Inheritance, interfaces, and overloading that make it a true object-oriented programming language.
	The ability create multithreaded, scalable applications using explicit multithreading.
	Structured exception handling, custom attributes.
	Common language specification (CLS) compliance. The CLS is a set of rules that standardizes such things as data types and how objects are exposed and interoperate. Any CLS-compliant language can use the classes, objects, and components you create in Visual Basic .NET. A VB.Net user, can access classes, components, and objects from other CLS-compliant programming languages without worrying about language-specific differences such as data types. CLS features used by Visual Basic .NET programs include assemblies, namespaces, and attributes.

	Commenting code ' comment (anywhere in line) x = 1   ' comment Rem comment
	Language/character sets
	Identifiers and keywords:

	Void/null
	Constants
	Variable scope

If-then

If condition [ Then ]
   [ statements  ]
[ ElseIf elseifcondition [ Then ]
   [ elseifstatements ] ]
[ Else
   [ elsestatements ] ]
End If

-or-

If condition Then [ statements ] [ Else elsestatements ]

Parts

condition

Required. Expression. The expression you supply for condition must evaluate to True or False, or to a data type that is implicitly convertible to Boolean.

statements

Optional in multiple-line form; required in single-line form that has no Else clause. One or more statements following If...Then that are executed if condition is True.

elseifcondition

Required if ElseIf is present. Same as condition.

elseifstatements

Optional. One or more statements following ElseIf...Then that are executed if the associated elseifcondition is True.

elsestatements

Optional in multiple-line form; required in single-line form that has an Else clause. One or more statements that are executed if no previous condition or elseifcondition expression is True.

End If

Terminates If...Then block.

Select/switch

Executes one of several groups of statements, depending on the value of an expression.

Select [ Case ] testexpression
   [ Case expressionlist
      [ statements ] ]
   [ Case Else
      [ elsestatements ] ]
End Select

Parts

testexpression

Required. Expression. Must evaluate to one of the elementary data types (Boolean, Byte, Char, Date, Double, Decimal, Integer, Long, Object, Short, Single, and String).

expressionlist

Required in a Case statement. List of expression clauses representing match values for testexpression. Multiple expression clauses are separated by commas. Each clause can take one of the following forms:

	expression1 To expression2
	[ Is ] comparisonoperator expression
	expression

Use the To keyword to specify the boundaries of a range of match values for testexpression. The value of expression1 must be less than or equal to the value of expression2.

Use the Is keyword with a comparison operator (=, <>, <, <=, >, or >=) to specify a restriction on the match values for testexpression. If the Is keyword is not supplied, it is automatically inserted before comparisonoperator.

The form specifying only expression is treated as a special case of the Is form where comparisonoperator is the equal sign (=). This form is evaluated as testexpression = expression.

The expressions in expressionlist can be of any data type, provided they are implicitly convertible to the type of testexpression and the appropriate comparisonoperator is valid for the two types it is being used with.

statements

Optional. One or more statements following Case that are executed if testexpression matches any clause in expressionlist.

elsestatements

Optional. One or more statements following Case Else that are executed if testexpression does not match any clause in the expressionlist of any of the Case statements.

End Select

Terminates Select...Case block.

Do/While loop

Repeats a block of statements while a Boolean condition is True or until the condition becomes True.

Do { While | Until } condition
   [ statements ]
[ Exit Do ]
   [ statements ]
Loop

-or-

Do
   [ statements ]
[ Exit Do ]
   [ statements ]
Loop { While | Until } condition

Parts

While

Required unless Until is used. Keyword. Repeat the loop until condition is False.

Until

Required unless While is used. Keyword. Repeat the loop until condition is True.

condition

Optional. Boolean. Expression that evaluates to a value of True or False.

statements

Optional. One or more statements that are repeated while, or until, condition is True.

While/End

Executes a series of statements as long as a given condition is True.

While condition
   [ statements ]
End While

Parts

condition

Required. Expression. Must evaluate to True or False. If condition is Nothing, condition is treated as False.

statements

Optional. One or more statements following While that are executed while condition is True.

End While

Terminates execution of the While block.

 

For loop

Repeats a group of statements a specified number of times.

