C# Versus Visual Basic .NET

The premise of the .NET Framework is that all languages are created equal. To paraphrase George Orwell, however, some languages are more equal than others. C# is an excellent language for .NET development. You will find it is an extremely versatile, robust, and well-designed language. It is also currently the language most often used in articles and tutorials about .NET programming.

It is likely that many VB programmers will choose to learn C#, rather than upgrading their skills to VB.NET. The transition from VB6 to VB.NET is, arguably, nearly as difficult as from VB6 to C#, and, whether it's fair or not, historically, C-family programmers have had higher earning potential than VB programmers. As a practical matter, VB programmers have never gotten the respect or compensation they deserve, and C# offers a wonderful chance to make a potentially lucrative transition.

In any case, if you do have VB experience, welcome! This book was designed with you in mind too, and I've tried to make the conversion easy.