I'm New Here, Need A Lot of Help!

[erenagar]

Hi friends, some of you will recognize me from the VB6 section. After some madness in that department, I decided to make the my business professional. Then I decided to join the VB.net family and downloaded the Visual Studio 2017 version. It's been a few hours yet. By the way until today, I have not used any version except VB6, so I am quite confused.

I am aware that the code structure has changed a bit, but there are a few other questions to ask. Can some informed people help me? In the meantime, if you can forward a contact address where I can communicate more quickly, please be glad. If you are ready, I start my questions.

1) Apart from desktop programming, I also work on web programming. Does it hurt me to learn PHP and VB.net languages at the same time?

2) I think VB.net interface is quite complicated. I did not get used to it after VB6. Where can I find entry level videos or texts where I can learn about menus and all new features?

3) Visual Studio 2017 does not work fast on my computer. (Usually when ru) Are there any optimization settings? (Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate 32 Bit, RAM: 3GB DDR3, Display Card: 2GB AMD Radeon, CPU Frequency: 2.67 GHZ)

4) After how long can I start using VB6 in accordance with VB.net and start to improve myself?

5) Can I import my old VB6 projects to Visual Studio 2017? Is there a simple way I can do this? Actually I read a lot of article about it, some people say that, "You can import VB6 projects with Visual Studio 2008 Express Edition, after then you can import your new project file to Visual Studio 2017." is it true? (new question)

Sorry for my bad English. If there are places you do not understand, I will try to write again as clearly as I can. Thanks...

[erenagar]

Please somebody help me...

[si_the_geek]

1) Both do basically the same thing, so trying to learn both at the same time is likely to cause confusion. I would recommend learning one at a time.

3) Coming from VB6 it will seem slow, because VS 2017 is nearly 20 years newer (and has a lot of extra features that slow it down, but also make it easier for you to write code). Each new version of Visual Studio seems to be a bit slower, but how fast it is depends on lots of factors and I can't recommend any simple changes (your hardware seems good, but I'm not an expert). How slow is it for you?

5) You can import a VB6 project using VS 2008, but for most projects it wasn't really worth it (especially if they work with databases) due to the different ways of doing things, and in most cases the converter still left at least some manual work. In almost every case it is better to manually convert projects (and it was even with VS 2008) as you end up with a better project.

[erenagar]

1) Both do basically the same thing, so trying to learn both at the same time is likely to cause confusion. I would recommend learning one at a time.

3) Coming from VB6 it will seem slow, because VS 2017 is nearly 20 years newer (and has a lot of extra features that slow it down, but also make it easier for you to write code). Each new version of Visual Studio seems to be a bit slower, but how fast it is depends on lots of factors and I can't recommend any simple changes (your hardware seems good, but I'm not an expert). How slow is it for you?

5) You can import a VB6 project using VS 2008, but for most projects it wasn't really worth it (especially if they work with databases) due to the different ways of doing things, and in most cases the converter still left at least some manual work. In almost every case it is better to manually convert projects (and it was even with VS 2008) as you end up with a better project.

Where's my other answers sir? just kidding thanks for your reply.

2) That's okay so I guess it's not so slow just program is so huge.

3) So if my old sources is to complex then I should write it again with Visual Studio 2017? And it's not complex like database managament systems, Visual Studio 2008 Express can convert it, right?

[Sitten Spynne]

Hmm. It's hard to answer some of these questions, but I'm going to have to include both serious and snarky answers.

1) Serious: It never does harm to learn more than one language. I've dabbled in at least a dozen. Every one you learn teaches you something.

Snarky: PHP might be the only language that is harmful to learn. It's inconsistent, poorly documented, and often when it does have documentation it still doesn't do the thing it says it does. Learn any other web-oriented language. Any. Other. Python is popular, and designed by people who have both halves of a functioning brain. But, honestly speaking, web dev is shifting towards JavaScript. You could also use VB .NET for ASP .NET but as of the last few years, VB developers have successfully talked MS into the notion, "We aren't actually worth your time, please stop doing favors for us" so I think the latest ASP .NET tooling doesn't actually support VB.

2) Serious: Find some kind of beginners' book series that focuses on at least VB 2013. I don't trust or like blogs/videos when it comes to this.

