O
compile	O
down	O
to	O
MSIL	O
,	O
with	O
the	O
most	O
obvious	O
difference	O
being	O
the	O
case	O
insensitivity	O
of	O
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
.NET	I-Language
,	O
maintaining	O
the	O
original	O
case-insensitivity	O
of	O
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
)	O
,	O
which	O
is	O
more	O
of	O
a	O
problem	O
for	O
C#	B-Application
programmers	O
trying	O
to	O
inter-operate	O
with	O
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
.NET	I-Language
developers	O
than	O
anything	O
else	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
basic	O
syntax	O
remains	O
very	O
similar	O
:	O
conditions	O
,	O
loops	O
,	O
procedures	O
,	O
sub-routines	O
are	O
declared	O
and	O
written	O
in	O
the	O
same	O
manner	O
(	O
see	O
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Mobility	O
from	O
prior	O
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
iterations	O
to	O
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
.NET	I-Language
really	O
are	O
parts	O
of	O
existing	O
code	O
:	O
programmers	O
with	O
experience	O
in	O
both	O
worlds	O
are	O
required	O
to	O
effectively	O
target	O
the	O
new	O
platform	O
with	O
older	O
logic	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
.NET	I-Language
developer	O
will	O
have	O
to	O
learn	O
the	O
use	O
of	O
the	O
basic	O
.NET	O
types	O
rather	O
than	O
what	O
they	O
have	O
been	O
used	O
to	O
in	O
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
programmer	O
who	O
has	O
only	O
worked	O
with	O
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
may	O
encounter	O
a	O
steep	O
learning	O
curve	O
to	O
migrate	O
to	O
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
.NET	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
would	O
be	O
better	O
to	O
think	O
of	O
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
.NET	I-Language
as	O
a	O
new	O
language	O
inspired	O
by	O
the	O
classic	B-Language
Visual	I-Language
Basic	I-Language
rather	O
than	O
as	O
a	O
continuation	O
of	O
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
6.0	I-Language
,	O
with	O
the	O
added	O
difficulty	O
for	O
migrating	O
programmers	O
that	O
VB.NET	B-Language
interfaces	O
with	O
the	O
.NET	O
Framework	O
whereas	O
VB6	B-Language
was	O
based	O
on	O
the	O
Component	B-Application
Object	I-Application
Model	I-Application
(	O
COM	B-Application
)	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
.NET	I-Language
allows	O
for	O
the	O
+	O
=	O
,	O
-	O
=	O
,	O
*	O
=	O
,	O
/	O
=	O
,	O
\=,	O
^	O
=	O
,	O
and	O
&	O
=	O
compound	O
operators	O
so	O
that	O
longer	O
lines	O
like	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
prior	O
iterations	O
of	O
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
,	O
all	O
statements	O
in	O
a	O
condition	O
would	O
have	O
been	O
evaluated	O
even	O
if	O
the	O
outcome	O
of	O
the	O
condition	O
could	O
be	O
determined	O
before	O
evaluating	O
a	O
condition	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
.NET	I-Language
,	O
the	O
new	O
AndAlso	O
and	O
OrElse	O
operators	O
have	O
been	O
added	O
to	O
provide	O
short-circuit	O
evaluation	O
like	O
many	O
other	O
languages	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Var*	O
variable	O
types	O
are	O
deprecated	O
in	O
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
.NET	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
procedure	O
call	O
must	O
have	O
parentheses	O
in	O
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
.NET	I-Language
.	O
</s>
<s>
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
.NET	I-Language
requires	O
a	O
ByVal	O
or	O
ByRef	O
specification	O
for	O
parameters	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
the	O
specification	O
could	O
be	O
omitted	O
,	O
implying	O
ByRef	O
by	O
default	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
There	O
are	O
tools	O
to	O
convert	O
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
code	O
to	O
VB.NET	B-Language
,	O
such	O
as	O
the	O
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
Upgrade	O
Wizard	O
that	O
was	O
included	O
in	O
Visual	O
Studio	O
.NET	O
2002	O
and	O
2003	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Conversion	O
tools	O
automatically	O
insert	O
a	O
ByRef	O
if	O
necessary	O
,	O
preserving	O
the	O
semantics	O
of	O
the	O
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
application	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
was	O
the	O
source	O
of	O
many	O
out-by-one	O
errors	O
in	O
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
programs	O
,	O
especially	O
when	O
dealing	O
with	O
interoperability	O
across	O
program	O
library	O
boundaries	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Although	O
the	O
.NET	O
Common	O
Language	O
Runtime	O
can	O
support	O
arrays	O
with	O
any	O
base	O
value	O
,	O
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
.NET	I-Language
and	O
C#	B-Application
provide	O
only	O
zero-based	O
arrays	O
and	O
lists	O
,	O
and	O
the	O
.NET	O
Common	O
Language	O
Specification	O
requires	O
zero-based	O
arrays	O
for	O
interoperability	O
between	O
.NET	O
languages	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
.NET	I-Language
introduced	O
the	O
concept	O
of	O
a	O
jagged	B-Data_Structure
array	I-Data_Structure
,	O
whereby	O
the	O
rows	O
can	O
have	O
unequal	O
length	O
as	O
opposed	O
to	O
the	O
uniform	O
length	O
of	O
arrays	O
imposed	O
on	O
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
programmers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
was	O
an	O
object-based	B-Application
language	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
.NET	I-Language
is	O
a	O
true	O
object-oriented	O
language	O
with	O
the	O
following	O
features	O
:	O
</s>
<s>
Although	O
no	O
language	O
targeting	O
.NET	O
allows	O
for	O
multiple	B-Application
inheritance	I-Application
for	O
classes	O
—	O
multiple	B-Application
inheritance	I-Application
of	O
interfaces	O
is	O
supported	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Whilst	O
the	O
IDE	O
does	O
a	O
reasonable	O
job	O
of	O
hiding	O
the	O
fact	O
,	O
the	O
dependence	O
on	O
ActiveX	O
objects	O
is	O
dropped	O
in	O
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
.NET	I-Language
(	O
although	O
there	O
are	O
mechanisms	O
for	O
interfacing	O
with	O
COM	B-Application
in	O
.NET	O
)	O
in	O
favour	O
of	O
.NET	O
components	O
offering	O
similar	O
functionality	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
shift	O
is	O
good	O
for	O
the	O
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
developer	O
since	O
much	O
of	O
the	O
performance	O
issues	O
in	O
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
arose	O
around	O
the	O
cost	O
of	O
the	O
COM	B-Application
interface	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
One	O
of	O
the	O
true	O
banes	O
of	O
a	O
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
developer	O
's	O
life	O
has	O
always	O
been	O
writing	O
resize	O
code	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Whilst	O
the	O
WinForms	O
paradigm	O
leaves	O
a	O
lot	O
to	O
be	O
desired	O
in	O
the	O
geometry	O
management	O
department	O
in	O
the	O
face	O
of	O
toolkits	O
like	O
Qt	B-Language
and	O
GTK+	B-Application
,	O
at	O
least	O
the	O
developer	O
can	O
anchor	O
widgets	O
on	O
forms	O
instead	O
of	O
having	O
to	O
write	O
reams	O
of	O
code	O
in	O
OnResize	O
handlers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
Visual	B-Language
Basic	I-Language
.NET	I-Language
,	O
Option	O
Explicit	O
is	O
on	O
by	O
default	O
.	O
</s>
