Computer Science Plateau State Polythecnic

20/03/2023

Holding in tears and pretending to be okay puts a lot of stress on your mind as well as your heart.Crying keeps you healthy.
™

22/07/2013

THIS ARTICLE MAY HELP YOU
TOPIC:STUDY SKILL SERIES.
Concentrating while studying
Concentration: the ability to direct your
thinking
The art or practice of concentration,
no matter if studying biology or playing pool,
is to focus on the task at hand and eliminate
distraction
We all have the ability to concentrate --
sometimes. Think of the times when you were
"lost" in something you enjoy: a sport, playing
music, a good game, a movie. Total
concentration.
But at other times,
Your mind wanders from one thing to another
Your worries distract you
Outside distractions take you away before you
know it
The material is boring, difficult, and/or not
interesting to you.
These tips may help: They involve
1. What you can control in your studies
2. Best practices
Before engaging in your studies, and
concentrating,
try to center yourself with silence, clearing
your mind of distractions
that may disrupt your productivity.
What you can control in your studies:
"Here I study"
Get a dedicated space, chair, table, lighting and
environment
Avoid your cellphone or telephone
Put up a sign to avoid being disturbed or
interrupted
If you like music in the background, OK, but don't
let it be a distraction.
(Research on productivity with music versus
without music is inconclusive)
Stick to a routine, efficient study schedule
Accommodate your day/nighttime energy levels
See our Guide on Setting goals and making a
scheduling
Focus
Before you begin studying, take a few minutes to
summarize a few objectives, gather what you will
need, and think of a general strategy of
accomplishment
Incentives
Create an incentive if necessary for successfully
completing a task,
such as calling a friend, a food treat, a walk, etc.
For special projects such as term papers, design
projects, long book reviews, set up a special
incentive
Change topics
Changing the subject you study every one to two
hours for variety
Vary your study activities
Alternate reading with more active learning
exercises
If you have a lot of reading, try the SQ3R method
Ask yourself how you could increase your activity
level while studying? Perhaps a group will be
best? Creating study questions?
Ask your teacher for alternative strategies for
learning. The more active your learning, the
better.
Take regular, scheduled breaks that fit you
Do something different from what you've been
doing (e.g., walk around if you'vebeen sitting),
and in a different area
Rewards
Give yourself a reward when you've completed a
task
Best Practices:
You should notice improvement in a few
days
But like any practice, there will beups, levels, and
downs:
It will benefit other activities youdo!

06/02/2013

To ALL ND2 COMPUTER SCIENCE STUDENTS PLATEAU STATE POLYTHECNIC.
System programming assignment answers.
THE DIFFERENCES BETWEEN SYSTEM PROGRAMMING AND APPLICATION PROGRAMMING.
1.
In a system programming language you must be able to reach low-level stuff, getting close to the real hardware world. In an application language insteadthere is a sort of "virtual world" (hopefully nicer and easier to interact with) that has been designed with the language and you only needto be able to cope with that.
2.
In a system programming language there should be noconcession in terms of performance. One must be able to write code that squeezes out all the juice from the hardware. This is not the biggest concern in an application programming language, where the time needed to actually write the program plays instead a greater role.
3.
Because of 2 a system programming language is free to assume that the programmer makes no mistake and so there will be no "runtime error" guards. For example indexing out ofan array is going to mean the end of the world unless the hardware gives those checks for free (but in that case you could probably choose less expensive or faster hardware instead). The idea is that if you assume that the code is correct there is no point in paying even a small price for checking the impossible. Also a system programming language shouldn't get into the way trying to forbid the programmer doing somethings/he wants to do intentionally... the assumption is that s/he knows that is the right thingto do. In an application programming language instead it's considered goodhelping the programmer withchecking code and also trying to force the code to use certain philosophical schemas. In application programming languages things like ex*****on speed,typing time and code size can be sacrificed trying to help programmers avoiding shooting themselves.
4.
Because of 3 a system programming language will be much harder to learn by experimentation. In a sense they're sort of powerful but dangerous tools that one should use carefully thinkingto every single statement and for the same reason they're languages where debugging is much harder. Inapplication programming languages instead the try-and-see approach may be reasonable (if the virtualworld abstraction is not leaking too much) and putting errors in to remove them later is considered a viable option.

24/11/2012

What should I do when a computer freezes?
Question

What should I do when a computer freezes?
Answer

This document contains recommendations on what to do if the computer frequently freezes or completely halts. An easy way to determine if your computer is in this situation is by pressing the Num Lock button on the keyboard and watching the Num Lock led (light) to see if it turns off and on.

If you're able to get the light to turn off and on and are running Microsoft Windows, press CTRL + ALT + DEL and End Task the program.

How to remove TSRs and startup programs.

Make sure the computer is really frozen

Although the above Num Lock trick is a good indication on whether or not the computer is really frozen, it's still always a good recommendation to give the computer at least a minute before turning it off.

Reboot the computer

After waiting a minute, reboot the computer; it's completely locked and will not recover. Keep in mind that all work being worked on is going to be lost and cannot be recovered if the information has not been saved or automatically saved.

