Beginning Visual Basic 2012

Introduction

Visual Basic 2012 is Microsoft's latest version of the highly popular Visual Basic .NET programming language, one of the many languages supported in Visual Studio 2012. Visual Basic 2012's strength lies in its ease of use and the speed at which you can create Windows Forms and Windows 8 applications, WPF Windows applications, Web applications, WPF Browser applications, mobile device applications, and Web Services.

In this book, we introduce you to programming with Visual Basic 2012 and show you how to create these types of applications and services. Along the way you'll also learn about object-oriented techniques and learn how to create your own business objects and Windows controls.

Microsoft's .NET Framework provides Visual Basic 2012 programmers with the capability to create full object-oriented programs, just like the ones created using C# or C++. The .NET Framework provides a set of base classes that are common to all programming languages in Visual Studio 2012, which provides you with the same capability to create object-oriented programs as a programmer using C# or C++.

This book will give you a thorough grounding in the basics of programming using Visual Basic 2012; from there the world is your oyster.

Note

Microsoft has renamed the software name “Metro Style Apps” to “Windows 8 Apps.” The actual names used in Visual Studio may vary from what is currently in this book. These changes were not introducted into Visual Studio until after this book was completed. ...