reviewed several books for Apress； covering C#； Visual Basic； ASP； and other topics。 Andy is a keen football and rugby fan； and enjoys running and skiing （badly）。 He lives by the seaside in Swansea with his wife； Jayne； and children； Emily and Thomas； who have just discovered the thrills of surfing and look much cooler than he ever will！ xvii …………………………………………………………Page 20…………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………Page 21…………………………………………………………… Introduction The first puter programming book I read was titled Programming Windows 3。0 by Charles Petzold。 This was around the time when Microsoft Windows 3。0 （circa 1992） once and for all showed the industry that Microsoft was a pany with a future。 Writing code for Windows back then was plicated by many things： lack of documentation； 16…bit architecture； and the necessity of buying a piler separate from the software development kit （SDK）。 Charles’s book tied everything together and solved the problem of how to write a program for Windows。 Now the problems are quite the opposite： we have too much documentation； we have 64…bit architectures； and everything including the kitchen sink is thrown into a development environ ment。 Now we need to figure out what we actually need。 We have too many options—too many ways to solve the same problem。 What I am trying to do with this book is the same thing that Charles did for me when I first started out； and that was to help me figure out what I needed to write code。 This book is about explaining the Visual Basic programming language in the context of solving problems。 Visual Basic has bee a sophisticated programming language that can achieve many goals； but you are left wondering what techniques to use when。 This book is here to answer your questions。 This book is not a reference to all of the features of the Visual Basic programming language。 I don’t explain the esoteric Visual Basic features。 I stick to the Visual Basic programming features that you will use day in and day out。 That does not mean that you will be missing certain Visual Basic programming language constructs； because I have covered all of the major features。 To get the full benefit of this book； I suggest that you do the exercises at the end of the chapters。 The answers are available on the Apress web site （ http：//apress。）； and you can cheat and not do the exercises； but I advise against that。 If you are a beginning programmer who has no clue about Visual Basic； and you read this book and do the exercises； I believe that you will be a solid and knowledgeable Visual Basic programmer by the end of the book。 If that sounds like a big promise； well； yes it is。 The chapter text is intended to get you acquainted with the Visual Basic programming language and how to apply its features。 The exercises are intended to make sure you actually understand the Visual Basic programming language and its features。 The chapter exercises are challenging。 They cannot be solved within a few minutes。 In fact； when I did all of the exercises； it took me five working…hour days to do all of them！ If you have any questions； such as； “So what was he trying to get at with that exercise？” I am available on Skype with the user ID christianhgross。 Please don’t just ring me。 First chat using text； and if necessary； we can have a voice conversation。 Also； you can send e…mail to me at christianhgross@gmail。。 Thanks and good luck。 xix …………………………………………………………Page 22…………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………Page 23…………………………………………………………… C H A P T E R 1 ■ ■ ■ Ready； Steady； Go！ This book is about the Visual Basic programming language first and foremost。 It is about being a proficient Visual Basic programmer。 Reading this book from cover to cover will not make you a superstar； but it will make you a programmer who understands what needs to be done when writing robust； stable； and maintainable Visual Basic applications。 In this chapter； you’ll get started by acquiring the tools you need to develop Visual Basic applications and taking those tools for a test spin。 Along the way； you’ll create a couple Visual Basic applications。 Downloading and Installing the Tools Getting started with Visual Basic 2008； you’re probably really excited about writing some code that does something。 It’s like getting your driver’s license and wanting to drive a car without even thinking about where you want to go。 You just want to drive。 The great part of is that you can start writing some code after you have installed either the software development kit （ SDK） or a Visual Studio integrated development environment （IDE）。 Downloading and installing the right environment is critical to taking your first step toward an enjoyable coding experience。 ■Note Software version numbers； product descriptions； and technologies can be confusing。 Having used Microsoft technologies for over a decade； I can say that naming a technology or product has never been Microsoft’s strong point。 The technologies have been great （for the most part）； but product classification and identification have not been so great。 Thus； this book covers the Visual Basic 2008 programming language that is used to write applications for the Framework。 With Visual Basic 2008； the 3。0 and 3。5 Frameworks are used。 3。0 gives you all of the essentials； and 3。5 gives you the extras。 For the examples in this book； you’ll be using Vis