Where Are We?

Visual Basic developers will find that there are differences in the language, but that the more significant changes they will encounter will be in the support libraries. Instead of making use of a wide array of ActiveX/COM libraries for performing activities such as XML parsing (msxml.dll) and database access (ADO), they will rely on the Framework Class Libraries. In addition, the IDE itself has changed dramatically, incorporating much from all three Visual Studio 6.0 products (Visual Basic, Visual C++ and Visual InterDev) as well as a variety of features new to Visual Studio .NET. WinForms borrowed much from Visual Basic to create its visual design tools. However, the visual design tools are merely that; a tool with which to build applications using this new framework. Whereas Visual Basic 6.0 and earlier programmers were bound to the Visual Basic 6.0 environment to build GUI applications, WinForms programmers are not. Visual Windows applications can be built in Notepad or even dynamically at runtime using WinForms. Visual Basic programmers who migrate to .NET find themselves in a world that seems familiar at first glance, but the deeper they delve, the more different it becomes. However, the migration is worth it, because WinForms offers significant advances over previous versions, and your Windows applications will be better as a result.