Table of Contents

Introduction
  - Overview of the .NET Framework
  - An Overview of Object-Oriented Programming
  - About This Book
  - Downloading and Installing the .NET Framework
  - Choosing An IDE
  - Downloading Program Examples
Chapter 1: Your First Taste of Visual Basic
  - Your First Visual Basic Program
  - Visual Basic Code Conventions
  - Summary
Chapter 2: Language Fundamentals
  - ASCII and Unicode
  - Intrinsic Types and the Common Type System
  - Variables
  - Constants
  - Literals
  - Primitive Conversions
  - Operators
  - Comments
  - Summary
Chapter 3: Statements
  - An Overview of Visual Basic Statements
  - The if Statement
  - The while Statement
  - The do-while Statement
  - The for Statement
  - The break Statement
  - The continue Statement
  - The switch Statement
  - Summary
Chapter 4: Objects and Classes
  - What Is an Object?
  - VB Classes
  - Creating Objects
  - The null Keyword
  - Objects in Memory
  - Namespaces
  - Encapsulation and Class Access Control
  - The this Keyword
  - Using Other Classes
  - Static Members
  - Variable Scope
  - Method Overloading
  - Summary
Chapter 5: Core Classes
  - System.Object
  - System.String
  - System.Text.StringBuilder
  - Arrays
  - System.Console
  - Summary
Chapter 6: Inheritance
  - An Overview of Inheritance
  - Accessibility
  - Method Overriding
  - Calling the Base Class?s Constructors
  - Calling the Base Class?s Hidden Members
  - Type Casting
  - Sealed Classes
  - The is Keyword
  - Summary
Chapter 7: Structures
  - An Overview of Structures
  - .NET Structures
  - Writing A Structure
  - Nullable Types
  - Summary
Chapter 8: Error Handling
  - Catching Exceptions
  - try without catch and the using Statement
  - The System.Exception Class
  - Throwing an Exception from a Method
  - Final Note on Exception Handling
  - Summary
Chapter 9: Numbers and Dates
  - Number Parsing
  - Number Formatting
  - The System.Math Class
  - Working with Dates and Times
  - Summary
Chapter 10: Interfaces and Abstract Classes
  - The Concept of Interface
  - The Interface, Technically Speaking
  - Implementing System.IComparable
  - Abstract Classes
  - Summary
Chapter 11: Enumerations
  - An Overview of Enum
  - Enums in a Class
  - Switching on enum
  - Summary
Chapter 12: Generics
  - Why Generics?
  - Introducing Generic Types
  - Applying Restrictions
  - Writing Generic Types
  - Summary
Chapter 13: Collections
  - Overview
  - The List Class
  - The HashSet Class
  - The Queue Class
  - The Dictionary Class
  - Summary
Chapter 14: Input/Output
  - File and Directory Handling and Manipulation
  - Input/Output Streams
  - Reading Text (Characters)
  - Writing Text (Characters)
  - Reading and Writing Binary Data
  - Summary
Chapter 15: Windows Presentation Foundation
  - Overview
  - Application and Window
  - WPF Controls
  - Panels and Layout
  - Event Handling
  - XAML
  - Summary
Chapter 16: Polymorphism
  - Defining Polymorphism
  - Polymorphism in Action
  - Polymorphism in a Drawing Application
  - Summary
Chapter 17: ADO.NET
  - Introduction to ADO.NET
  - Five Steps to Data Access
  - Connecting to SQL Server Example
  - Summary
Appendix A: Visual Studio Express 2013 for Windows Desktop
  - Hardware and Software Requirements
  - Download and Installation
  - Registering Visual Studio Express 2012
  - Creating a Project
  - Creating a Class
  - Running a Project
Appendix B: SQL Server 2012 Express