Visual Basic Blog
A group blog from members of the VB team
Latest posts
Throwing the Big Switch on Roslyn (Matt Gertz, VS Managed Languages Development Manager)
![Anthony D. Green [MSFT]](https://devblogs.microsoft.com/vbteam/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/letter-avatar/7c5b09a72c1d6e6f2a21258b8cf078b8.svg){kind=avatar}
So, the entryway to my house has eight light switches along the wall. Two of them control the porch lights, and another two work the same entryway light (despite the switches being only a couple of feet apart). I haven’t the foggiest idea what the rest of the switches do. I’ve been scared to try them out, actually. (I worry that one day I’ll accidentally throw one of them and find out later that my couch is missing or something odd like that.) However, I am pleased to announce that we’ve turned on quite a different switch here on the Managed Languages team, with ve...
No new VB and C# Language Features in VS 2013
As you can see in the VS2013 Preview, we have not added new language features to Visual Basic and C# in the next version of Visual Studio. I’d like to share our thinking on this. There are essentially two main reasons why we chose not to evolve the languages this time around.The most important is that we just shipped new versions of these two languages less than a year ago, with support for asynchrony being a major new and impactful language feature in both. Developers are still learning how to integrate and benefit from the asynchrony shift in languages and APIs. We are very excited about the quicker pace ...
Roslyn September 2012 CTP Available for Download!
VB Enthusiasts,Following last Wednesday’s official launch of Visual Studio 2012, we’re excited to announce that the Roslyn September 2012 CTP is now available for download and provides support for VS 2012 RTM. Please note that Visual Studio 2010 is no longer supported by this CTP.We’ve been hard at work since the first public release of Roslyn adding support for new language features and improving our APIs. In addition, we’ve also updated our NuGet packages to match the September 2012 CTP.As always, your feedback is critical! Please get involved in the discussion on the Roslyn forum, file ...
Install Published Samples with Visual Studio
You can use Visual Studio 2012 RC to download and install samples from the MSDN Code Gallery. You can download only the samples you need, or you can download one or more Sample Packs, which group several samples that relate to a technology or topic. You'll receive a notification if source code changes are published for any sample that you download.To locate the samples, open the New Project dialog, and then expand the Online tab, and then the Samples node.To locate the sample packs, choose Tools, Extensions and Updates on the menu bar. In the Extensions and Updates dialog box, expand the Online tab, a...
More VB Metro Samples available
With the recent release of the Windows 8 Release Preview and the Visual Studio 2012 Release Candidate we also have more of the Metro samples available for VB developers.Although not all the samples are available for VB, there is a good selection of samples showing you how utilize much of the important functionality now available. More samples will be made available as the all the products move towards their final RTM relase.Spotty ResourcesWindows 8 Release Preview - http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows-8/release-previewVisual Studio 2012 RC - http://www.microsoft.com/visualstudio/11/...
Announcing Microsoft “Roslyn” June 2012 CTP
Hey, fellow VBs,Today, we're excited to announce that the Roslyn June 2012 CTP is now available for download!Since the first public release of Roslyn, we’ve been hard at work implementing new language features, addressing top customer feedback from the October CTP, iterating on our API design and improving performance across our IDE and compiler scenarios. With the recent release of Visual Studio 2012 RC, we have updated the Roslyn CTP to work with Visual Studio 2012 RC. There’s never been a better time to grab the VS 2012 RC and the Roslyn CTP!You can find an in-depth look at what’s...
Kinect SDK v1.5 – Now with VB Samples !!!
As developers start to realize the full potential of Microsoft Kinect and new hardware is made available for the PC it’s really great to see the Kinect team provide some sample support for VB developers. For a while the Compilers team (who handle both VB and C# compilers) have been hearing VB developers asking for content on new technologies and have been working with other product teams to ensure VB developers get some content in a timely manner. The Kinect team has included a “Basics” series of samples with language coverage in C++, C# and Visual Basic. Kud...
Async Targeting Pack for Visual Studio 11, now available for .NET 4 and Silverlight 5
If you’ve held off trying Visual Studio 11 Beta because your .NET 4 or Silverlight 5 app uses the Async CTP, your wait is over!Today we’ve published the Async Targeting Pack for Visual Studio 11, a NuGet package that lets your Visual Studio 11 projects target .NET 4 and Silverlight 5 while taking advantage of VB11's new Await keyword. While Visual Studio 11 provides built-in support for Await in projects that target .NET 4.5 or .NET for Metro style apps, this targeting pack provides the API support to expand the set of target platforms to include .NET 4 and Silverlight 5 as well.Check out o...
Visual Basic 11 Beta Available for Download!
As you may have read in Jason’s announcement, today we announced that Visual Studio 11 Beta is now available for download. This is a huge release for Visual Basic as it provides full platform support for building Windows 8 Metro style apps, a first-class asynchronous programming experience, and also the long-awaited Iterators feature. And in the true spirit of VB, you’ll see a ton of other improvements that will make you more productive every day. AsyncAs the world moves to mobile phones and tablets, the demand for responsiveness in today’s applications is higher than ever...