1. Chapter 1 Visual Basic .NET and .NET Programming

   1. Visual Basic and .NET

   2. The .NET Platform

   3. The .NET Framework

   4. The VB.NET Language

   5. The Structure of VB.NET Applications

   6. The Development Environment

2. Chapter 2 Getting Started with VB.NET

   1. What's in a Program?

   2. Your First Program: Hello World

   3. Examining Your First Program

3. Chapter 3 Object-Oriented Programming

   1. Creating Models

   2. Classes and Objects

   3. Defining a Class

   4. Class Relationships

   5. The Three Pillars of Object-Oriented Programming

   6. Encapsulation

   7. Specialization

   8. Polymorphism

   9. Object-Oriented Analysis and Design

4. Chapter 4 Visual Studio .NET

   1. Start Page

   2. Inside the Integrated Development Environment (IDE)

   3. IntelliSense

   4. Building and Running

   5. For More Information

5. Chapter 5 VB.NET Language Fundamentals

   1. Types

   2. Variables

   3. Constants

   4. Strings

   5. Statements

   6. Whitespace

6. Chapter 6 Branching

   1. Unconditional Branching Statements

   2. Conditional Branching Statements

   3. Iteration (Looping) Statements

7. Chapter 7 Operators

   1. The Assignment Operator (=)

   2. Mathematical Operators

   3. Relational Operators

   4. Logical Operators Within Conditionals

   5. Operator Precedence

8. Chapter 8 Classes and Objects

   1. Defining Classes

   2. Method Arguments

   3. Constructors

   4. Initializers

   5. Copy Constructors

   6. The Me Keyword

   7. Using Shared Members

   8. Destroying Objects

9. Chapter 9 Inside Methods

   1. Overloading Methods

   2. Encapsulating Data with Properties

   3. Passing by Value and by Reference

10. Chapter 10 Basic Debugging

    1. Setting a Breakpoint

    2. The Call Stack

11. Chapter 11 Inheritance and Polymorphism

    1. Specialization and Generalization

    2. Inheritance

    3. Polymorphism

    4. Abstract Classes

    5. NotInheritable Classes

    6. The Root of All Classes: Object

    7. Boxing and Unboxing Types

12. Chapter 12 Structures

    1. Defining a Structure

13. Chapter 13 Interfaces

    1. Defining an Interface

    2. Implementing an Interface

    3. Implementing More Than One Interface

    4. Casting to an Interface

    5. Extending Interfaces

    6. Combining Interfaces

    7. Overriding Interface Implementations

14. Chapter 14 Arrays

    1. Arrays

    2. Multidimensional Arrays

    3. System.Array

    4. Indexers and the Default Property

15. Chapter 15 Collection Interfaces and Types

    1. The Collection Interfaces

    2. Array Lists

    3. The Collection Class

    4. Queues

    5. Stacks

    6. Copying from a Collection Type to an Array

16. Chapter 16 Strings

    1. Creating Strings

    2. Manipulating Strings

    3. Regular Expressions

    4. The Regex Class

17. Chapter 17 Throwing and Catching Exceptions

    1. Throwing Exceptions

    2. Searching for an Exception Handler

    3. The Throw Statement

    4. The Try and Catch Statements

    5. How the Call Stack Works

    6. Creating Dedicated Catch Statements

    7. The Finally Statement

    8. Exception Class Methods and Properties

    9. Custom Exceptions

18. Chapter 18 Applications and Events

    1. Creating a Windows Application

    2. Events

    3. Server-Side Code

19. Chapter 19 Afterword

    1. Where to Go from Here

    2. Advanced Topics in VB.NET

    3. Web (ASP.NET) Programming

    4. Windows Forms Programming

    5. Other Resources

1. Colophon

Our look is the result of reader comments, our own experimentation, and feedback from distribution channels. Distinctive covers complement our distinctive approach to technical topics, breathing personality and life into potentially dry subjects. The animal on the cover of Learning Visual Basic .NET is a snake-necked turtle. Snake-necked turtles (Chelodina longicollis) are found in the southern hemisphere in South America, Australia, and New Guinea. They live in slow-moving, fresh-water environments such as rivers. Sometimes, though not regularly, they migrate in search of new waters in the summertime.

Snake-necked turtles have large, webbed back feet in the back for swimming, and claws on their front feet. Their shells have high bumps, covered with moss and water plants that help them blend in with their surroundings. When seeking prey, the turtle holds its head sideways, waits for prey to come near, and then extends its neck and strikes like a snake. It feeds on insects, worms, frogs, small fish, and crustaceans. The turtle emits a foul-smelling fluid from its musk glands when handled, or when trying to frighten predators. Darren Kelly was the production editor for Learning Visual Basic .NET. Nancy Crumpton provided production services and wrote the index. Emily Quill and Claire Cloutier provided quality control.

Emma Colby designed the cover of this book, based on a series design by Edie Freedman. The cover image is a 19th-century engraving from the Dover Pictorial Archive. Emma Colby produced the cover layout with QuarkXPress 4.1 using Adobe's ITC Garamond font.

David Futato designed the interior layout. This book was converted to FrameMaker 5.5.6 with a format conversion tool created by Erik Ray, Jason McIntosh, Neil Walls, and Mike Sierra that uses Perl and XML technologies. The text font is Linotype Birka; the heading font is Adobe Myriad Condensed; and the code font is Lucas-Font's TheSans Mono Condensed. The illustrations that appear in the book were produced by Robert Romano and Jessamyn Read using Macromedia FreeHand 9 and Adobe Photoshop 6. The tip and warning icons were drawn by Christopher Bing. This colophon was written by Linley Dolby.