Microsoft Visual Basic .NET Standard 2003

Other products by Microsoft

Product Features

• Begin developing your own applications for the Web using a variety of different development options
• Quickly construct your broad reach Web applications with the simple Forms Designer tools
• Begin designing complete Windows applications that are rich and robust
• Master the power of Visual Basic.NET with this amazing development tool

Product Details

• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Shipping: Currently, item can be shipped only within the U.S.
• ASIN: B000089GKW
• Item model number: 046-00856
• Date first available at Amazon.com: February 2, 2003
• Average Customer Review: 3.4 out of 5 stars See all reviews (19 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #3,901 in Software (See Bestsellers in Software)

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  Software > Programming > Programming Languages > Visual Basic

• Discontinued by manufacturer: Yes

Product Description

Amazon.com Review
Visual Basic is a hugely popular programming language that is suitable for students and beginners as well as professional development. This is the .NET version, which is significantly different from older variants of Basic. It’s also the Standard edition, which is intended to be introductory. Professional developers should consider Visual Studio .NET 2003, which includes a more advanced version of Visual Basic as well as other languages. The full Visual Studio is needed for features like compiling code into libraries, or targeting the Compact Framework for mobile devices. Even so, this Standard edition is a capable package that includes all you need to build applications for both Windows and the Web.

Two things make Visual Basic .NET Standard 2003 easy to learn and use. One is the language itself, which is designed to be closer to natural English than others. The other is the array of tools and wizards that Microsoft provides, including a visual form designer for both Windows and Web projects. The web technology is called ASP.NET, and enables easy creation of web page that query and update databases, although note that a Windows web server running .NET is required. The programming environment is slick, with convenient features like docking and tabbed windows, project wizards, auto-completion and pop-up help in the code editor. The .NET version of Visual Basic benefits from full object-orientation and a rich class library. It also supports advanced features like multi-threading, which is a way of writing code to do background tasks.

Whereas Visual Basic 6.0 and earlier version needed a small runtime library, this .NET edition requires the .NET Framework, a runtime engine and class library that manages memory and enforces security. Framework applications perform well, since they are compiled to native code at runtime, but there is an overhead in terms of memory usage and the Framework runtime must be installed. These factors, together with less than perfect code compatibility, have made some Visual Basic developers reluctant to switch. While that’s understandable, the .NET technology is now maturing and this release is probably the right moment to make the move. It’s still important to note the heavy system requirements, and that .NET applications do not run on Windows 95. --Tim Anderson, Amazon.co.uk

Product Description
Visual Basic .NET Standard 2003 is the complete application tool for the .NET platform!

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

76 of 80 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Roadblocks, Roadblocks, November 21, 2003

By	Frank Spillman (Laplace, La United States) - See all my reviews

All the books I have read on learning VB.NET assume that you really have Visual Studio .NET installed. I keep running into roadblocks on projects I want to try that the standard edition won't support. Very frustrating. I checked out their website before I bought. I won't go so far as to say "deceptive", because when I went back and really dug I was able to find documentation on the differences between editions, but they really make it hard to figure out that the standard edition is so limited. I hope they enjoy my $100, because I sure haven't enjoyed this.

38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great Deal for the money - Just know what you need., March 12, 2005

By	Avid Reader (PA) - See all my reviews

If you want to learn VB, you cant beat getting the standard edition. If you want to write stand alone desktop apps that dont need to connect to remote database servers, your gold.

If you dont need to be able to use your work commercially and are a student, pass this up in favor of the academic version of Visual studio and learn away.

But DO NOT buy the standard edition if you think you are going to use it to make a living with it. I got it because I need to write an app that reads a binary file and then outputs a certain type of script. Then Im pretty much done with it. I know Im not going to try to pay my rent next month with my copy of the standard edition. To make a living nowadays you need the features that the standard edition does not support.

If you know your just learning now, are NOT a student, and cant afford the Visual Studio, you still cant go wrong getting standard now.

You might not be able to connect to a remote SQL server, but you can still do a lot of database programming till you can afford to upgrade, and see your app work locally in the meantime.

So it dosnt compile class libraries in the interface, but the command line program (vbc.exe)that comes with it does. Its not as slick but it works.

You can still write all kinds of very serious applications, after all code is code, but the standard edition is not indended for a real production pipeline that will be profitable in today's world.

I paid $89 for VB Standard 2003 off of Amazon just to write one specific app and I got my money's worth.

49 of 51 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Less Complaining More Google, February 20, 2004

By	Benjamin Kucenski (Mesa, AZ United States) - See all my reviews

This is directed mainly towards the person who couldn't manage to get a class library created.

Google for "Visual Basic .Net Standard Class Library" and there's an About.com article that tells you EXACTLY how to do it. The thing to remember about MS's language products is that there aren't selling you the compiler. Those are free. You can get them directly from MS for any of their .Net languages.

They're selling you their IDE and all the tools that make use of those compilers so you don't have to use the command line to compile everything and so you don't have to reinvent wheels to do things like create a GUI for your app. By paying the $100 you get a great IDE that allows you to drag and drop your application together instead of having to code every little detail yourself.

That said, I think C# trumps Visual Basic. I used to use Visual Basic to do quick and dirty apps since you could throw together a GUI in minutes. But I can do the same in C# now but get all the benefits of a C++ style language.

If you're a Visual Basic programmer, Visual Basic .Net is the way to go. The IDE and especially the debbuger are far superior to Studio 6. I'm not giving this product 5 stars because I think VB overall isn't worth getting for "the fun of it." I'd only recommend this product for those already making a career out of coding in VB who want to keep up with the advances in the language. It's a worthwhile upgrade, but not an essential one.