24/11/2012

Regaining computer hard drive space
Issue

Regaining computer hard drive space.
Answers

Microsoft Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP, Vista and 7 users
Microsoft Windows 95 users
MS-DOS and Windows 3.x users

Microsoft Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP, Vista and 7 users

Run the Disk Cleanup option

Open My Computer.
Right-click on the hard drive that you wish to regain hard drive space. For example, right-click on the C: drive.
Click Properties.
Within the General tab, click the "Disk Cleanup" button located next to the pie chart.
Windows will scan the computer for all files available to clean up.
Once in the Disk Cleanup window check each of the boxes (except "compress old files") that are taking disk space and click Ok and then Yes if you wish to proceed.

Compress?

When performing a Disk Cleanup you'll have an option to compress your hard drive. We strongly recommend users do not compress their hard drive or compress their old files.

Uninstall old programs or games no longer used

Uninstalling Windows software.

Disable System Restore

Windows XP, Vista, and 7 users can also decrease the default space utilized by Windows System Restore and often gain several additional gigabytes of hard drive space. See the below steps in customizing this feature.

Click Start, Programs, Accessories, System Tools, and open System Restore.
Within the System Restore window, click System Restore Settings.
Within the System Restore tab you can either check the Turn off System Restore on all drives to completely disable this feature, or click the Settings button and decrease the space usage, which is what we would recommend.

Additional suggestion for Windows 2000 and Windows XP users:

Window 2000 and Windows XP keeps all the necessary files needed to uninstall any of the updates ever installed on your computer. Often this is several dozen updates that can take up several hundred and sometimes over 1 gig of space on your hard drive.

What are the $NtUninstallKB######$ folders in Windows?

Disable hibernation

If you turn your computer off instead of using hibernation mode you can disable this feature to free up a lot of disk space.

How do I disable hibernation mode in Windows?

Microsoft Windows 95 users

Users can regain computer hard drive space by performing any or all of the below steps.

Clean up temporary files

Click Start and then Search or Find
In the "File Type" text field type: *.tmp and verify the computer is looking at the C: drive or the drive that contains your operating system.
Search for files and delete each of the temporary files that are found.

Delete chk files

Perform the same steps as number one except search for *.chk and delete any of the files that are found.

Uninstall old programs or games no longer used

Uninstalling Windows software.

MS-DOS and Windows 3.x users

Users can regain computer hard drive space by performing any or all of the below steps.

From the MS-DOS prompt, type del *.tmp /s and del *.chk /s. This command will delete any temporary files or scandisk error files on the hard drive.
Delete any software programs or games you are no longer using from MS-DOS or from Windows.

See the del command and deltree command pages for further information about each of these commands.

24/11/2012

Why do Windows programs stop responding
Issue

Why do Windows programs stop responding?
Additional information

A computer, operating system, software program or driver may stop responding or cause other programs to stop responding because of several possible reasons, such as a confliction of software or hardware resources between two programs, lack of system resources, or a bug in the software or drivers.
Solution

To recover from a program that has stopped responding, a user can press the CTRL + ALT + DEL keys on his or her keyboards to open the "Close Program" window or open the "Task Manager" window and click the "End Task" button to terminate the program. If another window opens, click the "End Task" button again to confirm stopping that program.

It is important to realize that when a program stops responding any work that has not been saved will more than likely be lost when end tasking a program. Unfortunately, there is no alternative.

If you continue to experience programs locking the computer or stop responding we recommend you review our General Troubleshooting page for recommendations on steps that can be performed to help stop this issue from occurring.

24/11/2012

Windows runtime errors
Issue

Windows runtime errors.
Cause

The runtime or run-time error message can be caused by:

Confliction with TSR or other running program
Software issue
Computer Virus
Memory issue

Solution

Before following the below recommendations for troubleshooting your runtime error if you're getting a runtime error with a runtime error code and error message such as "Runtime error 75 path/file access error", skip to the below runtime error listing for a listing of runtime error codes and additional information and causes for these errors.

Confliction with TSR or other running program

If you are encountering a runtime error message while in Windows or above ensure that the issue is not being caused by a third-party program or TSR by end tasking all open programs.

If, after end tasking all TSRs, you continue to experience the same issue and are running Windows 95 or Windows 98, verify that no utility or program is being loaded in the autoexec.bat and config.sys that is causing your issue by temporally renaming the files. To do this, follow the below instructions.

Boot to a MS-DOS prompt.
Once at the MS-DOS prompt, type:

cd\
ren autoexec.bat autoexec.ch
ren config.sys config.ch

Once completed, reboot the computer.

Software issue

If your issue persists it is possible that the program, utility or game causing the runtime error may have issues. Verify through the developer's web site that all updates or patches that may be available have been downloaded and applied.

If no patches or updates are available, uninstall and reinstall the program that is causing the issue. If you are having a runtime error in your operating system, reinstall the operating system.

Add-on, plug-in, or other extra software

Many runtime errors are also caused by other add-ons, plug-ins, or other extra software that has been installed onto the computer and is associated with the program generating the error. If you have any extra software installed that is associated with the program generating the error make sure there are no available updates for the programs and try uninstalling each of them to verify they're not the cause of your issue.

Computer virus

Because computer viruses are capable of tampering with the system settings or memory it is possible for a computer virus to generate a runtime error. If you are currently running a virus protection program on your computer ensure it has the latest updated patch or .dat file.

If you do not have a computer virus protection program it is recommended one be purchased or that a demo be temporarily downloaded to scan your computer hard drive for viruses.

Additional information about computer viruses can be found on our virus information page.

