Summary

A class abstracts the properties and behaviors of a set of objects to form a template that you can use to make objects that implement those properties and behaviors. After you define the class, you can make many instances of it and they all have the features defined by the class.

Generics take abstraction one level higher. A generic class abstracts the features of a set of classes defined for specific data types. It determines the properties and methods that any class in the generic group provides. After you define the generic class, you can easily make classes that work with different data types but that all provide the common set of features defined by the generic.

By defining common functionality, generic classes let you reuse code to perform similar actions for different data types. By allowing you to parameterize the class instances with a data type, they let you build strongly typed classes quickly and easily. That, in turn, lets Visual Basic provide IntelliSense to make programming faster and easier.

Together these benefits, easier code reuse, strong typing, and IntelliSense support, help you write, test, debug, and maintain code more easily.

Chapters 1 through 14 explain Visual Basic programming details, including the Visual Basic development environment, language syntax, standard controls and forms, custom controls, drag and drop, the clipboard and how User Account Control (UAC) affects the way applications that need extra privileges run.

Chapters 15 through 19 describe object-oriented concepts, such as classes, structures, namespaces, and generics.

The chapters in the next part of the book deal with graphics programming. They explain how to draw lines, ellipses, curves, and text. They show how to use different colors, line styles, and brush types. They also explain how to manipulate bitmapped images, print, and generate reports.

Chapter 20 explains the fundamentals of drawing graphics in Visual Basic 2005. It provides the information you need to start drawing simple shapes and curves.