Conventions Used in This Book

Throughout this book, we've used the following typographic conventions:

Constant width: Constant width in body text indicates a language construct, such as a VB.NET statement (like For or Do While ), an enumeration, an intrinsic or user- defined constant, a structure (i.e., a user -defined type), an operator, a declaration, a directive, or an expression (like dblElapTime = Timer - dblStartTime ). Code fragments and code examples appear exclusively in constant-width text. In syntax statements and prototypes , text set in constant width indicates such language elements as the function or procedure name and any invariable elements required by the syntax.
Constant width italic: Constant width italic in body text indicates parameter names . In syntax statements or prototypes, constant width italic indicates replaceable parameters. In addition, constant width italic is used in both body text and code fragments to denote variables .
Italic: Italicized words in the text indicate intrinsic or user-defined functions and procedure names. Many system elements, such as paths and filenames, are also italicized. In addition, URLs and email address are italicized. Finally, italics are used the first time a term is used.

How to Contact Us

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It's our hope that as the Visual Basic language continues to grow and evolve , so too will VB.NET Language in a Nutshell , and that the book will come to be seen by VB developers as the official (so to speak) unofficial documentation on the Visual Basic language. To do that, we need your help. If you see errors here, we'd like to hear about them. If you're looking for information on some VB language feature and can't find it in this book, we'd like to hear about that, too. And finally, if you would like to contribute your favorite programming tip or gotcha, we'll do our best to include it in the next edition of this book. You can request these fixes, additions, and amendments to the book at our web site, http://www.oreilly.com/ catalog/vbdotnetnut2/.

In addition, Steven Roman maintains a web site at www.romanpress.com that includes information on his other books published by O'Reilly (and others), articles on VB/VBA and VB.NET, and a variety of software.

Acknowledgments

Writing a book always requires a substantial commitment of time and effort, and for that we are grateful to our spouses and families for their support in helping to bring this project through to completion. Steve would like to thank Donna; Ron would like to thank Vanessa, Sean and Ami; and Paul would like to thank Deb, Russel, and Victoria.

In commemorating the tenth anniversary of Visual Basic, we would also like to acknowledge the contributions of the designers and developers who transformed Visual Basic from an idea into a reality. Truly, it has been a monumental accomplishment that has transformed the way in which applications are created.

We'd also like to thank the book's technical reviewers, Daniel Creeron, Budi Kurniawan, and Matt Childs, for their thoughtful, careful reviews of our work. We'd also like to thank Alan Carter, Chris Dias, Amanda Silver, and Sam Spencer at Microsoft for their help in answering our annoying questions and for reviewing portions of the manuscript.

The on-line Visual Studio .NET edition of this book was made possible by the work of many individuals. Mike Sierra of O'Reilly converted the Language Reference to Microsoft Help 2.0 format and did the work necessary to make its content available through the Visual Studio .NET dynamic help system. Kipper York, Shane McRoberts, and Etka Mittal of the Microsoft Help team provided invaluable technical assistance at crucial moments in the project, and Eric Promislow and Vladimir Baikalov of ActiveState built the install package that plugs our Help collection into Visual Studio .NET. Frank Gocinski of the Visual Studio .NET Integration Program was instrumental in helping us become full partners in the program. A special tip of the hat to Rob Howard of Microsoft who supported our original vision and helped us make the right connections with the Visual Studio .NET team to get this project off the ground.