Section 2.8. The .NET Framework and Visual Basic

2.8. The .NET Framework and Visual Basic

Visual Basic, as a .NET language, uses all of the core features of the Common Language Runtime, the Common Type System, namespaces, assemblies, types, and all other .NET elements, packaging them up in a nice, neat programming system.

To write a Visual Basic application, you create classes that implement your desired functionality and data manipulation features. All application data is stored in memory using the Common Type System data types that Visual Basic uses for its own basic data types. The application manipulates this data using many of the prewritten classes in the Framework Class Library. All of this code gets organized into namespaces of your choosing and is compiled into one or more assemblies. Your application is now ready to deploy and run.