Nothing but .NET

Nothing but .NET

Well, that was intense. Let's review what we learned in this chapter. First, from our stroll down memory lane, you now know the business and technological reasons why .NET is here to stay. You also were introduced to the components of the .NET technology. I covered key terms such as the assembly, metadata, Microsoft Intermediate Language, just-in-time compiler, and common language runtime. You saw how to write a simple Visual Basic .NET program and examined the code and files that were created. We also checked out the IL disassembler and even peeked into the assembly manifest. And finally, we looked from on high at the pieces of our first Visual Basic .NET program and examined what was happening and why. And through all of that, we didn't write a single line of code!

Before pressing on, I'd suggest spending a few minutes reviewing the diagrams in this chapter. When you feel comfortable with the structure of the .NET Framework and how Visual Basic .NET fits into the picture, you'll be ready to start learning more about object-oriented programming in Chapter 2.