Summary

This chapter introduces the basic data types that are available in Visual Basic .NET and discusses the basic characteristics of these data types. You should now have a better idea of what data types are suitable for different tasks . In this chapter you have also learned how to create a valid variable name and how Visual Basic .NET processes statements that create variables . This chapter also goes into considerable detail about what Visual Basic .NET does behind the scenes with something as simple as an assignment statement. Knowing such details will make you a better programmer and help you detect and correct program bugs .

You will learn a lot more about the topics introduced in this chapter as you progress through the book. You should spend whatever time is necessary to become familiar with the concepts of operands, operators, expressions, statement, lvalue , and rvalue . A little time invested now will yield large dividends later on.