For counter [ As datatype ] = start To end [ Step step ]
   [ statements ]
[ Exit For ]
   [ statements ]
Next [ counter ]

Parts

counter

Required. Variable. The data type of counter is usually Integer but can be any elementary numeric type that supports the greater than or equal to (>=), less than or equal to (<=), and addition (+) operators.

datatype

Required if counter is not already declared. Data type of counter. If counter is declared outside this loop, you cannot use the As clause to redeclare it.

start

Required. Expression. The initial value of counter. The start expression usually evaluates to type Integer but can evaluate to any data type that widens to the type of counter.

end

Required. Expression. The final value of counter. The end expression usually evaluates to type Integer but can evaluate to any data type that widens to the type of counter.

step

Optional. Expression. The amount by which counter is incremented each time through the loop. The step expression usually evaluates to type Integer but can evaluate to any data type that widens to the type of counter. If not specified, step defaults to 1.

statements

Optional. One or more statements between For and Next that are executed the specified number of times.

 

For Each Loop

Repeats a group of statements for each element in a collection.

For Each element [ As datatype ] In group
   [ statements ]
[ Exit For ]
   [ statements ]
Next [ element ]

Parts

element

Required. Variable. Used to iterate through the elements of the collection. The data type of element must be such that the data type of the elements of group can be converted to it.

datatype

Required if element is not already declared. Data type of element. If element is declared outside this loop, you cannot use the As clause to redeclare it.

group

Required. Object variable. Must refer to an object collection or array.

statements

Optional. One or more statements between For Each and Next that are executed on each item in group.

Try Catch Finally

Provides a way to handle some or all possible errors that may occur in a given block of code, while still running code.

Try
   [ tryStatements ]
[ Catch [ exception [ As type ] ] [ When expression ] 
   [ catchStatements ] ]
[ Exit Try ]
...
[ Finally
   [ finallyStatements ] ]
End Try

Parts

tryStatements

Optional. Statement(s) where an error can occur. Can be a compound statement.

Catch

Optional. Multiple Catch blocks permitted. If an exception occurs while processing the Try block, each Catch statement is examined in textual order to determine if it handles the exception. Exception represents the exception that has been thrown.

exception

Optional. Any variable name. The initial value of exception is the value of the thrown error. Used with Catch to specify the error caught.

type

Optional. Specifies the type of class filter. If the value of exception is of the type specified by type or of a derived type, the identifier becomes bound to the exception object.

When

Optional. A Catch statement with a When clause will only catch exceptions when expression evaluates to True. A When clause is only applied after checking the type of the exception, and expression may refer to the identifier representing the exception.

expression

Optional. Must be implicitly convertible to Boolean. Any expression that describes a generic filter. Typically used to filter by error number. Used with When keyword to specify circumstances under which the error is caught.

catchStatements

Optional. Statement(s) to handle errors occurring in the associated Try block. Can be a compound statement.

Exit Try

Optional. Keyword that breaks out of the Try...Catch...Finally structure. Execution resumes with the Finally block if present, otherwise with the code immediately following the End Try statement. Not allowed in Finally blocks.

Finally

Optional. A Finally block is always executed when execution leaves any part of the Try statement.

finallyStatements

Optional. Statement(s) that are executed after all other error processing has occurred.

End Try

Terminates the Try...Catch...Finally structure.

Go To

Branches unconditionally to a specified line within a procedure.

GoTo line

Part

line

Required. Any line label.

 

Return

Returns control to the code that called a Sub, Function, or Property procedure.

Return 

-or-

Return expr

Part

expr

Required in a Function procedure or a Property procedure that retrieves the property's value. An expression that represents the value to be returned to the calling code.

 

	Command Line: via the console object interfaces.
	GUI: via the Visual Studio .Net development environments.  This includes use of windows and standard GUI objects (text boxes, buttons, etc.).
	File I/O: via low-level and system level objects.
	Database: via ADO, ADO.Net and similar database integration technologies.

	Google Directory: http://directory.google.com/Top/Computers/Programming/Languages/Visual_Basic/Visual_Basic.NET/
	Microsoft MSDN Reference: http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/library/en-us/vbcn7/html/vaconProgrammingWithVB.asp