The Hunt for a Grammar

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 Summary: Creates a file in the specified path. Parameters: path: The path and name of the file to create. Return Values: A System.IO.FileStream that provides read/write access to the specified file.

Many VB programmers aren't used to having to interpret this kind of information—VB used to be a simpler language. Now, with VB.NET, it's a new ball game.

You are certain to find yourself often looking at something like the description in Figure 1.1, and wondering how to change this into source code.

We want to think that there is an underlying set of rules, a grammar, that organizes .NET source code. We want to learn the rules so we can instantiate objects, and invoke their methods, without having to continually make educated guesses, then see error messages, then try again by adjusting the syntax, punctuation, or phrasing. We want to assume that the grammar of .NET is consistent—so we don't have to struggle time and again with constructions that follow no particular pattern.

FIGURE 1.1 Often this is all the information you get about how to use a .NET class. Translating this into useable source code is up to you.

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