Memory issue

Finally, if you have followed all of the above recommendations, it is possible that you may be encountering a hardware or memory related issue. We recommend that you first contact the developer of the program causing the issue for any possible solutions. If no solutions are found, we recommend you contact the computer or motherboard manufacturer for additional recommendations or service.

Out of memory errors.
Computer companies and contact information.

Runtime error listings

Below is a listing of Microsoft Windows and Windows software runtime error codes and related Runtime error messages. If you're encountering one of the below runtime error codes and have a matching runtime error message see the associated additional information column for causes and information about that runtime. If the additional information does not help resolve your issue try the recommendations under the above solution section.
Error code Runtime error message Additional information
5 Illegal function call Program error, verify the program has all the latest updates. If updated try reinstalling the program. If you continue to have the same errors contact the software developer.
6 Overflow Program error, verify the program has all the latest updates. If updated try reinstalling the program. If you continue to have the same errors contact the software developer.
7 Out of memory This issue can be caused when the computer does not meet the programs system requirements or to much memory is already being used for the program to run. If your computer meets the requirements try first reinstalling the program to make sure it's not an issues with the program installation. If this does not resolve your issue see out of memory troubleshooting steps.
9 Subscript out of range Program error, verify the program has all the latest updates. If updated try reinstalling the program. If you continue to have the same errors contact the software developer.
10 Duplicate definition Program error, verify the program has all the latest updates. If updated try reinstalling the program. If you continue to have the same errors contact the software developer.
11 Division by zero Problem with a math formula in the program or the programs code. Verify no software updates are available for the program causing this error.
13 Type Mismatch Make sure your system regional settings are setup correctly and that the program you're running is made for your version of Windows.
14 Out of string space Program error, verify the program has all the latest updates. If updated try reinstalling the program. If you continue to have the same errors contact the software developer.
19 No Resume Program error, verify the program has all the latest updates. If updated try reinstalling the program. If you continue to have the same errors contact the software developer.
20 Resume without error Program error, verify the program has all the latest updates. If updated try reinstalling the program. If you continue to have the same errors contact the software developer.
28 Out of stack space This issue can be caused by a program or memory error. First try going through the out of memory troubleshooting steps.
35 Sub or Function not defined Program error, verify the program has all the latest updates. If updated try reinstalling the program. If you continue to have the same errors contact the software developer.
48 Error in loading DLL This issue is often caused with a bad installation or an issue caused after another program has been installed that replaced the programs DLL. Close all programs and TSRs and try installing the program again.
52 Bad file name or number Program error, verify the program has all the latest updates. If updated try reinstalling the program. If you continue to have the same errors contact the software developer.
53 File not found File required by the program to run is not found. Program needs to be reinstalled or missing file(s) need to be copied back to the computer.
54 Bad file mode Program error, verify the program has all the latest updates. If updated try reinstalling the program. If you continue to have the same errors contact the software developer.
55 File already open Program or file associated with program is being used and program does not have access to use it. Try closing all open and background programs and run program again.
58 File already exists Program error, verify the program has all the latest updates. If updated try reinstalling the program. If you continue to have the same errors contact the software developer.
61 Disk full The disk, for example, the hard drive does not have enough space for the program to run or for associated files to be copied to. Free up disk space on the computer hard drive.
62 Input past end of file Program error, verify the program has all the latest updates. If updated try reinstalling the program. If you continue to have the same errors contact the software developer.
63 Bad record number Program error, verify the program has all the latest updates. If updated try reinstalling the program. If you continue to have the same errors contact the software developer.
64 Bad file name Program error, verify the program has all the latest updates. If updated try reinstalling the program. If you continue to have the same errors contact the software developer.
68 Device unavailable A hardware device or necessary requirement for the program is not being found. Verify all hardware and software required by the program is installed. If you continue to have the same issues verify the latest updates are installed for the program as well as any hardware device the program needs.
70 Permission denied The location of where the program is being copied to does not have proper rights. Or a file that is trying to be copied over because it's currently being used. Try closing all programs and TSRs and running/installing the program again.
71 Disk not ready Verify you have proper rights to the location you are attempting to install the program to.
74 Can't rename with different drive Program error, verify the program has all the latest updates. If updated try reinstalling the program. If you continue to have the same errors contact the software developer.
75 Path/File access error Program does not have rights or access to a file. Often this is caused when a program is trying to access a network file it doesn't have proper access to either because of network privileges or something is blocking the program. This issue can also be caused when the file is being used by another program or is read-only.
76 Path not found Directory of where the program needs to be copied to or files associated with the program need to be copied to is missing. Try reinstalling the program.
91 Object variable set to Nothing Program error, verify the program has all the latest updates. If updated try reinstalling the program. If you continue to have the same errors contact the software developer.
93 Invalid pattern Program error, verify the program has all the latest updates. If updated try reinstalling the program. If you continue to have the same errors contact the software developer.
94 Illegal use of NULL Program error, verify the program has all the latest updates. If updated try reinstalling the program. If you continue to have the same errors contact the software developer.
102 Command failed Program error, verify the program has all the latest updates. If updated try reinstalling the program. If you continue to have the same errors contact the software developer.
339 A file is missing or invalid An associated program file is missing or corrupt. Try reinstalling the program.
429 Object creation failed Program is corrupted, try reinstalling the program generating the runtime error.
438 No such property or method Program error, verify the program has all the latest updates. If updated try reinstalling the program. If you continue to have the same errors contact the software developer.
439 Argument type mismatch Program error, verify the program has all the latest updates. If updated try reinstalling the program. If you continue to have the same errors contact the software developer.
440 Object error Program error, verify the program has all the latest updates. If updated try reinstalling the program. If you continue to have the same errors contact the software developer.
901 Input buffer would be larger than 64K Program error, verify the program has all the latest updates. If updated try reinstalling the program. If you continue to have the same errors contact the software developer.
902 Operating system error Verify the program is compatible with your version of Windows and has any software updates.
903 External procedure not found Program error, verify the program has all the latest updates. If updated try reinstalling the program. If you continue to have the same errors contact the software developer.
904 Global variable type mismatch Program error, verify the program has all the latest updates. If updated try reinstalling the program. If you continue to have the same errors contact the software developer.
905 User-defined type mismatch A setting either in the program shortcut or being defined by the user is correct. Try running just the program without any additional settings or variables.
906 External procedure interface mismatch Program error, verify the program has all the latest updates. If updated try reinstalling the program. If you continue to have the same errors contact the software developer.
1001 Out of memory This issue can be caused when the computer does not meet the programs system requirements or to much memory is already being used for the program to run.

