Differences Between Microsoft Visual Basic .NET and C# .NET

The biggest differences between the languages fall into the following categories:

lCase sensitivity

lVariable declaration and assignment

lData types

lStatement termination

lStatement blocks

lUse of () vs. []

lOperators

lConditional statements

lError handling

lOverflow checking

lParameter passing

lLate binding

lHandling unmanaged code

lKeywords

1. Variable Declaration and Assignment

Visual Basic .NET

Visual C# .NET

Dim i, j As Integer	int i, j;
Dim i As Integer = 7	int i = 7;
Dim i(6) As Integer or Dim i() As Integer = New Integer(6) {}	int[] i = new int[6];
Dim con As SqlConnection	SqlConnection con;
Dim x As New Y("ABC") or Dim x As Y = New Y("ABC")	Y x = new Y("ABC");

2. Data Types

Visual Basic .NET	Visual C# .NET	.NET Framework
Boolean	bool	System.Boolean
Byte	byte	System.Byte
Short	short	System.Int16
Integer	int	System.Int32
Long	long	System.Int64
Single	float	System.Single
Double	double	System.Double
Decimal	decimal	System.Decimal
Date	System.DateTime	System.DateTime
String	string	System.String
Char	char	System.Char
Object	object	System.Object
n/a	sbyte	System.Sbyte
n/a	ushort	System.UInt16
n/a	uint	System.UInt32
n/a	ulong	System.UInt64

3. Statement Termination
Visual Basic .NET	Visual C# .NET
A = 5 B = 7 : C = 8 MySub (Arg1, _              Arg2, _              Arg3)	A = 5; B = 7; C = 8; MySub (Arg1,              Arg2,              Arg3);

4. Statement Blocks

Visual Basic .NET	Visual C# .NET
If A = 5 Then   DoSomething()   DoSomethingAgain() End If	If (a == 5) {    DoSomething();    DoSomethingAgain(); } or if (a == 5)    DoSomething();    DoSomethingAgain(); //This is not part of                                  the if statement.

5. Use of () vs. [ ]

Purpose	Visual Basic .NET	Visual C# .NET
Declare an array	Dim a() As Long Dim a(3, 5) as Integer	int[] x = new int[5];
Initialize an array	Dim a() As Long = {3, 4, 5}	int[] x = new int[5] {1, 2, 3, 4, 5};
Reallocate array	Redim	n/a
Functions Arguments	X= A(5) MySub (A, B, C)	MySub(A, B, C);
Property Indexes	Y = MyDataSet.Tables_       ("Author").Rows(5)._ Columns("AuthorID")	Y = MyDataSet.Tables["Author"].Rows[5].Columns["AuthorID"]

6. Operators

Operator	Visual Basic .NET	Visual C# .NET
Additive
Addition	+	+
Subtraction	-	-
Multiplicative
Multiplication	*	*
Division	/	/
Integer division	\	/ (depending on the operands)
Modulus (division returning only the remainder)	Mod	%
Exponentiation	^	n/a

Logical	Visual Basic .NET	Visual C# .NET
Logical AND, OR	And	&&
Logical OR	Or	||
Conditional
Conditional	IIf	?:
Pointer to member
Pointer to member	n/a	. (Unsafe mode only)

7. Conditional Statements

Conditional Statement	Visual Basic .NET	Visual C# .NET
Decision structure (selection)	Select Case …, Case, Case Else, End Select	switch, case, default,
Decision structure (if … then)	If … Then, ElseIf … Then, Else, End If	if, else
Loop structure (conditional)	While… End While, Do [While, Until] …, Loop [While, Until]	do, while, continue
Loop structure (iteration)	For …, [Exit For,] Next For Each …, [Exit For,] Next	for, foreach
Control flow statement	Exit, GoTo, Stop, End, Return,	break, continue, goto, return, throw

8. Keywords

Purpose	Visual Basic .NET	Visual C# .NET
Object Oriented Programming
Indicates a class constructor	Public Class Class1     Public Sub New(..)       MyBase.New      …     End Sub … End Class Note: You have to call the base class constructor explicitly in Visual Basic .NET.	public class Class1 {         public Class1(..)         {          …         } …. } Note: The call to the base class constructor (base()) is generated automatically by the compiler in Visual C# .NET if you do not include constructor initializers.
Indicates a class destructor Note: The Destructor or Finalize method is called by garbage collection.	Protected Overrides Sub Finalize()   m_Gadget = Nothing   m_Gear = Nothing   MyBase.Finalize() End Sub	public class Class1 {         public ~Class1()         {          ….         } }
Declares a class	Class	class
Indicates class inheritance	Public Class A      Inherits B … End Class	public class A : B { … }