I just found this forum on the search engine when I was looking for help on VB. I am looking to buy VB. But, what is the best one to buy. I am going to be taking a vb course in the spring 07 here in college. Any suggestions?

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Untie The Knot Divorce Services.

Hi Joe - Welcome,
If you are learning VB from scratch the the obvious choice is to go for the latest version - I expect that is the one that you will be taught when you go to college.
The latest is Visual Basic .Net Version 2 (2005) and to get you started you can get the "Express" edition free of charge as a download from Microsoft :-
http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/vb/
Don't be fooled into thinking that it is not going to be up to much if Microsoft are giving it away, this Version has everything that you will need to get you started developing in VB.NET
There is also a downloadable book at :-
http://msdn.microsoft.com/vbasic/learning/introtovb2005/
that will help to get you going.

If you get stuck with any concepts or coding then put a post on this site and there are many experts who regularly log in here who will be able to help. Just remember to be specific with your problem, and include any code that is giving you a problem. Before you ask a question it always usefull to use the "Search" facility (menu top of this page) as it is quite likely that the question may have already been asked.

Good Luck - you may well find it frustrating at times but you will always find it rewarding and fun!


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multi-tasking - the ability to hang more than one app. at the same time.

Cool. Thanks for the help. I am taking an intro to programming course this Fall. What books or resources would you recommend that will help me understand the fundamentals better if I have trouble at all?

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Untie The Knot Divorce Services.

Hi Joe,
First place to look is always the "Help" files. Highlight a keyword in the code editor, or click a control in the design area to give it "focus", then hit the "F1" key.
If you have a broadband connection to the Internet so that you are always on then the help file will also link to the online help at Microsoft.
That's the next place to look - use part of the link I gave you above to get to the Microsoft Deleoper Network (MSDN) site.
For a good overview here is a good place to start :-
http://msdn.microsoft.com/vbasic/Learning/NewToDevelopment/


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multi-tasking - the ability to hang more than one app. at the same time.

Hi Geoffs!

That EXPRESS version seems interesting (I guess bcuz its free  )

Cud u pls give me a link describing what it actually HAS, and what it doesnt... I mean MS dont give a fully working thing for free, do they? (HEHE, UNLESS, they have a nasty plot behind it , LOLs... HEY! Don't report this to MS, or they'll fry me up!)

I've tried googling around, but all i found was that the express version is FREE, and has imited functionality... Can i get a list of specific functionality limitations somewhere?

Regards...

Edit:

Oops! Just got it! http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/products/compare/default.aspx

This time I MSDN'ed instead of Googling  


[Edited by misterxed on 10-08-2006 at 01:47 PM GMT]

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lOsT...

Hi misterxed,
Yup - always best to Search MSDN FIRST if its MS related.
If you read that comparison chart you will see that the Express version does most things that you are likely to need. About the only thing of real value that you cann't do is design Reports. If you want to do Web development there's a free version of that as well, and you CAN integrate the Report designer in this. Also, if you are doing Database stuff then the SQL-Express (Free again!!) is much better than using ADO and Access as it integrates straight into the development environment.
All that for free! When you consider how much I paid for VB5, VB6, VS.NET 1 and VS.NET 2003 you can see what a good deal it is!
Enjoy!


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multi-tasking - the ability to hang more than one app. at the same time.

cool thanx for all your help.

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Untie The Knot Divorce Services.