If your computer meets the requirements try first reinstalling the program to make sure it's not an issue with the program installation. If this does not resolve your issue run through the out of memory troubleshooting steps.
1025 DLL is not supported This issue is often caused with a bad installation or an issue caused after another program has been installed that replaced the programs DLL. Close all programs and TSRs and try installing the program again.
6025 Microsoft Windows r6025 runtime error.
Additional information

See the runtime error definition for further information and related terms.

24/11/2012

How to erase my hard drive and start over
Issue

How to erase my hard drive and start over.
Checklist

The below recommendations are what a user should check before completely erasing their computer hard drive and starting over. Following these steps can prevent hours of hassles and headaches. If your computer is not able to boot into Windows Safe Mode skip this checklist.

Did you backup all information on your hard drive?
If the computer works, make sure the Windows CD, Recovery CD, or accessing the hidden System Recovery partition works before erasing anything.
Do you have the necessary licensing and OEM numbers needed to register your software again?
If you added any new hardware (e.g. printer, video, card, etc.) since you bought your computer make sure to have the discs needed to install those devices again.
Be prepared to install dozens of patches after everything has been installed. It's very important that you do all Windows updates after installing a fresh copy of Windows on the computer.
Have installation discs or be prepared to download an antivirus immediately after installing Windows.
Finally, realize that re-installing any operating system to the point of completion is going to take several hours to complete.
Solution

Notice: remember that following the below steps will erase all of the information on your hard drive and make it like new. Once the below steps have been completed, you will not be able to reverse the steps if you want to recover possible lost data.

How to help make sure all private information is securely erased.
Unable to restore computer using restore disc.

Erasing the hard drive

Tip: If you have an OEM computer (Acer, ASUS, Dell, Hewlett Packard, etc.) it's likely that you have a hidden System Recovery partition and don't need to use any CD or DVD to restore your computer.

How do I install Microsoft Windows XP.
How to install Microsoft Windows 2000.

The below steps are for users with MS-DOS 5.0+, Windows 3.x, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME, and Windows NT 4.0.

Place the bootable diskette or disc inside the computer and reboot to get to the DOS prompt. In some cases you may need to boot the computer with CD-ROM support or press a key to boot from the disk.
At the MS-DOS prompt type format c: /s
The computer will ask you "Are you sure you want to erase everything on drive c:" if you are ok with doing this press "Y" for yes and press enter.
After doing this, the computer will begin the formatting process. While the computer is formatting make sure no errors are encountered.
Once the format process is completed successfully, at the MS-DOS prompt type fdisk /mbr and press enter. This should return you back to the MS-DOS prompt with no message. This step is not required but recommended.
Once back at the MS-DOS prompt, reboot the computer with the boot disk still in the computer.
Once back at the MS-DOS prompt, insert either the diskettes for MS-DOS, Windows 3.x, Windows 95, or the CD for Windows 95, Windows 98 or Windows NT and click the appropriate link

MS-DOS users
Windows 3.x users
Windows 95 floppy diskette users
Windows 95 CD users
Windows 98 users
Windows NT 4.0 users

Windows NT 4.0 users

Windows NT can be installed several different ways. We recommend that Windows NT be installed using the below steps as we feel that these steps by far are the easiest way to install Windows NT 4.0.

First, we recommend that all users wanting to install Windows NT use the /b switch, which allows the users to not need to create the diskettes. We do, however, recommend that the user create the Emergency recover diskettes if they have not already been created after the installation of Windows NT.

Finally, before the installation of Windows NT, it is recommended that you run SMARTDRV, which will help the installation of Windows NT run a lot faster.

Place the CD into the computer.
Type X: (where x is the CD-ROM drive, often this is D:).
Once at the appropriate drive, type CD WINNT and press enter to get into the Windows 95 directory.
Once at X:\WINNT> type winnt /b.
Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.

Windows 98 users

How to install Microsoft Windows 98.

Windows 95 CD users

Place the CD into the computer.
Type X: (where x is the CD-ROM drive, often this is D:).
Once at the appropriate drive, type CD WIN95 and press enter to get into the Windows 95 directory.
Once at X:\WIN95> type setup to begin the installation
Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.

