Visual Basic .NET Standard 2003

Two things make Visual Basic .NET Standard 2003 easy to learn and use. One is the language itself, which is designed to be closer to natural English than others. The other is the array of tools and wizards that Microsoft provides, including a visual form designer for both Windows and Web projects. The Web technology, ASP .Net, enables easy creation of Web pages that query and update databases--a Windows Web server running .Net is required to do this. The programming environment is slick, with convenient features such as docking and tabbed windows, project wizards, auto-completion and pop-up help in the code editor. The .Net version of Visual Basic benefits from full object-orientation and a rich class library. It also supports advanced features such as multi-threading.

Whereas Visual Basic 6.0 and earlier versions needed a small runtime library, this .Net edition requires the .Net Framework, a runtime engine and class library that manages memory and enforces security. Framework applications perform well, since they are compiled to native code at runtime, but there is an overhead in terms of memory usage and the Framework runtime must be installed. These factors, together with less-than-perfect code compatibility, have made some Visual Basic developers reluctant to switch. While that's understandable, the .Net technology is now maturing and this release is probably the right moment to make the move. It's still important to note the heavy system requirements, and that .Net applications do not run on Windows 95. --Tim Anderson