Visual Basic .NET is a .NET oriented-object implementation and evolution of Visual Basic developed by Microsoft.
Visual Basic .NET is a .NET oriented-object implementation and evolution of Visual Basic developed by Microsoft. The first implementation, for .NET 1.0, was nicknamed "Visual Basic .NET (2002)".
Since Visual Basic 2005, the third .NET version of Visual Basic, Microsoft has decided to drop the ".NET" portion of the title.
Apart from the syntax which has seen some additions between VB and the latest VB.NET version, there are much more important differences such as:
- the semantics; VB runs on a deterministic, reference-counted engine based on COM whereas VB.NET is a fully oriented-object language running on the .NET Framework, and as such on the CLR (Common Language Runtime).
- the library is much larger in VB.Net than in VB. Some functions and libraries no longer exist in VB. Although VB6 code will be successfully migrated to VB.Net it is very often necessary to refactor to obtain better performance.
Please note that purely "debate" questions on the choice between C# and VB.NET will be closed.
Also, please avoid combining the C# and VB.Net tags if the question is only related to one of those languages.