If you are encountering issues during the setup process, you can add additional switches to the setup command line. These switches can be found on our Windows 95 Setup Switches page.

Windows 95 floppy diskette users

Place the first diskette of Windows 95 into the computer.
At the A:\> type setup and press enter to begin the installation.
Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.

Note: If you discover a bad diskette during the installation of Windows 95 it is recommended you contact Microsoft for possible replacement.

Windows 3.x users

Place the first diskette of Windows 3.x into the computer.
At the A:\> type setup and press enter to begin the installation.
Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.

Note: If you discover a bad diskette during the installation, it is recommended that you contact Microsoft for a possible replacement.

MS-DOS users

Place the first MS-DOS diskette into the computer.
At the A:\> type setup and press enter to being the installation.
Follow the on-screen instructions to complete the installation.

Note: If you discover a bad diskette during the installation, it is recommended that you contact Microsoft for a possible replacement.

22/11/2012

Visual Basic .NET (VB.NET), is an object-oriented computer programming language that can be viewed as an evolution of the classic Visual Basic (VB), which is implemented on the .NET Framework. Microsoft currently supplies two main editions of IDEs for developing in Visual Basic: Microsoft Visual Studio 2010, which is commercial software and Visual Basic Express Edition 2010, which is free of charge. The command-line compiler, VBC.EXE, is installed as part of the freeware .NET Framework SDK. Mono also includes a command-line VB.NET compiler.Contents [hide]
1 Versions
1.1 Visual Basic .NET (2002) (VB 7.0)
1.2 Visual Basic .NET 2003 (VB 7.1)
1.3 Visual Basic 2005 (VB 8.0)
1.3.1 'IsNot' Operator Patent Application
1.4 Visual Basic 2008 (VB 9.0)
1.5 Visual Basic 2010 (VB 10.0)
2 Relation to older versions of Visual Basic (VB6 and previous)
2.1 Comparative samples
3 Criticism
4 Cross-platform and open-source development
5 Examples
6 See also
7 References
8 Further reading
9 External links

[edit]
Versions

There are 5 versions of Visual Basic .NET implemented by the Visual Basic team.
[edit]
Visual Basic .NET (2002) (VB 7.0)

The first version of Visual Basic .NET, which runs on .NET framework 1.0. The most important feature is Managed code, which contrasts with Visual Basic 6.0 and before.
[edit]
Visual Basic .NET 2003 (VB 7.1)

Visual Basic .NET 2003 was released with version 1.1 of the .NET Framework. New features included support for the .NET Compact Framework and a better VB upgrade wizard. Improvements were also made to the performance and reliability of the .NET IDE (particularly the background compiler) and runtime. In addition, Visual Basic .NET 2003 was available in the Visual Studio.NET Academic Edition (VS03AE). VS03AE is distributed to a certain number of scholars from each country without cost.
[edit]
Visual Basic 2005 (VB 8.0)

Visual Basic 2005 was the name used to refer to Visual Basic .NET, as Microsoft decided to drop the .NET portion of the title.

For this release, Microsoft added many features, including:
Edit and Continue
Design-time expression evaluation.
The My pseudo-namespace (overview, details), which provides:sindhu
easy access to certain areas of the .NET Framework that otherwise require significant code to access
dynamically generated classes (notably My.Forms)
Improvements to the VB-to-VB.NET converter[2]
The Using keyword, simplifying the use of objects that require the Dispose pattern to free resources
Just My Code, which when debugging hides (steps over) boilerplate code written by the Visual Studio .NET IDE and system library code
Data Source binding, easing database client/server development

The above functions (particularly My) are intended to reinforce Visual Basic .NET's focus as a rapid application development platform and further differentiate it from C #.

Visual Basic 2005 introduced features meant to bridge the gaps between itself and other "more powerful" .NET languages, adding:
Features of other .NET 2.0 languages such as:
Generics[3]
Partial classes, a method of defining some parts of a class in one file and then adding more definitions later; particularly useful for integrating user code with auto-generated code
Nullable Types[4]
Support for unsigned integer data types commonly used in other languages
[edit]
'IsNot' Operator Patent Application

One other feature of Visual Basic 2005 is the IsNot operator that makes 'If X IsNot Y' equivalent to 'If Not X Is Y', which gained notoriety[5] when it was found to be the subject of a Microsoft patent application.[6][7]
[edit]
Visual Basic 2008 (VB 9.0)

Visual Basic 9.0 was released together with the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 on 19 November 2007.

For this release, Microsoft added many features, including:
A true conditional operator, "If(condition as boolean, truepart, falsepart)", to replace the "IIf" function.
Anonymous types
Support for LINQ
Lambda expressions
XML Literals
Type Inference
Extension methods
[edit]
Visual Basic 2010 (VB 10.0)

In April 2010, Microsoft released Visual Basic 2010. Microsoft had planned to use the Dynamic Language Runtime (DLR) for that release[8] but shifted to a co-evolution strategy between Visual Basic and sister language C # to bring both languages into closer parity with one another. Visual Basic's innate ability to interact dynamically with CLR and COM objects has been enhanced to work with dynamic languages built on the DLR such as IronPython and IronRuby.[9] The Visual Basic compiler was improved to infer line continuation in a set of common contexts, in many cases removing the need for the "_" line continuation character. Also, existing support of inline Functions was complemented with support for inline Subs as well as multi-line versions of both Sub and Function lambdas.[10]
[edit]
Relation to older versions of Visual Basic (VB6 and previous)

