Visual Basic .NET Vs Visual C#

Visual Basic .NET Vs Visual C# - (Differences)

By: Ram Babu

ASP.NET and, indeed, the whole .NET Framework are programming languageâ€“independent. That means you can choose any language that has implemented a CLR-compliant compiler. In addition to developing its own programming languages, Microsoft has formed partnerships with many language vendors to provide .NET support for Perl, Pascal, Eiffel, Cobol, Python, Smalltalk, and other programming languages.

Visual Basic .NET and Visual C# are functionally equivalent, which means that they each provide equal abilities to create Web applications. The differences between the two languages are syntactical and stylistic.

Most current programmers will choose the language they are most familiar with. Current Visual Basic programmers will be more comfortable developing Web applications in Visual Basic .NET; C or C++ programmers will be more comfortable developing with Visual C#.

If you are new to programming or if you are choosing to extend your programming skills to new languages, learning both Visual Basic .NET and Visual C# is a practical goal. This is especially true when you create Web applications, since most of the tasks are performed through the .NET Framework classes, which means Visual Basic .NET code and Visual C# code often look nearly identical.

Table below summarizes some significant differences between Visual Basic .NET and Visual C#. This information is useful to keep in mind if you are choosing a programming language for the first time or if you are planning to switch between languages.

Visual Basic .NET and Visual C# Differences
Feature	Visual Basic .NET	Visual C# .NET
Case sensitive	Not case sensitive: response.write("Yo") ' OK	Case sensitive: response.write("Yo"); // Error Response.Write("Yo"); // OK
Functional blocks	Use beginning and ending statements to declare functional blocks of code: Sub Show(strX as String) Response.Write(strX) End Sub	Use braces to declare functional blocks of code: void Show (string strX) { Response.Write(strX); }
Type conversion	Implicit type conversions are permitted by default: Dim intX As Integer intX = 3.14 ' Permitted You can limit conversions by including an Option Strict On statement at the beginning of modules.	Type conversions are performed explicitly by casts: int intX; intX = 3.14; // Error! intX = (int)3.14; //Cast, OK. Or, use type conversion methods: string strX; strX = intX.ToString();
Arrays	Array elements are specified using parentheses: arrFruit(1) = "Apple"	Array elements are specified using square brackets: arrFruit[1] = "Apple";
Methods	You can omit parentheses after method names if arguments are omitted: strX = objX.ToString	You must include parentheses after all methods: strX = objX.ToString();
Statement termination	Statements are terminated by carriage return: Response.Write("Hello")	Statements are terminated by the semicolon (;): Response.Write("Hello");
Statement continuation	Statements are continued using the underscore (_): intX = System.Math.Pi * _ intRadius	Statements continue until the semicolon (;) and can span multiple lines if needed: intX = System.Math.PI * intRadius;
String operator	Use the ampersand (&) or plus sign (+) to join strings: strFruit = "Apples" & _ " Oranges"	Use the plus sign (+) to join strings: strFruit = "Apples" + " Oranges";
Comparison operators	Use =, >, <, >=, <=, <> to compare values: If intX >= 5 Then	Use ==, >, <, >=, <=, != to compare values: if (intX >= 5)
Negation	Use the Not keyword to express logical negation: If Not IsPostBack Then	Use the ! operator to express logical negation: if (!IsPostBack)
Object comparison	Use the Is keyword to compare object variables: If objX Is objY Then	Use == to compare object variables: if (objX == objY)
Object existence	Use the Nothing keyword or the IsNothing function to check if an object exists: If IsNothing(objX) Then	Use the null keyword to check if an object exists: if (objX == null)

In addition to the differences shown in Table above, there are significant keyword differences between the two languages. The Visual Studio .NET Help topic â€œLanguage Equivalentsâ€ provides a complete comparison of Visual Basic .NET, Visual C#, and other Microsoft languages.