Enhanced descriptions from Syndetics:

Most Visual Basic .NET books are written for experienced object-oriented programmers, but many programmers jumping on the .NET bandwagon are coming from non-object-oriented languages, such as Visual Basic 6.0 or from script programming, such as JavaScript. These programmers, and those who are adopting VB.NET as their first programming language, have been out of luck when it comes to finding a high-quality introduction to the language that helps them get started. That's why Jesse Liberty, author of the best-selling books Programming C# and Programming ASP.NET , has written an entry-level guide to Visual Basic .NET. Written in a warm and friendly manner, this book assumes no prior programming experience, and provides an easy introduction to Microsoft's most popular .NET language. Learning Visual Basic .NET is a complete introduction to VB.NET and object-oriented programming. This book will help you build a solid foundation in .NET, and show how to apply your skills by using hundreds of examples to help you become productive quickly. Learning Visual Basic .NET introduces fundamentals like Visual Studio .NET, a tool set for building Windows and Web applications. You'll learn about the syntax and structure of the Visual Basic .NET language, including operators, classes and interfaces, structs, arrays, and strings. Liberty then demonstrates how to develop various kinds of applications--including those that work with databases--and web services. By the time you've finished Learning Visual Basic .NET , you'll be ready to move on to a more advanced programming guide that will help you create large-scale web and Windows applications. Whether you have a little object-oriented programming experience or you are new to programming altogether, Visual Basic .NET will set you firmly on your way to mastering the essentials of the VB.NET language.

Table of contents provided by Syndetics

• Preface (p. ix)
• 1. Visual Basic .NET and .NET Programming (p. 1)
• Visual Basic and .NET (p. 1)
• The .NET Platform (p. 3)
• The .NET Framework (p. 3)
• The VB.NET Language (p. 4)
• The Structure of VB.NET Applications (p. 4)
• The Development Environment (p. 5)
• 2. Getting Started with VB.NET (p. 6)
• What's in a Program? (p. 8)
• Your First Program: Hello World (p. 9)
• Examining Your First Program (p. 11)
• 3. Object-Oriented Programming (p. 14)
• Creating Models (p. 15)
• Classes and Objects (p. 16)
• Defining a Class (p. 17)
• Class Relationships (p. 18)
• The Three Pillars of Object-Oriented Programming (p. 19)
• Encapsulation (p. 19)
• Specialization (p. 20)
• Polymorphism (p. 21)
• Object-Oriented Analysis and Design (p. 21)
• 4. Visual Studio .NET (p. 23)
• Start Page (p. 25)
• Inside the Integrated Development Environment (IDE) (p. 27)
• IntelliSense (p. 29)
• Building and Running (p. 30)
• For More Information (p. 31)
• 5. VB.NET Language Fundamentals (p. 32)
• Types (p. 32)
• Variables (p. 36)
• Constants (p. 39)
• Strings (p. 47)
• Statements (p. 47)
• Whitespace (p. 48)
• 6. Branching (p. 49)
• Unconditional Branching Statements (p. 50)
• Conditional Branching Statements (p. 52)
• Iteration (Looping) Statements (p. 60)
• 7. Operators (p. 71)
• The Assignment Operator (=) (p. 71)
• Mathematical Operators (p. 71)
• Relational Operators (p. 76)
• Logical Operators Within Conditionals (p. 77)
• Operator Precedence (p. 79)
• 8. Classes and Objects (p. 82)
• Defining Classes (p. 83)
• Method Arguments (p. 94)
• Constructors (p. 96)
• Initializers (p. 98)
• Copy Constructors (p. 100)
• The Me Keyword (p. 101)
• Using Shared Members (p. 102)
• Destroying Objects (p. 105)
• 9. Inside Methods (p. 107)
• Overloading Methods (p. 107)
• Encapsulating Data with Properties (p. 110)
• Passing by Value and by Reference (p. 115)
• 10. Basic Debugging (p. 121)
• Setting a Breakpoint (p. 121)
• The Call Stack (p. 129)
• 11. Inheritance and Polymorphism (p. 130)
• Specialization and Generalization (p. 130)
• Inheritance (p. 133)
• Polymorphism (p. 136)
• Abstract Classes (p. 142)
• NotInheritable Classes (p. 145)
• The Root of All Classes: Object (p. 146)
• Boxing and Unboxing Types (p. 148)
• 12. Structures (p. 151)
• Defining a Structure (p. 152)
• 13. Interfaces (p. 157)
• Defining an Interface (p. 158)
• Implementing an Interface (p. 159)
• Implementing More Than One Interface (p. 163)
• Casting to an Interface (p. 165)
• Extending Interfaces (p. 170)
• Combining Interfaces (p. 173)
• Overriding Interface Implementations (p. 174)
• 14. Arrays (p. 180)
• Arrays (p. 181)
• Multidimensional Arrays (p. 191)
• System.Array (p. 199)
• Indexers and the Default Property (p. 202)
• 15. Collection Interfaces and Types (p. 212)
• The Collection Interfaces (p. 212)
• Array Lists (p. 224)
• The Collection Class (p. 226)
• Queues (p. 229)
• Stacks (p. 233)
• Copying from a Collection Type to an Array (p. 236)
• 16. Strings (p. 239)
• Creating Strings (p. 239)
• Manipulating Strings (p. 241)
• Regular Expressions (p. 255)
• The Regex Class (p. 256)
• 17. Throwing and Catching Exceptions (p. 259)
• Throwing Exceptions (p. 260)
• Searching for an Exception Handler (p. 260)
• The Throw Statement (p. 261)
• The Try and Catch Statements (p. 263)
• How the Call Stack Works (p. 264)
• Creating Dedicated Catch Statements (p. 266)
• The Finally Statement (p. 268)
• Exception Class Methods and Properties (p. 270)
• Custom Exceptions (p. 273)
• 18. Applications and Events (p. 276)
• Creating a Windows Application (p. 276)
• Events (p. 280)
• Server-Side Code (p. 287)
• 19. Afterword (p. 289)
• Where to Go from Here (p. 289)
• Advanced Topics in VB.NET (p. 289)
• Web (ASP .NET) Programming (p. 291)
• Windows Forms Programming (p. 292)
• Other Resources (p. 292)
• Index (p. 293)

Author notes provided by Syndetics

Jesse Liberty is the best selling author of Programming ASP.NET, Programming C#, and a dozen other books on web and object oriented programming. He is president of Liberty Associates, Inc., where he provides contract programming, consulting and on-site training in ASP.NET, C#, C++ and related topics. Jesse has been a Distinguished Software Engineer at AT&T and Vice President for technology development at CitiBank.