Whether Visual Basic .NET should be considered as just another version of Visual Basic or a completely different language is a topic of debate. This is not obvious, as once the methods that have been moved around and that can be automatically converted are accounted for, the basic syntax of the language has not seen many "breaking" changes, just additions to support new features like structured exception handling and short-circuited expressions. Two important data type changes occurred with the move to VB.NET. Compared to VB6, the Integer data type has been doubled in length from 16 bits to 32 bits, and the Long data type has been doubled in length from 32 bits to 64 bits. This is true for all versions of VB.NET. A 16-bit integer in all versions of VB.NET is now known as a Short. Similarly, the Windows Forms GUI editor is very similar in style and function to the Visual Basic form editor.

The version numbers used for the new Visual Basic (7, 7.1, 8, 9, ...) clearly imply that it is viewed by Microsoft as still essentially the same product as the old Visual Basic.

The things that have changed significantly are the semantics—from those of an object-based programming language running on a deterministic, reference-counted engine based on COM to a fully object-oriented language backed by the .NET Framework, which consists of a combination of the Common Language Runtime (a virtual machine using generational garbage collection and a just-in-time compilation engine) and a far larger class library. The increased breadth of the latter is also a problem that VB developers have to deal with when coming to the language, although this is somewhat addressed by the My feature in Visual Studio 2005.

The changes have altered many underlying assumptions about the "right" thing to do with respect to performance and maintainability. Some functions and libraries no longer exist; others are available, but not as efficient as the "native" .NET alternatives. Even if they compile, most converted VB6 applications will require some level of refactoring to take full advantage of the new language. Documentation is available to cover changes in the syntax, debugging applications, deployment and terminology.[11]
[edit]
Comparative samples

The following simple example demonstrates similarity in syntax between VB and VB.NET. Both examples pop up a message box saying "Hello, World" with an OK button.
Private Sub Command1_Click()
MsgBox "Hello, World"
End Sub

A VB.NET example, MsgBox or the MessageBox class can be used:
Public Class Form1
Private Sub Button1_Click(ByVal sender As System.Object, ByVal e As System.EventArgs) Handles
Button1.Click
MessageBox.Show("Hello, World")
End Sub
End Class
Both Visual Basic 6 and Visual Basic .NET will automatically generate the Sub and End Sub statements when the corresponding button is clicked in design view. Visual Basic .NET will also generate the necessary Class and End Class statements. The developer need only add the statement to display the "Hello, World" message box.
All procedure calls must be made with parentheses in VB.NET, whereas in VB6 there were different conventions for functions (parentheses required) and subs (no parentheses allowed, unless called using the keyword Call).
The names Command1 and Button1 are not obligatory. However, these are default names for a command button in VB6 and VB.NET respectively.
In VB.NET, the Handles keyword is used to make the sub Button1_Click a handler for the Click event of the object Button1. In VB6, event handler subs must have a specific name consisting of the object's name ("Command1"), an underscore ("_"), and the event's name ("Click", hence "Command1_Click").
There is a function called MsgBox in the Microsoft.VisualBasic namespace which can be used similarly to the corresponding function in VB6. There is a controversy about which function to use as a best practice (not only restricted to showing message boxes but also regarding other features of the Microsoft.VisualBasic namespace). Some programmers prefer to do things "the .NET way", since the Framework classes have more features and are less language-specific. Others argue that using language-specific features makes code more readable (for example, using int (C #) or Integer (VB.NET) instead of System.Int32).
In VB 2008, the inclusion of ByVal sender as Object, ByVal e as EventArgs has become optional.

The following example demonstrates a difference between VB6 and VB.NET. Both examples close the active window.

Classic VB Example:
Sub cmdClose_Click()
Unload Me
End Sub

A VB.NET example:
Sub btnClose_Click(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs) Handles btnClose.Click
Me.Close()
End Sub

The 'cmd' prefix is replaced by the 'btn' prefix, conforming to the new convention previously mentioned.

Visual Basic 6 did not provide common operator shortcuts. The following are equivalent:

VB6 Example:
Sub Timer1_Timer()
Me.Height = Me.Height - 1
End Sub

VB.NET example:
Sub Timer1_Tick(ByVal sender As Object, ByVal e As EventArgs) Handles Timer1.Tick
Me.Height -= 1
End Sub
[edit]
Criticism This section needs additional citations for verification. (April 2011)


When first introduced, many long-time Visual Basic users complained about Visual Basic .NET because initial versions dropped a large number of language constructs and user interface features that were part of VB6 (which is no longer sold by Microsoft), and changed the semantics of those that remained; for example, in VB.NET parameters are (by default) passed by value, not by reference. Detractors refer pejoratively to VB.NET as Visual Fred or DOTNOT.[12] One major complaint was that "edit-and-continue", the ability to fix bugs by changing source code in a running program when it is paused at a breakpoint and continue running the code, had been eliminated: this feature was a major productivity aid that had attracted many developers to VB6.

