Changes in This EditionThis revision of the text is based on the Professional Edition of Visual Basic
2008. The 2008 version of VB includes Language Integrated Queries (LINQ)
for a more consistent means of querying a variety of data sources. XML literals
make it easier to read and write XML files. The Windows Presentation Foundation
(WPF) brings new dimensions to interface design. The Editor now has a much richer IntelliSense that makes it unnecessary
to use the Me keyword in most instances. This version now contains a PrintForm control that is very convenient for the
classroom environment. The PrintForm is covered in Chapter 1 for output to either
the printer or a Print Preview. Standard printing is still covered in Chapter 7. LINQ is covered in Chapter 10 (“Database Applications”) and again in the
XML section of Chapter 14. Chapter 11 (“Data Files”) includes a method for writing small amounts of
data using the My object. Drag-and-drop for images is now covered in the graphics chapter (Chapter
13). Students learn the development techniques for this familiar operation. Chapter 14 includes XML data files and an introduction to programming
with WPF. The narrative, step-by-step exercises, screen captures, and appendices
have all been updated to VB 2008. The screen captures are all based on
Windows Vista. Changes to coding conventions include the use Pascal casing for variable
identifiers. |