Microsoft's Visual Basic .NET is NOT a new version of Visual Basic 5/6 - it is a completely new product that requires all VB programmers to take a look at their applications. To help programmers make the transition to Visual Basic .NET, KIDware offers Learn Visual Basic .NET, a comprehensive look at application development with Visual Basic .NET. LEARN VISUAL BASIC .NET is a ten week course (plus one bonus class) covering object-oriented programming concepts, the Visual Basic .NET integrated development environment, building and distributing Windows applications (using the new .NET Framework), error handling, sequential file access, graphics, Multimedia, advanced topics such as web access, printing, and HTML Help system authoring. The course also introduces database applications (using ADO.NET) and migrating applications to the web (using the new Web Form). An appendix comparing and contrasting Visual Basic .NET with Visual Basic 6 is included to ease the transition for current VB programmers. This curriculum is used in a major university's introductory Visual Basic .NET course.
The focus of LEARN VISUAL BASIC .NET is to use the existing objects and capabilities of Visual Basic .NET to build a wide variety of useful desktop applications. Some of the applications built include: Stopwatch, Calendar Display, Loan Repayment Calculator, Flash Card Math Game, Database Input Screen, Statistics Calculator, Tic-Tac-Toe Game, Capital City Quiz, Information Tracker (with plotting), Blackjack, Line, Bar and Pie Charts, a version of the first video game ever - Pong, and a Telephone Directory. LEARN VISUAL BASIC .NET is presented using a combination of over 1000 pages of course notes and over 100 Visual Basic .NET practical examples and applications. To grasp the concepts presented in LEARN VISUAL BASIC .NET, you should possess a working knowledge of Windows and have had some Exposure to programming concepts.