Many of the changes were necessary because they needed to reflect differences between Windows Foundation Classes and equivalent classes in the .NET framework (e.g., for user-interface controls): in addition, certain changed features, such as restricting the scope of local variables to the block where they were declared, and passing parameters by value (which is the only means permitted in Java) make code less error-prone. Reduced risk of error was also the justification for removing features such as computed gosub/goto and the elimination of line numbers (both a legacy of the BASIC language's FORTRAN heritage.) In general, the idea was to make the .NET libraries, rather than language-specific libraries, perform most of the work, so that code written either in VB.NET or C Sharp would compile to almost identical intermediate-code.

However, many of these semantic changes were not backward-compatible with much existing code, and existing code required rewriting and testing, a significant expense when the body of code was non-trivial in size. As author Joel Spolsky noted, "It was the first time a Microsoft upgrade did not respect the work that users did using the previous version of a product." [13]

To Microsoft's credit, Visual Studio supported some degree of automatic translation to VB.NET when VB6 code was pasted into Visual Studio. Also, the VB.NET compiler reported multiple errors (up to a user-specified threshold - e.g., 100 errors) all at once instead of one at a time, with fixes to the source reducing the error list through a process of background compilation. Despite this, adoption of VB.NET was still delayed until 2005, when Microsoft finally reintroduced edit-and-continue: this feature was also made available to C sharp developers.

It is simpler to decompile languages that target Common Intermediate Language (CIL), including VB.NET, compared to languages that compile to machine code. Tools such as .NET Reflector can provide a close approximation to the original code due to the large amount of metadata provided in CIL.[citation needed] This is also true of early versions of Visual Basic (prior to VB5), which could not compile to native code.

Visual Basic 6.0 programs that are mainly algorithmic in nature can be migrated with few difficulties, but certain types of code are more troublesome, namely :
Database support: .NET's framework for database access, ADO.NET, emphasizes disconnected operations, which use database-server resources as economically as possible by releasing them when not in use. This results in more scalable code than if the older Data Access Objects or ActiveX Data Objects were used, but the code is also more complex.
Graphics: .NET has new (and more powerful) libraries for graphics.
Unmanaged operations: .NET, like Java, emphasizes security, so unmanaged code is used only as a last resort.

Other syntactical differences relate to changes made to bring VB.Net into alignment with other .Net languages, such as zero-based arrays (all .Net arrays are 0 to n-1 subscript, whereas classic VB arrays were one-based by default, 1 to n subscript), and structured exception handling (classic VB used a proprietary ON ERROR mechanism); such changes can be difficult or impossible to convert automatically, and converters typically flag such problem areas for manual conversion.

In addition, the required runtime libraries for VB6 programs are provided with Windows 98 SE and above, while VB.NET programs require the installation of the significantly larger .NET Framework. The framework is included with Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP Media Center Edition, Windows XP Tablet PC Edition, Windows Server 2008 and Windows Server 2003. For other supported operating systems such as Windows 2000 or Windows XP (Home or Professional Editions), it must be separately installed.

Microsoft's response to developer dissatisfaction focused around making it easier to move new development and shift existing codebases from VB6 to VB.NET. An offering in 2005 was the VBRun website, offering code samples and articles for:
Using VB.NET to complete tasks that were common in VB6, like creating a print preview
Integrating VB6 and VB.NET solutions (dubbed VB Fusion)
[edit]
Cross-platform and open-source development

The creation of open-source tools for VB.NET development have been slow compared to C #, although the Mono development platform provides an implementation of VB.NET-specific libraries and a VB.NET 8.0 compatible compiler written in VB.NET,[14] as well as standard framework libraries such as Windows Forms GUI library.

SharpDevelop and MonoDevelop are open-source alternative IDEs.
[edit]
Examples

The following is a very simple VB.NET program, a version of the classic "Hello world" example created as a console application:
Module Module1

Sub Main()
Console.WriteLine("Hello, world!")
End Sub

End Module

The effect is to write the text Hello, world! to the command line. Each line serves a specific purpose, as follows:
Module Module1

This is a module definition, a division of code similar to a class, although modules can contain classes. Modules serve as containers of code that can be referenced from other parts of a program.[15]
It is common practice for a module and the code file, which contains it, to have the same name; however, this is not required, as a single code file may contain more than one module and/or class definition.
Sub Main()

This is the entry point where the program begins ex*****on.[16] Sub is an abbreviation of "subroutine."
Console.WriteLine("Hello, world!")

This line performs the actual task of writing the output. Console is a system object, representing a command-line interface and granting programmatic access to the operating system's standard streams. The program calls the Console method WriteLine, which causes the string passed to it to be displayed on the console. Another common method is using MsgBox (a Message Box).[17]

This piece of code is a solution to Floyd's Triangle:
Imports System.Console

Module Program

Sub Main()
Dim rows As Integer

' Input validation.
Do Until Integer.TryParse(ReadLine("Enter a value for how many rows to be displayed: "),
rows) AndAlso rows >= 1
WriteLine("Allowed range is 1 and {0}", Integer.MaxValue)
Loop

' Output of Floyd's Triangle
Dim current = 1

For row = 1 To rows
For column = 1 To row
Write("{0,-2} ", current)
current += 1
Next

WriteLine()
Next
End Sub

'''
''' Shadows Console.ReadLine with a version which takes a prompt string.
'''
Function ReadLine(Optional prompt As String = Nothing) As String
If prompt IsNot Nothing Then
Write(prompt)
End If

