c# or vb?

[SLEE]

im taking on the challenge of learning .net but which would be better/easier to learn c# or vb?
i know a bit of php so would c# be a better choice?

[sickpuppy]

im taking on the challenge of learning .net but which would be better/easier to learn c# or vb?
i know a bit of php so would c# be a better choice?

php is suitably alien to both c# and vb. Are you learning it for a job, for fun or to upgrade from old ASP?

vb is slightly easier to learn and closer to classic ASP. However new jobs favour c#. I think this is most likely a throwback to the days where C++ was trickier than VB so people naturally thought C++ programmers were better. They see C# and think # is almost the same as ++. The .NET framework is the same for both so all the tricky low level functions are the same.

To be honest the difference between C# and VB.NET is so small it's not too difficult to switch between the two especially if you haven't touched either before.

[SLEE]

i want to earn it so i have some knowledge f .net for both personal uses and if needed for my work. im not looking to be a super programmer i just want to have an understanding and to be able to do some simple things with it. i have very limited knowledge of asp just enough to get me by. php has always been my favourite especially when using it with flash. i was told that c# was bettter due to it resembling php a liitle ans also javascript. im not familiar with visual studio so i want to get to grips with it and learn the basics of a .net language.

[sickpuppy]

I'd download the C# Visual Studio Express from microsoft's site then. If it's for web dev then download the Web Developer Visual Studio Express instead. You can develop in C# or VB with that.

[ih8mondays]

I'm looking at learning .net soon too. Probably going to go down the c# route.

Anyone know if the MS online tutorials are any good?

[Mr Tickle]

What Mr SickPuppy said.

There is more demand for C# skillz and it is very similar to Java. So if you learn C#, understanding Java will be easy afterwards.

My advice to anyone learning C# with no previous experience of Object-Oriented programming would be to read up on some basic OO principles. It will make understanding the code much easier.

[DevMountain]

This may help you decide: http://www.codeproject.com/dotnet/CSharpVersusVB.asp

It's all about culture.

[DevMountain]

Anyone know if the MS online tutorials are any good?

Generally OK, but I would advise getting:

• Visual C# 2005 Unleashed
• ASP.Net 2.0 Unleashed

I learnt .Net 1.1 with this series and have since read these two for .Net 2.0 - they are excellent.

[ih8mondays]

Cheers Dev - bookmarked the amazon book page!