The following topics introduce and discuss the essential components of Visual Basic, an object-oriented programming language. After creating the user interface for your application using forms and controls, you need to write the code that defines the application's behavior. As with any modern programming language, Visual Basic supports a number of common programming constructs and language elements.
If you have programmed in other languages, much of the material covered in this section might seem familiar. While most of the constructs are similar to those in other languages, the event-driven nature of Visual Basic introduces some subtle differences.
If you are new to programming, the material in this section serves as an introduction to the basic building blocks for writing code. Once you understand the basics, you can create powerful applications using Visual Basic.
In This Section
- Visual Basic and the .NET Framework
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Describes the role of Visual Basic in the .NET Framework, and discusses assemblies and attributes.
- Declared Elements in Visual Basic
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Covers programming elements you can declare, their names and characteristics, and how the compiler resolves references to them.
- Data Types in Visual Basic
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Describes what kinds of data a programming element can hold and how that data is stored.
- Variables in Visual Basic
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Discusses how to declare variables to store values, and how to use them to refer to objects.
- Arrays in Visual Basic
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Discusses making your code more compact and powerful by declaring and using arrays, which hold multiple related values.
- Objects in Visual Basic
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Provides an overview of objects and classes, how they are used, their relationships to each other, and the properties, methods, and events they expose.
- Strings in Visual Basic
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Covers declaring and manipulating variables that contain a sequence of characters.
- Constants and Enumerations in Visual Basic
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Discusses storing unchanging values for repeated use, including sets of related constant values.
- Operators and Expressions in Visual Basic
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Describes the code elements that manipulate value-holding elements, how to use them efficiently, and how to combine them to yield new values.
- Statements in Visual Basic
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Provides an overview of the two basic units of instruction in Visual Basic: declaration statements and executable statements.
- Procedures in Visual Basic
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Describes Sub, Function, Property, and Operator procedures, as well as advanced topics such as recursive and overloaded procedures.
- Control Flow in Visual Basic
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Shows how to regulate the flow of your program's execution.
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