Return Console.ReadLine()
End Function

End Module
[edit]
See also
Microsoft Visual Studio Express
Comparison of C # and Visual Basic .NET
Visual Basic for Applications
Comparison of programming languages
[edit]
References
^ Option Strict can be used to switch between safe and unsafe type checking.
^ What's New with the Visual Basic Upgrade Wizard in Visual Basic 2005
^ Defining and Using Generics in Visual Basic 2005
^ Operator Overloading in Visual Basic 2005
^ Sherriff, Lucy (22 February 2005). "Real Software slams MS IsNot patent application". The Register. Retrieved 6 April 2009.
^ Taft, Darryl K. (21 February 2005). "Real Software Slams Microsofts Patent Effort". eWeek. Retrieved 6 April 2009.
^ Vick, Paul A. Jr.; Barsan, Costica Corneliu; Silver, Amanda K. (14 May 2003). "United States Patent Application: 20040230959". IS NOT OPERATOR. US Patent & Trademark Office. Retrieved 6 April 2009.
^ "What the heck is "VBx"?". 1 May 2007. Retrieved 12 August 2009. "With the new DLR, we have support for IronPython, IronRuby, Javascript, and the new dynamic VBx compile"
^ "What's New in Visual Basic 2010". Microsoft. 2009. Retrieved 12 August 2009. "Visual Basic binds to objects from dynamic languages such as IronPython and IronRuby"
^ What's New with the Visual Basic Upgrade Wizard in Visual Basic 2005
^ Defining and Using Generics in Visual Basic 2005
^ Operator Overloading in Visual Basic 2005
^ Sherriff, Lucy (22 February 2005). "Real Software slams MS IsNot patent application". The Register. Retrieved 6 April 2009.
^ Taft, Darryl K. (21 February 2005). "Real Software Slams Microsofts Patent Effort". eWeek. Retrieved 6 April 2009.
^ Vick, Paul A. Jr.; Barsan, Costica Corneliu; Silver, Amanda K. (14 May 2003). "United States Patent Application: 20040230959". IS NOT OPERATOR. US Patent & Trademark Office. Retrieved 6 April 2009.
^ "What the heck is "VBx"?". 1 May 2007. Retrieved 12 August 2009. "With the new DLR, we have support for IronPython, IronRuby, Javascript, and the new dynamic VBx compile"
^ "What's New in Visual Basic 2010". Microsoft. 2009. Retrieved 12 August 2009. "Visual Basic binds to objects from dynamic languages such as IronPython and IronRuby"
^ "What's New in Visual Basic 2010". Microsoft. 2010. Retrieved 1 August 2010.
^ Migration - Upgrading from Visual Basic 6.0 MSDN – Developer Center – Visual Basic 6.0 Resource Center – Migration –
^ Karl E. Peterson. "Microsoft Basic: 1976–2001,R.I.P.". http://vb.mvps.org. Retrieved 7 March 2009.
^ Joel Spolsky, How Microsoft Lost the API War, Joel on Software, 13 June 2004, URL: http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/APIWar.html
^ Mono Project: VisualBasic.NET support
^ "Module Statement". MSDN - Developer Center. Retrieved 20 January 2010.
^ "Main Procedure in Visual Basic". MSDN - Developer Center. Retrieved 20 January 2010.
^ "Visual Basic Version of Hello, World". MSDN - Developer Center. Retrieved 20 January 2010.
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Further reading
"Visual Basic Language Specification 8.0". Microsoft Corporation. 15 November 2005. Retrieved 10 December 2010.
"Visual Basic Language Specification 9.0". Microsoft Corporation. 19 December 2007. Retrieved 28 September 2011.
"Visual Basic Language Specification 10.0". Microsoft Corporation. 19 April 2010. Retrieved 28 September 2011.
[edit]
External links Wikibooks has a book on the topic of: Visual Basic .NET

Visual Basic Developer Center
Microsoft Visual Basic Express
The Visual Basic Team Blog[show]
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v · t · e NET Framework

Architecture Base Class Library · Common Language Runtime · Code Access Security · Assembly · Manifest · Metadata · COM Interop

Common Language
Infrastructure (CLI) Common Language Infrastructure · Common Type System · Common Intermediate Language · Virtual Ex*****on System

CLI Languages Common1 C # · Visual Basic .NET · C++/CLI (Managed) · F # · J # · JScript .NET · Windows PowerShell

Other2 Axum · A # · Boo · Cobra · M · Oxygene · IronScheme (IronLisp) · IronPython · IronRuby · Nemerle · Phalanger · P # · Scala


Components ADO.NET (Entity Framework · Data Services) · ASP.NET (AJAX · MVC · Dynamic Data) · CardSpace · ClickOnce · CLR Profiler · Communication Foundation · Dynamic Language Runtime · Forms · LINQ · Managed Extensibility Framework · Parallel Extensions · Presentation Foundation · Remoting · "Roslyn" · Workflow Foundation · XAML

Other implementations Mono · Compact Framework · XNA Framework · Micro Framework · Portable.NET · Silverlight · SSCLI

Comparisons Java and C # · C # and Visual Basic .NET · Java and .NET platforms · Visual Basic and Visual Basic .NET

1 Languages that had been supported, are supported, or will be supported, in Visual Studio or .NET Framework.
2 Non-academic or research languages with relatively large user-bases.

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v · t · e
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The collected works of Karl E. Peterson, author of numerous Visual Basic articles and samples.