Snarky: It's hard to find them because most new .NET developers learn C# and an entire generation has decided blogs and videos are a good substitute for books, so there's no money in printing books or publishing videos anymore, because people will say things like, "Jeez, why is this 200-hour Microsoft course $1,000, this high school kid with a gargly voice makes all his videos for free, it's the same thing!"

OK uh from here there's not any snark. I'm serious, even though there's a snarky tilt.

3) Serious: Is 3GB of RAM a typo? That was a good number in about 2004, but these days I find Windows intolerable on anything with less than 16GB and I prefer to use 32GB. I ran the Windows 7 beta on a machine with 4GB.

4) I don't understand this question. VB .NET requires subtly different thought patterns than VB6, but if you had good architectural skills in VB6 you should pick it up fairly quickly. There's no "light switch" moment. We're all terrible programmers until we quit.

5) No. There was a conversion tool available until 2008. Have you ever tried to use Google Translate to try to read a complicated text from another language? It probably came out as mostly garbage, right? You could understand it a little bit, but it took a lot of work?

That's what happens to VB6 projects that get converted with the tool in VB 2008. They go in saying "Get the customer record and put the username in this textbox." They come out saying, "Make with the database retrieval to find the data structure glorious representation of customer and butter the toast for maximizing synergy."

Google Translate can handle some simple sentences like, "Please make me a coffee." So, too, can the VS 2008 translation tool handle simple applications. But those are so trivial they aren't really worth bothering to dig up an old copy of VS 2008 to translate (and technically you need to pay for a VS subscription to legally use one!)

[erenagar]

Hmm. It's hard to answer some of these questions, but I'm going to have to include both serious and snarky answers.

1) Serious: It never does harm to learn more than one language. I've dabbled in at least a dozen. Every one you learn teaches you something.

Snarky: PHP might be the only language that is harmful to learn. It's inconsistent, poorly documented, and often when it does have documentation it still doesn't do the thing it says it does. Learn any other web-oriented language. Any. Other. Python is popular, and designed by people who have both halves of a functioning brain. But, honestly speaking, web dev is shifting towards JavaScript. You could also use VB .NET for ASP .NET but as of the last few years, VB developers have successfully talked MS into the notion, "We aren't actually worth your time, please stop doing favors for us" so I think the latest ASP .NET tooling doesn't actually support VB.

2) Serious: Find some kind of beginners' book series that focuses on at least VB 2013. I don't trust or like blogs/videos when it comes to this.

Snarky: It's hard to find them because most new .NET developers learn C# and an entire generation has decided blogs and videos are a good substitute for books, so there's no money in printing books or publishing videos anymore, because people will say things like, "Jeez, why is this 200-hour Microsoft course $1,000, this high school kid with a gargly voice makes all his videos for free, it's the same thing!"

OK uh from here there's not any snark. I'm serious, even though there's a snarky tilt.

3) Serious: Is 3GB of RAM a typo? That was a good number in about 2004, but these days I find Windows intolerable on anything with less than 16GB and I prefer to use 32GB. I ran the Windows 7 beta on a machine with 4GB.

4) I don't understand this question. VB .NET requires subtly different thought patterns than VB6, but if you had good architectural skills in VB6 you should pick it up fairly quickly. There's no "light switch" moment. We're all terrible programmers until we quit.

5) No. There was a conversion tool available until 2008. Have you ever tried to use Google Translate to try to read a complicated text from another language? It probably came out as mostly garbage, right? You could understand it a little bit, but it took a lot of work?

That's what happens to VB6 projects that get converted with the tool in VB 2008. They go in saying "Get the customer record and put the username in this textbox." They come out saying, "Make with the database retrieval to find the data structure glorious representation of customer and butter the toast for maximizing synergy."

Google Translate can handle some simple sentences like, "Please make me a coffee." So, too, can the VS 2008 translation tool handle simple applications. But those are so trivial they aren't really worth bothering to dig up an old copy of VS 2008 to translate (and technically you need to pay for a VS subscription to legally use one!)

1-Snarky) So you say if you want to learn something about web stay away from PHP huh? and ASP.net is not enought now, JavaScript is as most reasonable choice as.

3-Serious) In Turkey 1 dollar is 3.5 Turkish Liras so I can't buy a better system, If you do not give me a present it's like a dream.

And thanks for your all response I understand something better. Thank you for your relevance.

