Pro VB. 2008 and the .NET 3.5 Platform [Visual Basic]

Whether you're moving to .NET for the first time, or you're already writing applications on .NET 2.0 or .NET 3.0, Pro VB 2008 and the .NET 3.5 Platform will provide you with a solid grounding in this new technology and serve as a comprehensive reference throughout your coding career: * Explore five new chapters of content-including the grammar of the common intermediate language (CIL), .NET generics, and object serialization services. * Discover all the new .NET 3.5 features-nullable types, delegate covariance, ASP.NET 2.0 master pages, the new Windows Forms "Strip" controls, and much more. * Get a professional foothold-targeted to appeal to experienced software professionals and/or graduate students of computer science (so don't expect three chapters on iteration or decision constructs!). * Gain a rock-solid foundation in programming using Visual Basic. * Get comfortable with all the core aspects of the .NET platform-including assemblies, remoting, Windows Forms, Web Forms, ADO.NET, XML web services, and much more. Once you've digested the information contained in the 25 chapters of this 1000+ page book, you'll be ready to apply this knowledge to your specific programming assignments and well equipped to explore the .NET universe on your own.What you'll learn * Everything you need to put .NET 3.5 and Visual Basic 2008 to use in your professional workbefore anyone else! * Insights and techniques from the author's experience since .NET 1.0 * Complete coverage of .NET 3.5-WPF, WCF and WF Who is this book for?Anyone with some software development experience interested in the new .NET 3.5 Platform and the Visual Basic language. Whether you're moving to .NET for the first time or you're already writing applications on .NET 2.0 or .NET 3.0, this book will provide you with a solid grounding in this new technology and serve as a comprehensive reference throughout your coding career. The point of this chapter was to demystify the garbage collection process. As you have seen, the garbage collector will only run when it is unable to acquire the necessary memory from the m- aged heap (or when a given AppDomain unloads from memory). When a garbage collection does occur, you can rest assured that Microsoft's collection algorithm has been optimized by the use of object generations, secondary threads for the purpose of object finalization, and a managed heap dedicated to host large objects. This chapter also illustrated how to programmatically interact with the garbage collector using the System. GC class type. As mentioned, the only time when you will really need to do so is when you are building finalizable or disposable class types. Recall that finalizable types are classes that have overridden the virtual System. Object. Finalize() method to clean up unmanaged resources (at some time in the future). Disposable objects, on the other hand, are classes (or structures) that implement the IDisposable interface. Using this technique, you expose a public method to the object user that can be called to perform internal cleanup ASAP. Finally, you learned about an of- cial “disposal” pattern that blends both approaches. PART 3 Advanced VB Programming Constructs CHAPTER 9 Working with Interface Types This chapter builds on your current understanding of object-oriented development by examining the topic of interface-based programming. This book provides a complete A-to-Z reference for using VB with the .NET 2.0 platform and the .NET 3.0 extensions. It contains new chapters that explore the interactions between the existing framework and the new extensions, offering readers an edge when they evaluate and implement .NET 3.0 for the first time. To provide even more support, the book comes with a bonus CD that provides over 500 pages of carefully selected additional content to help broaden a reader's understanding of both .NET 2.0 and .NET 3.0. Offering developers thorough coverage of the new .NET 3.5 technology, a definitive handbook presents explanations of its new features and how they integrate into the framework of previous .NET versions, covering the design and building of VB applications, programming fundamentals, object-oriented constructs, .NET assemblies, XML and LINQ, user interfaces, database applications, Web design, and .NET interoperability. Original. (Intermediate/Advanced)