Create a custom tool to provide a flexible and easy way to generate code on demand.
Iterators are a crucial part of modern programming, not least because they provide the basis for collection traversal using For Each loops. Language Integrated Query (LINQ) adds to the importance of iterators, as iterators are the source of IEnumerable(Of T) that forms the backbone of LINQ. Learn how to take advantage of them in your code with several different techniques for creating your own iterators in VB.
- By Bill McCarthy
- 02/01/2009
Lambda expressions are nothing more than convenient syntax for delegates. So why can't you use them where the Framework expects a delegate? And more importantly, what can you do about it?
If programmers are leaving VB and aren't going to C#, where are they going?
- By Daniel Appleman
- 02/01/2009
Developers respond to Microsoft Technical Fellow Anders Hejlsberg's discussion on the future direction of C#.
- By Michael Desmond
- 02/01/2009
LINQ to SQL continues to be a top contender in the .NET object/relational mapping tool market despite Microsoft's promotion of the Entity Framework as one of the "Pillars of SQL Server 2008: Dynamic Development."
- By Roger Jennings
- 12/01/2008
VB and C# share many similarities, but also have a handful of significant differences; learn what you need to know to program effectively in VB as a C# programmer.
- By Kathleen Dollard
- 12/01/2008
Developers of VB and C# can learn a lot from the similarities -- and differences -- between the two.
- By Patrick Meader
- 12/01/2008
Chances are C# is not your first programming language. Here are several tips that can help you leverage C# better if you already know VB.NET.
Take control of casting exceptions, determine whether parent records have children in LINQ to SQL, and resolve cref references in XML comments.
- By Kathleen Dollard
- 11/01/2008
Mixing generics and functional programming simplifies writing some extensibility libraries tremendously. For example, combining these techniques makes it easy to create a generic Undo library.
Microsoft today articulated how it will bridge PCs and mobile devices with an extraordinary blitz of announcements that included the first demonstration of Windows 7, its Live Framework, a bevy of new offerings for developers including WPF support for Visual Studio, and the first preview of Office 14.
- By Michael Desmond and Jeffrey Schwartz
- 10/28/2008
Mono version 2.0 is released, featuring an improved C# compiler and extended support for LINQ.
- By Michael Desmond
- 10/15/2008
Silverlight 2, the latest version of
Microsoft's cross-platform browser plug-in for multimedia
applications, will be available on Oct. 14, company officials
announced on Monday.
Hard-coded messages don't scale well, and .NET's inherent error messages are user-unfriendly. Learn how to create a more scalable and user-friendly data-driven messaging system.
- By Paul D. Sheriff
- 10/01/2008
Sometimes it makes more sense to separate functionality you use repeatedly into its own component. Learn how to create a special command-line processing component.
Jabber introduces JabberWerx Client Libraries, a set of libraries for .NET and AJAX programmers working with XMPP.
- By John K. Waters
- 10/01/2008
Visual Studio Team System's Code Metrics feature isn't perfect, but if you understand what it's measuring and how, you can use it to gain insight into your apps' overall complexity and to spot potential problem areas.
- By Kathleen Dollard
- 10/01/2008
Austria-based testing-tools vendor Ranorex GmbH has released an automated application-testing solution targeting Windows, .NET and Web development.
- By Michael Desmond
- 09/16/2008
Understanding and applying the principles of memory management is key to building high-performing managed applications.
- By Peter Varhol
- 09/15/2008