Visual Basic Language Design Meeting (Channel 9)

I sat down with the VB Language design team and asked them about their design process, favorite features, their thoughts on other languages, as well as what the Visual Basic language strategy really is. It was a fun and enlightening interview with a group of really smart people lead by Paul Vick. You can find most of the team members on the Visual Basic Team Blog.

And as for the "grey shirt joke" that's mentioned in the interview, see this post on the VB Team Blog.

Enjoy,
-Beth Massi, Visual Studio Community

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wil2300 Super #

Jul 24, 2008 at 1:07 AM

Very cool stuff. I am not a VB programmer as I have one full weekend on VS2003 VB experience

However, some interviews on C9 with Erik Meijer and Brian Beckman seem to point that they have big plans for VB so I am sure that I will get around to learning it soon. VB seems to be a good contender to be a hybrid language, mixing static and dynamic features while still having a good level of abstraction to allow programmers to just dive in and be productive. I am also curious to see how the team will go about dealing with the concurrency issues that is sure to rear it's head in the near future. Maybe the TPL will be a part of the solution, who knows.

It's very early/late - depends on how you look at it. Good night/morning niners!
~sparky
kaanuki

Jul 24, 2008 at 1:59 PM

Hi. I have been learning VB for about a year now, starting with the vb2005 express editions before upgrading to vs2005 standard editions.

To say I am frustrated is an understatement. I am "TRYING" to learn to develop using some of the available SDK's. However ALL of them (including the samples) are written in the older versions of the language and the new versions NEVER upgrade properly. So in essence if you weren't familiar with the language during vb.net edition, you are screwed.

Please update your examples and provide better help for users who started with the vb2005 language.
funkyonex Beth Massi - Visual Studio Community

Jul 24, 2008 at 2:11 PM

Hi kaanuki,

Have you taken a look at the VB Learn topics: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vbasic/ms789086.aspx

Also there are a good deal of How Do I videos that were recorded with 2005 here: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vbasic/bb466226.aspx#formsoverdata

You may also want to check out this site as well: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/beginner/bb308760.aspx

What are you interested in learning? Syntax/Language, Data Access, Office Development? I may be able to point you in better directions...

HTH,
-Beth
p.s. My blog focuses on business application development, check out some of the early posts for SQL Data Access and later posts for LINQ. http://blogs.msdn.com/bethmassi
marceldevg

Jul 28, 2008 at 2:35 PM

So you like feedback from the community:
Great session.
Thank {Insert your religion] for keeping the VB language on par and not diverting per developer!
There's is no avarage developer profile, so don't go there.
VBCoder Waleed El-Badry

Aug 16, 2008 at 4:53 AM

Nice Video Beth. from now on I'll start wearing Gray Shirt with Blue Jeans
sektor

Jun 02, 2009 at 12:16 AM

I've been using Visual Basic not so long. I remember that moment when I touched VB. From that moment I felt in love with it! Its syntax is self-describing, and this was important for me. When I read some C# code, I always have to figure out "what is it" - is it a function, or sub, or property? VB says "Function" - and I know that this is function. It's very cool and easy to learn language.

VB is cool!