InfoQ Homepage Visual Basic.NET Content on InfoQ
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Do Language Specific Libraries Belong in .NET?
There is a lot of basic functionality the .NET platform does not provide. For example, there is no built-in way to read CSV files, copy directories, or work with zip files. Well actually there is, but only if you dig deep enough.
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New version of .NET Disguised as a "Service Pack"
The beta for Service Pack 1 of .NET 3.5/VS 2008 brings with is a host of new features and libraries including the ADO.NET Entity Framework and Data Services, a client-only version of the Framework, and changes to most of the 3.0 and 3.5 libraries. Despite its name, to many developers this release is as significant as 3.5 itself.
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Collection Initializers in VB
Collection initializers were supposed to be released along with LINQ in C# 3 and VB 9. While C# did get them, they were cut from the VB release. Part of the reason was the Visual Basic team wanted to make VB's version more powerful. We present the leading options for the new syntax.
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Presentation: Beth Massi on Conquering XML with LINQ in VB9
Beth Massi, the Visual Basic content manager on Microsoft's MSDN, presents on how to work with XML and LINQ in Visual Basic 9.
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APIFinder - Your Guide to APIs
Developers today are constantly creating applications that consume services of other web sites. Consuming these services requires figuring out and understanding the sometimes complex Application Programming Interfaces (APIs).
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C# and VB .NET Libraries to Google, YouTube, Facebook, and other Web 2.0 APIs
In a recent post on his blog, Scott Hanselman has compiled a list of .NET libraries useful to interface with some of the Web 2.0 APIs that have proliferated all over the web.
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Performance Problems Continue for VS 2008
Like its predecessors, Visual Studio 2008 continues to have performance issues. Unlike VS 2003 and 2005, Microsoft is actively working on performance patches, if only you know where to look.
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The End of XSLT for .NET Programmers?
Microsoft's VB team is starting a series of articles on how to use XML Literals. Many of these articles will demonstrate how to replace XSLT code with VB by making direct comparisons between the two languages.
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Implicit line continuations in Visual Basic
Line continuation characters have always been a wart on the VB syntax. Unlike languages in the Pascal and C families, Visual Basic does not require a trailing semi-colon to denote the end of a statement. The trade-off for this is that it does need a character to indicate when the statement does not end. Paul Vic is proposing to eliminate continuation characters in most common cases.
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VB 6 to VB.NET Migration Proceeds Ever So Slowly
Six years after VB.NET was released, Microsoft is still slowly working towards a true migration path for VB 6 applications. Recently Microsoft released "Visual Basic Power Packs 3.0". This release adds the Data Repeater, an important control for layouts.
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Bringing Scripting back to VB
Historically Visual Basic has its roots in scripting and dynamic programming, but never fully embraced it. This is seen in mismatched language features such as the ability to consume objects via late binding, a.k.a. duck typing, but no ability to define them. In a presentation at Lang.NET, Paul Vick talks about bringing scripting back to VB.
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Presentation: Erik Meijer on C# 3.0 and LINQ
In this QCon presentation Erik Meijer talks about C# 3.0 and LINQ. He builds upon his theme of democratizing the web while discussing the new language features of C#.
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Another Look at Anonymous Types in VB
Anonymous types in C# are a rather simple affair, as they are always immutable. VB allows both mutable and immutable anonymous types, with subtly different rules for each.
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Complex VB Compiler Bug Results in Lines of Code Being Skipped
The full title of KB 945425 is "Lines of code may be missing if you compile a solution that has a complex project structure in Visual Studio 2008". They are not kidding, you need a complex mix of at least 5 projects, some of which are referenced by both file and project to trigger this.
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Visual Basic's Questionable Place in Microsoft's Roadmap
Since the beginning, Microsoft has publicly claimed that Visual Basic and C# would be equally supported on the .NET platform. The community, on the other hand, has constantly accused Microsoft of not supporting VB. So where does the truth lie?