o You will want to use an IDE to manage your development cycle of coding； debugging； and application execution。 o Among other things； IDEs manage the organization of your source code using projects and solutions。 o In an IDE； keyboard shortcuts make it easier for you to perform operations that you will do repeatedly。 For example； in Visual Basic Express； use Ctrl＋S to save your work and Ctrl＋F5 to run your application without debugging。 o Visual Basic Express projects contain plain…vanilla files and specialized groupings。 When dealing with specialized groupings； make sure that you understand how the groupings function and modify only those files that you are meant to modify。 Some Things for You to Do The following are some questions related to what you’ve learned in this chapter。 Answering them will help you to get started developing your projects in the IDE。 ■Note The answers/solutions to the questions/exercises included at the end of each chapter are available with this book’s downloadable code； found in the Source Code/Download section of the Apress web site （http：// apress。）。 Additionally； you can send me an e…mail message at christianhgross@gmail。。 1。 In an IDE； solutions and projects are used to classify related pieces of functionality。 The analogy I used talked about cars and car pieces。 Would you ever create a solution that contained unrelated pieces of functionality？ For example； would you create an airplane solution that contained car pieces？ 2。 Projects are based on templates created by Microsoft。 Can you think of a situation where you would create your own template and add it to Visual Basic Express？ 3。 In the Solution Explorer； each item in the tree control represents a single item （such as a file； user interface control； and so on）。 If you were to double…click a 。vb file； you would be manipulating a Visual Basic file that would contain Visual Basic code。 Should a single Visual Basic file reference a single Visual Basic class or namespace？ And if not； how would you organize your Visual Basic code with respect to Visual Basic files？ 4。 You have learned about how a application can generate an executable file。 Let’s say that you take the generated application and execute it on another Windows puter。 Will the generated application run？ Let’s say that you take the executable file to a Macintosh OS X or Linux puter； will the application run？ Why will it run or not run？ …………………………………………………………Page 45…………………………………………………………… C H AP TE R 1 ■ R E AD Y ； ST E AD Y ； G O！ 23 5。 You are not happy with the naming of the element TextBox1； and want to rename it to TxtOutput。 How do you go about renaming TextBox1？ 6。 ClassLibrary has embedded logic that assumes the caller of the method is a console application。 Is it good to assume a specific application type or logic of the caller in a library？ If yes； why？ If no； why not？ …………………………………………………………Page 46…………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………Page 47…………………………………………………………… C H A P T E R 2 ■ ■ ■ Learning About Number and Value Types In the previous chapter； you learned how to use Visual Basic Express； and what is in terms of the CIL and CLR。 In this chapter； we are going to roll up our sleeves and begin writing real Visual Basic code—specifically； a calculator。 A calculator is an ideal example to start with； because it allows you to focus on the applica tion without having to deal with all the nasty details that are normally associated with programs。 In a programming language like Visual Basic； adding two numbers is trivial。 What is not trivial is how to put the operation of adding two numbers into a program。 This chapter focuses on the mechanics of writing a program in Visual Basic—taking an idea and converting it into a Visual Basic program that can execute your intentions。 You’ll learn how to organize your development and implement a Visual Basic class library； as well as how the CLR manages number types。 Focusing and Organizing Your Development When you develop software； you will split your work into two main tasks： organizing and imple menting。 Organizing your development involves figuring out what features and libraries you are going to define； how many people are going to be developing the features； and so on。 Organizing your development is one of the most important tasks when writing code； and it is also typically the most confusing for new developers。 Professional developers seem to organize their work instinctively； but it only appears that way because they have done it so many times that the process has bee automatic。 When developers are tasked with creating a program； they are asked to write software that implements a set of features。 Features could include calculating daily interest payments； auto matically generating letters indicating the acceptance or rejection of a loan； and so on。 A feature always relates to performing some task that is determined by some process。 You could say that feature implementation is the direct implementation of a task。 25 …………………………………………………………Page 48……………………………………………………………