[jmcilhinney]

But, honestly speaking, web dev is shifting towards JavaScript. You could also use VB .NET for ASP .NET but as of the last few years, VB developers have successfully talked MS into the notion, "We aren't actually worth your time, please stop doing favors for us" so I think the latest ASP .NET tooling doesn't actually support VB.

I'm looking at VS 2017 right now and you can still create an ASP.NET Web Application project targeting the .NET Framework in VB, but you cannot create an ASP.NET Core Web Application targeting either .NET Core or the .NET Framework. Within that, you can use Web Forms, MVC or Web API and you can also create a Single Page Application.

[Shaggy Hiker]

I disagree with Sitten about the power of the computer. I haven't tried VS2017 on a 3 GB 32-bit system, but I used 2010 extensively on such a system and it was fine. I think I used 2015 on a 4GB 32-bit system (you can't have more in a 32-bit system), and it was fine, as well. Each new version of VS is adding more and more features to the IDE. VS has requirements more like a game than a business program, these days, which slows startup times badly. Each version was getting slower than the last. 2015 partially reversed this trend, since MS tried to speed up load times, but 2017 may have slid back. The load time, especially when the computer first starts up, is pretty pathetic.

I do like the idea that a book is a good way to learn, but it's best to be able to get your hands on one before buying. Pretty nearly all programming books are sold by weight, or at least it seems that way. To bulk up the book, they all have wide, empty, margins. Lots of them also pad the book with screen shots and page after page of code dumps. These may seem useful, and some of them actually are useful, but they are mostly there to increase the size of the book. The best thing to do is to pick a chapter other than the first one, and read a page or so. Is it well written? Does it seem useful, or is it superficial?

As for a site, this one is often recommended:

http://www.homeandlearn.co.uk/NET/vbNet.html


I would also second the suggestion of learning JavaScript. There's a language that you will swear at, but it's really taking off. Combine it with a framework written on top of it, like JQuery or Dojo, and others, and you have something that is well documented, broadly adopted, and quite useful.

[jdc20181]

*Note Didn't read other replies*

1) Apart from desktop programming, I also work on web programming. Does it hurt me to learn PHP and VB.net languages at the same time?

No, it don't do harm in fact it is benifitial, because professionally you may use more web language code than actual VB.NET when creating applications. After pickng up on vb.net I also picked up HTML5 CSS3 JS And minor bits of PHP

2) I think VB.net interface is quite complicated. I did not get used to it after VB6. Where can I find entry level videos or texts where I can learn about menus and all new features?

Wide variety out there including our codebank for VB.NET here on this site, youtube is also FULL of these videos some are entry level pros and some are senior professionals.

3) Visual Studio 2017 does not work fast on my computer. (Usually when ru) Are there any optimization settings? (Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate 32 Bit, RAM: 3GB DDR3, Display Card: 2GB AMD Radeon, CPU Frequency: 2.67 GHZ)

I don't know.

4) After how long can I start using VB6 in accordance with VB.net and start to improve myself?

I never used VB6, but when I was learning much of the stuff I learned most from was older bits of code, that I later understood how to convert older bits to vb.net, it was pretty simple I thought, because I was mainly focussed on vb.net to begin with. VB6 is nothing to be ahshamed of, so depending on your view, it isn't going to be a "Improvment" aside from going from one version to a newer version. I suggest to try to gradually ditch vb6, as VB.NET is a more modern compelx approach, that offers more extensive libaries etc to develop with.

5) Can I import my old VB6 projects to Visual Studio 2017? Is there a simple way I can do this? Actually I read a lot of article about it, some people say that, "You can import VB6 projects with Visual Studio 2008 Express Edition, after then you can import your new project file to Visual Studio 2017." is it true? (new question)

I think so, but uncertain.

[jmcilhinney]

No, it don't do harm in fact it is benifitial, because professionally you may use more web language code than actual VB.NET when creating applications. After pickng up on vb.net I also picked up HTML5 CSS3 JS And minor bits of PHP

The difference there is that HTML, CSS and JS are often used in conjunction with VB, whereas PHP would usually be used instead of. Learning/knowing PHP won't inherently hurt a VB developer but any time spent on it is time not spent getting better at using VB and if you're learning both from scratch then, as Sitten Spynne says, you may actually hinder yourself by confusing between the two. Learning as many languages as you can is a good thing but I'd be inclined to concentrate on one at a time as much as you can.