In this overview, we will take a look at some of the major language differences between Visual Basic 2008 (VB 2008), C# 3.0, and Visual Basic 6.0 (VB6).
Summary
In this chapter, we've touched upon the high-level characteristics of programs written in VB 2008. That is, all code is compiled into IL rather than the native instructions for a specific platform. Additionally, the CLR implements a garbage collection system to manage raw memory allocation and de-allocation, freeing you from having to worry about one of the most common errors in software development: improper memory management.
Next, we explored the CTS with a couple of simple examples to compare value types to reference types. Our first VB program gave us a simple class with a Main procedure, which simply echoed "Hello World!" to the Command Prompt.
Finally, we looked at some of the new features that are now a part of VB, including LINQ, object and array initializers, extension methods, anonymous types, and Option Infer.