Express, learning, which one?

[mbarton]

Hi everyone....my first post here and newbie isn't the word.

I have done a lot of programming with Picbasic however for microcontrollers.

My first question....

I see the free VB express download and it looks like a great place to start but should I opt for the "learning edition" instead? Or are they the same thing?

It's somewhat confusing.....all the versions past and present.....VB full, VB for applications? (huh?), VBnet, VB learning, VB express.

My goal (for now) is to do a simple program that will react to some RS-232 data at a serial port and simply display some user configurable text boxes that will come up on the display.

Should I start with the express?

There are some decent tutorials at the MSDN site on it looks like or perhaps you all can also recommend some tutorials -- books --etc.

I love the see spot? see spot run? concept in learning.

[Hack]

Welcome to the forums.

I see the free VB express download and it looks like a great place to start

Yes. Prior releases of VB are no longer support by Microsoft, so if you are just starting, don't start behind the curve with VB6. Start with VB.NET

VB for applications? (huh?)

Visual Basic For Applications, or VBA, is the language used in Office Automation. It allows you to wrote code directly into an Excel Spreadsheet, or a Word document, or an Access database. There are no compiled .Exe files from this. Just the resulting spreadsheet/document/whatever.

There are some decent tutorials at the MSDN site on it looks like or perhaps you all can also recommend some tutorials -- books --etc.

I would take a look on Amazon.Com for VB.NET books, and read the reviews of people that have purchased the book.

[mbarton]

So, the VB express would be a starting point for "VBnet"?

Won't have to relearn?

Didn't they just change the name from VB6.0 to VBNET when the software updated?

Does it have something to do with the "Net framework" that I've been prompted to install in the past?

What exactly is that all about in simple terms?

More internet capability or something?

[Hack]

So, the VB express would be a starting point for "VBnet"?

Yes

Won't have to relearn?

Relearn what?

Didn't they just change the name from VB6.0 to VBNET when the software updated?

About the only similiarities between the two is the term Visual Basic. VB.NET is radically different from VB6

Does it have something to do with the "Net framework" that I've been prompted to install in the past?

Unless you were doing something in the .NET world, you shouldn't have to install the framework.

What exactly is that all about in simple terms?

What is what all about? The differences between the two?

From my standpoint, the differences between the two should be a totally moot point for you. You are just starting out with VB so forget VB6 even exists and do not go pass go collect Visual Studio 2005 and start to rock.

[Al42]

I see the free VB express download and it looks like a great place to start but should I opt for the "learning edition" instead? Or are they the same thing?

It's somewhat confusing.....all the versions past and present.....VB full, VB for applications? (huh?), VBnet, VB learning, VB express.

Anything you download from the MS site is VB 2005, which is the latest version of VB.Net. The learning edition, IIRC, is a cheaper (or free) version that won't compile programs - they have to be run on a computer that has VB itself installed. Express is the free, but working, version you can download. Also, if you attend 2 on-line sessions, and send in the evaluations for both, you get a free (you have to pay shipping) Standard Edition.

My goal (for now) is to do a simple program that will react to some RS-232 data at a serial port and simply display some user configurable text boxes that will come up on the display.

Less code than picBasic. Just set the port up and, if you're just waiting for data, react to it when it arrives.

Should I start with the express?

It's free, so why not?

There are some decent tutorials at the MSDN site on it looks like or perhaps you all can also recommend some tutorials -- books --etc.

I love the see spot? see spot run? concept in learning.

Download code from the web (we have plenty here, in the code bank) and look through it. Make sure it's VB.Net code, not VB6 code - they're totally different.

[mbarton]

Ok !

Thanks guys.

I'll be back no doubt.

[RobCrombie]

Should I start with the express?
It's free, so why not?

I noticed last night in one of Rod Stephens VBHelper newsletters, that it has a 12 month expiry.

I don't intend to use VB.NET but I have a couple of times tried to work out how it could be Free OR what does it lack ?

'Interested Observer'

PS I used to love MS. Now I wouldn't trust them (rely on them), as far as I could throw them.

[Shaggy Hiker]

PICBasic? Are you working on robots? I'm currently interfacing a VB2005 program to an OOPic based microcontroler. VB2005 does a good job handling the serial interface. It's simple and easy to use (and didn't exist at all in 2003), which makes it pretty useful for interfacing with robotic controllers.

The idea behind .NET was to kill Java...ok, that's just my opinion, and I have never bothered to confirm it with any inside sources, but here's why I think it: Java was put out by Sun with the promise of write-once-run-anywhere programs. This was a bit of a threat to MS who had the Write-For-Us-Run-Only-Here types of programs pretty well covered. Java was a threat to the OS monopoly of Windows. Furthermore, Sun put Java out for standardization....then changed their minds and pulled it back. MS tried to work with Java as an open standard (some might read "work with" to mean "co-opt", but I don't quite agree), and Sun tried to keep official Java just different enough that MS wouldn't work right.

Because of this, MS saw the light: They realized they had to be in the web-app marketplace with their own tools that could deliver on the never quite achieved promise of Java, and which they could control. The result of that was .NET. The language compiles into an intermediate bytecode language, and the Just In Time compiler turns it into executable code (there more nuances and situational issues than that, but that's basically the situation) as needed. The hope behind this is that all a platform needs is to have a JIT compiler that can turn the IL of a program into executable code for that platform, and a program can, indeed, run anywhere, regardless of where it was created. Does it work??....well....it's a nice dream, but that's what was said about Java for the first decade, too.

The framework that you keep hearing about is something like a class library. If offers up a series of classes, interfaces, structures, enumerations, etc. that you NEED to run your program. You can't really do anything without it, nor can you escape it. However, it is nothing new, just a new way of dealing with something that has been around for decades (MFC or OWL anyone?). I'm sure there's more to it than that, but that's all that really matters to start off with. The framework is essential, but it offers up many useful things, so it isn't worth fretting about.