Visual Basic and the .NET Framework

Visual Basic is designed around the .NET Framework, which helps provide security, memory management, versioning, and deployment support. The .NET Framework also enables interoperability between objects you create with any .NET Framework programming language. This means you can create objects by using Visual Basic that are easy to use from other .NET Framework languages, and you can use objects from other .NET Framework languages just like you use objects created with Visual Basic.

In This Section

• Assemblies
  Defines assemblies and describes how to use them.

• References and the Imports Statement
  Discusses how to reference objects in other assemblies.

• Namespaces in Visual Basic
  Describes how namespaces organize objects within assemblies.

• Attributes in Visual Basic
  Discusses how .NET Framework attributes provide additional information about entities defined inside a Visual Basic application.

• Friend Assemblies (Visual Basic)
  Provides a conceptual overview of using friend assemblies in Visual Basic.

Related Sections

• How to: Add or Remove References in Visual Studio (Visual Basic)
  Covers adding references so that you can write code against external components, and describes how to remove unnecessary references.

• .NET Framework Conceptual Overview
  Introduces the .NET Framework architecture and its components.

• Language Changes for Visual Basic 6.0 Users
  Provides a list and descriptions of changed language elements.