CODEWITHSUNDEEP
c#asp.netvb.net
Tarik
Tarik

Reputation: 81801

VB.NET for a C# Developer

I may be starting a new job which requires VB.NET but I am a C# developer and even though I may be able to understand the code, writing it from scratch seems to be a hassle for me for a while.

There are C#>VB.NET converter out there (online) and where you paste your C# code and it converts it into VB.NET code. My question is whether there is any person who experienced this and whether it is a good temp solution or I am gonna experience so much difficulties with that? Do they convert good?

And probably I am gonna run the codes on Asp.net.

An example converter: http://www.developerfusion.com/tools/convert/csharp-to-vb/

Thanks in advance.

Upvotes: 2

Views: 366

Answers (5)

sonofaforester
sonofaforester

Reputation: 337

Don't do it... There are converters, but you will find that once you learn the key differences that you will be fine. You will interact with the .NET libraries in the same way so much of the programming will be the same.

I just changed jobs recently and went the opposite direction. I'm glad I took the time to learn C#. Major dividends in the end and you'll be more versatile.

Upvotes: 1

Oded
Oded

Reputation: 499362

Don't use converters - learn VB.NET and the differences between its syntax and C#.

There is a very good comparison cheat sheet here to get you started.

In practice, you will find that most of the time you are interacting with familiar .NET objects in the same way and you only have some syntax differences (though generics and delegate syntax are such a pain that one tends to shy away from them).

Microsoft has stated that they are trying to bring both language to feature parity, so anything you can do in C#, you should be able to do with VB.NET (with minor differences normally).

Update - don't forget that compiled code (in assemblies) should work identically in both languages (assuming CLS compliance), so you could write a library in C# for use with VB.NET and vice versa.

Upvotes: 14

oscilatingcretin
oscilatingcretin

Reputation: 10959

This is good for converting the bulk of your code, but it's not a total solution. One thing you will have issues with is the converter knowing what to do with C#'s indexer brackets ([]) vs. method parentheses (()). VB uses parenthesis for indexers and methods and there's no way for it to know which to use.

I've gone through conversion hell with these things and finally decided that they were just too much trouble and that it was much easier to just convert it by hand. I come from a VB background, so this wasn't a huge deal for me.

For what you want to do, though, you need to learn VB.NET syntax. Writing everything in C# and converting it to VB.NET is not a good, long-term solution. You will eventually have to learn VB.NET. Your manager(s) will not be keen to the fact that you're not learning the core fundamentals of the language you were hire to program in.

Upvotes: 1

Heinzi
Heinzi

Reputation: 172468

I'd say your code will work, but you'll miss some special features for which there is no C# equivalent and which would make your code fit better with the language. Some examples:

  • In C#, you assign event handlers with +=, which will be translated to AddHandler. In VB, however, it's much more common to use WithEvents instance variables. This is especially relevant for ASP.NET, where C# often uses the AutoEventWireup feature, which done in VB through WithEvents instead.

  • In C#, you access XML through LINQ to XML method calls, which will be translated to the matching method calls in VB. However, in VB, it's more natural to use the integrated language support for XML.

Upvotes: 1

DaveK
DaveK

Reputation: 4607

You can try the Telerik Code Converter

That being said, it would be a valuable exercise to convert the code manually. You'll gain a good amount of experience by doing a manual conversion and you'll learn some of the key differences between the 2 languages that may help you going forward.

Upvotes: 1

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