Conclusions on Visual Basic 2005 Express
The VB 2005 language
As somebody who used BASIC a lot in the old days, I found the
language very easy to pick up. The concept of Object Oriented
Programming isn't hard to learn, and my programs gradually grew more
elegant as I got used to OOP. It's something that you get more and more
comfortable with as time goes by. The additions to the language are
pretty
straightforward. I liked the "With...End With" blocks, which clear up
the code and cut down on typing. Exceptions as a way of handling errors
were new to me. They work well, but need to be thought through
carefully. The "My" namespace is very useful, and in particular the
My.Settings feature. The one thing I would like added is multi-line
comments.
Overall though, I rate Visual Basic 2005 very highly, and I
have
used it to write programs that access databases, manipulate XML and
XHTML, and
upload files to the internet, which would be pretty tough in QBASIC!
The .NET Framework
This was a revelation. It is huge, and there is a bit of a learning
curve to it, but the framework is layed out quite logically and is
fully object oriented. I was very
impressed with .NET, although it does take some time flipping through
the help files before you can use the more advanced features.
Because
there are so many available methods and data types, you end up using
large amounts of .NET with the Visual Basic just holding it all
together. This makes it relatively simple to understand programs
written in C#, and means that the choice of language is not as big an
issue as some people claim. For instance, all .NET languages have
excellent string handling
capabilities because they are built into the .NET Framework. Once you
have learned one .NET language, learning a second won't take long. You
should
be aware that programs written for .NET need the .NET Framework to be
present before they will run, and that the Framework is a download of
over 20MB if the user doesn't have it installed already.
The Visual Studio Express IDE
This is an easy to use development environment. The IntelliSense is
nothing short of brilliant. It autocompletes a lot of your typing, and
offers you possible options to help you choose the right function or
datatype. It points out errors by underlining them in much the same way
as a word processor underlines misspelt words. This feature is better
in Visual Basic 2005 than it is in C# because VB 2005 does "background
compilation", in other words, when you make changes, it compiles your
program to see if there are problems. With C# you must wait until you
manually compile the program before you find some errors. I believe
this makes VB 2005 the better choice for beginners. When you compile
and publish your application, an install program is automatically
created
to take care of things like adding shortcuts to the Start menu. You
should also know that the actual Visual Basic 2005 Express compiler is
exactly the same as the one the professionals use. The main additions
in the expensive Professional versions are really about team-working,
code optimization
and advanced debugging.
Alternatives to Visual Basic 2005 Express
There are a few alternative free programming languages. Microsoft C#
Express Edition is the most obvious, but there are also the new free
Borland
Turbo .NET languages. These are Turbo Delphi for .NET and Turbo C#.
There is
also a Win32 version of Turbo Delphi that does not use the .NET
Framework. Delphi is based on the Pascal language, and is somewhere in
between the verbosity of VB 2005 and the terse syntax of C#, so it
might be worth a try if you prefer Pascal to Basic or C. There is also
an open source .NET language IDE called
SharpDevelop, and the open source Mono project is working to bring .NET
development to Linux, Unix and OS X.
Final Thoughts
I would recommend Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition to people such as
hobbyists, students, and people who are just interested in programming
their computer. Although there is a learning curve to deal with if you
want to write advanced programs, there is a great deal you can do with
a little simple programming and a bit of drag and drop. It is all
fairly logical, so a bit of concentration and a positive attitude will
take
you a long way. The .NET Framework is excellent, so C# is also a good
choice, although Visual Basic 2005 is probably better for the average
hobbyist due to the My namespace, non case-sensitivity
and error
underlining. Of
course, your programs will currently only run on Microsoft Windows, but
that is
not an issue for most of us who use Windows anyway. The Express
Editions are a free download, so there's no cost barrier. You can
create your own applications, just the way
you want them, and even distribute them to other people, free of
charge. Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition costs nothing, comes with a
lot of
help files and tutorials, and is widely used so there are a lot of
places to find more help. I give it a 9 out of 10.
Pete Mather