Table of Contents:
I. FIRST STEPS. 1. A Basic Introduction to Programming. The Surprising Secret. Why Learn to Program? What's a Computer Program? Programming Languages. The Programming Process. Is Programming Easy? 2. Cranking Up Visual Basic .NET. Starting Visual Basic .NET. Starting and Loading Projects. Introducing the Parts of the Visual Basic .NET Window. 3. Creating Your First Project. Creating a Program ... in a Nutshell. Step 1: Creating the User Interface. Step 2: Adding the Program Source Code. Step 3: Creating Your Program's Executable File. II. WRITING BASIC PROGRAM CODE. 4. Variables and I/O: Programming Secrets. Computer Programs and I/O. Introducing Variables. Labeling Your Text Boxes. Having Fun with Input and Output. 5. Crunching Numbers: It's Easier Than You Think. Looking at Variables Mathematically. Venturing Beyond Addition. Knowing Your Order of Operations. Using Data Types. Mixing Data Types. 6. Strings: A Frank Textual Discussion. Joining Strings. Determining the Length of a String. Extracting a Substring. Finding Substrings. Changing Case. Converting Numbers to Strings. 7. If, Else, and ElseIf: Decisions, Decisions, Decisions. Understanding Program Flow and Branching. Introducing the If...Then Statement. Using Relational Operators. Using Logical Operators. Revisting the Infamous GoTo. 8. Select Case: Another Way to Decide. Introducing the Select Case Statement. Digging Into the Select Case Statement. Digging Even Deeper. Ranges and the Select Case Statement. 9. Looping with For...Next: Counting the Computer Way. Introducing the For...Next Loop. Adding the Step Clause. Using Variables in Loops. 10. Looping with Do, While, and Until. Introducing the Do While Loop. The Do Until Loop. The Do...Loop While Loop. The Do...Loop Until Loop. 11. Arrays: Tricky Problems with Clever Solutions. Introducing Arrays. Using a Variable As a Subscript. Working with String Arrays. 12. File Handling: The Ol' Data I/O Shuffle. Three Steps to Access a File. Trying It Out. Loading Data from a File. Appending Data to a File. 13. User-Defined Data Types: Data Your Way! Declaring a Structure. Declaring a Variable from a Structure. The Real Advantage. Using Structures Inside Structures. Accessing Structures. Passing Structures As Arguments. 14. Procedures and Functions: Breaking Things Down. The Top-Down Approach to Programming. Using Procedures. Introducing Variable Scope. Using Functions. 15. Printing: Your Own Edition of Hard Copy. Introducing the PrintDocument Control. Printing Multiple Pages. Positioning Text. 16. Catching Runtime Errors. Understanding Runtime Errors. Learning to Catch Exceptions. I Want That Exception! Catching Even More Exceptions. The Example Program. 17. Mastering the Art of Bug Extermination. Debugging Programs. Stepping Through a Program. Watching Variables. III. ELEMENTS OF VISUAL BASIC .NET WINDOWS PROGRAMS. 18. A Place to Put Controls. Revisiting the Windows Form. Introducing Form Properties .Using Form Properties. Introducing Form Methods. Adding Form Events. 19. Controls and Objects: There's a Difference? Thinking About Objects. Thinking About Controls. 20. The Inner Workings of Controls and Objects. Introducing Properties. Setting Properties. Introducing Methods. Calling Methods. Introducing Events. Writing Event Handlers. IV. MODULES AND CLASSES. 21. Modules: A Special Place for Handy Stuff. Getting Modular. Reuse Is the Key. 22. Classes: An Object-Oriented Way of Thinking. Looking at Object-Oriented Programming Techniques. Writing a Class. Classes Versus Objects. 23. Properties, Methods, and Events: A Class's Innards. Introducing Properties and Methods. Reading Your Books. The Stuff You Need to Know. 24. Inheritance: Reproduction the Visual Basic .NET Way. The Basics of Inheritance. Inheritance for Real. 25. Polymorphism: Teaching Objects Special Tricks. Getting Polymorphic. Polymorphism on the Loose. A Shape That Actually Does Something. Another Shape That Does Something. Another Branch on the Family Tree. Putting It All to Work. V. WRITING WINDOWS APPLICATIONS. 26. Button Controls: Clicking Your Way to Success. Digging Into Button Controls. Checking Out CheckBox Controls. Tuning Into the RadioButton Controls. 27. Text Controls: Computers and the English Language. Introducing Label Controls. Using TextBox Controls. 28. List Controls: It's the User's Choice. Introducing ListBox Controls. Introducing ComboBox Controls. 29. Scrolling Controls: Getting from Here to There. Using Scroll Bar Controls. Creating a Sample Program. 30. The Timer Control: Tick, Tick, Tick ... Using the Timer Control. Digging Into the TimerTest Program. Working with Multiple Timer Events. Digging Into the TimerTest2 Program. 31. Message Boxes: Your Program Speaks Out. Introducing the Message Box. Putting It All Together. 32. Menus: Great Selections at a Great Price. Introducing Menu Bars. Using the Visual Basic .NET MainMenu Control. Responding to Menu Commands @@CHAPTER = Appendixes. Appendix A. Installing Visual Studio .NET. Appendix B. Speak Like a Geek. Index