Table of Contents Visual Basic .NET The Complete Reference...................................................................................................1 Foreword..............................................................................................................................................................3 Acknowledgments...................................................................................................................................6 Introduction.........................................................................................................................................................8 Chapter 1...............................................................................................................................................10 Chapter 2...............................................................................................................................................10 Chapter 3...............................................................................................................................................10 Chapter 4...............................................................................................................................................11 Chapter 5...............................................................................................................................................11 Chapter 6...............................................................................................................................................12 Chapter 7...............................................................................................................................................12 Chapter 8...............................................................................................................................................12 Chapter 9...............................................................................................................................................12 Chapter 10.............................................................................................................................................13 Chapter 11.............................................................................................................................................13 Chapter 12.............................................................................................................................................13 Chapter 13.............................................................................................................................................13 Chapter 14.............................................................................................................................................14 Chapter 15.............................................................................................................................................14 Chapter 16.............................................................................................................................................14 Chapter 17.............................................................................................................................................15 Conventions..........................................................................................................................................15 Part I: Introduction to Visual Basic .NET.....................................................................................................16 Chapter List............................................................................................................................................16 Chapter 1: Software Development and Visual Basic .NET..........................................................................17 Overview...............................................................................................................................................17 Visual Basic and the Difficulty of Developing Software.....................................................................17 Reducing Complexity and Time−to−Market with Reuse..............................................................18 Software Development and Software Engineering...............................................................................18 The Classic Programming Models........................................................................................................19 Structured Programming.......................................................................................................................20 Bug−Reduced Code........................................................................................................................21 Divide and Conquer........................................................................................................................21 Reuse..............................................................................................................................................21 Teaming..........................................................................................................................................22 Structural Nada?.............................................................................................................................22 Object−Based Programming..........................................................................................................22 Object−Oriented Software Development..............................................................................................22 Real−World Reflections.......................................................................................................................24 What Makes a Pure Object−Oriented Language..................................................................................25 Just Classes.....................................................................................................................................25 Classes for Modularity, Cohesion, and Coupling...........................................................................26 Classes for Abstraction...................................................................................................................27 Classes for Encapsulation...............................................................................................................27 Classes for Hiding Information......................................................................................................27 Classes for Classification...............................................................................................................28 i Table of Contents Chapter 1: Software Development and Visual Basic .NET Class that Beget Classes: Inheritance.............................................................................................29 Classes for Objects: Instantiation...................................................................................................29 Classes for Association, Aggregation, and Composition...............................................................29 Classes for Events..........................................................................................................................30 Classes for Message Passing..........................................................................................................30 Classes for Polymorphism..............................................................................................................30 Classes for Interfaces......................................................................................................................31 Frameworks...........................................................................................................................................31 Patterns..................................................................................................................................................32 Observations.........................................................................................................................................33 Chapter 2: Visual Basic .NET and the .NET Framework............................................................................34 Overview...............................................................................................................................................34 Getting to Know the Framework's Runtime.........................................................................................35 The Common Type System............................................................................................................35 The Common Language Specification...........................................................................................36 The Common Language Runtime.........................................................................................................38 Microsoft Intermediate Language..................................................................................................40 Metadata.........................................................................................................................................41 Executable Code.............................................................................................................................42 Managed Execution........................................................................................................................42 Side−by−Side