Verion to learn by

[irasmith]

I am wanting to learn VB.NET and was wondering if the standard version of VB.NET would suffice as a starting point.

I noticed a huge price difference between it and the professional, but thought maybe it would be better to start small and move up to professional when it got to the point of needing it.

Does this sound accurate or do you really need to start with the professional package to really learn and use VB.NET?
Thanks,
Ira

 

[mutant]

It doesnt really make much difference, VS.NET mainly helps to make your work a lot easier. Some of the differences between the two are the possible project templates you can start with, for example Standard doesnt have a project type for a DLL but you can create one easily using the command line. There other things that make the development easier that are missing in Standard. If you wanted to you could develop any application you can with .NET Framework using notepad and the command line compiler .

 

[irasmith]

Actually, all I am wanting at this stage is just a starting point and from your description it sounds like standard would allow me to do just that.

Primarily I am not concerned about ample templates and such since my main objective is to learn how to program in VB.NET.

Financially this exepense would be coming out of my own pocket so that is why I was eyeballing the standard version since it appears to be about one seventh the cost of the professional.

So as long as I can have something to get my feet wet in here at home to learn VB.NET by and as long as standard will allow me to connect to a local SQL database (either the trial MS SQL or through ODBC something like MySQL or other SQL) then this will provide me what I need at the moment.
Ira

 

[mutant]

You can use all the classes and objects from th .NET Framework in any version of VS.NET. Since the ADO.NET objects are part of the framework then you will be able to connect to the DB through code but not using the IDE(one of the limitations ).

 

[irasmith]

I do thank you for the information regarding the data connection. It is good to know that I still do have an option and for purposes of learning I dont mind writing the code rather than using a feature of the IDE that is in the professional and up versions.

Yes, thank you very much for pointing that out as it is good to know and remember for future reference once Im up to speed.

Initially the stuff I would do would be just baby steps like a screen for a name/address file that is connected to a database. Nothing hugely unique, rather more the standard and simple so that my thoughts and efforts can be on learning VB.NET itself.

Thanks for your help. In all likelihood Ill be making further posts here once I have obtained the software and started working with it. This sounds like a fun adventure
Ira