The Situation

As a Visual Basic developer I've gotten very used to being heckled about the languages short falls. Its lack of true inheritance is a strong target for C++ and Java developers. There is no real defense for what they have to say. Being a former C and C++ developer, I know they are exactly right. The only excuse we have as VB developers is that we can develop projects faster, and this is a big plus in today's marketplace. So, when I read about the new features to be included in VB.NET, it all sounded too good to be true. Now, I could stop wasting time listening to developers heckling the language. Instead, I could just develop circles around them with a large maniacal grin. But, in order to keep the universe in balance, and make the new features possible, VB would have to change. These changes have come under a lot of fire from the development community. The purpose of this article will be to help show another perspective on how the changes in VB.NET will affect us.

I was once told that people fear death, change, and public speaking the most. If you fear change, then VB.NET will probably not be something your very happy about. There are over 70 changes to the language. If you have read the list for the .NET Platform Beta 1 SDK then you know most, but not the entire story. Microsoft has decided to remove some Beta 1 changes and add some new ones due to customer feedback. According to Microsoft, only problems will be fixed now; no new changes or features will be added. Although I am not convinced that no changes will happen, I feel it will be relatively few making now the time to take a good hard look at VB.NET.