XML FeedsShould I abandon VB.Net? This is a question that crosses my mind from time to time, but lately it is getting stronger. At least it would make my life simpler. Copy paste coding gets even better when you are a C# programmer since there are so much more examples out there. The community is bigger and better for C#. Even Microsoft discourages the use of VB.Net. If you ever go to something like techdays you will find that VB.Net is nowhere to be found. In that community you will be mocked and ridiculed if you tell them you are a VB.Net programmer. You are looked down upon, even by the spaghetti programmers. But then the .Net community seems to be rude and unfriendly whatever you do. I noticed that when I did my little powershell series over the weekend.
So the question crosses my mind if I was wrong to choose VB.Net and to choose Winforms. I guess the same questions are asked by the VB6 community. And the Delphi community. Apparently even the WPF community is already feeling the love draining away. Did you notice these are all Microsoft communities. Microsoft seems to be in the habit of creating things and then abandoning them for the next big thing without even trying to make it easy for people to convert their old code.
Do you know how hard it is to even find VB.Net developer on the web that have great blogs? I guess most of them decided to blog in C# instead and get more out of the experience or else they are just not there.
I have been trying to convince Scott Hanselman to incorporate a few lines of VB.Net in his keynote for the 2011 Belgian Techdays. It feels like an uphill battle. Considering the result of this poll I think he will be even less inclined now.
I don't blame them, they are in the business of making money and they should do what they think they have to do.
Do I think I should change because of all of the reasons above? Nope, not any time soon. I will keep using VB.Net and winforms for as long as I can and that will be awhile. Rewriting an application just because of a new technology is not a good move, it looses you money in the short and long term. You are better of adding features to your existing application.
The first thing to think about when things like this arise, is if they add value to your situation. Don't change things for the sake of change, change things for the better. Let's not forget that even the best and brightest get it wrong.
I guess being philosophical from time to time comes with old age.
Chris is awesome.
As someone from the Delphi community, I have wondered for several years if I should abandon Delphi in favor of C# and .NET. But still I'm working on Delphi projects for the WIN32 platform which cannot be migrated to .NET just yet. Then again, with Delphi I have a choice between .NET development or WIN32 development. VB.NET is only focused on .NET and competes heavily with other .NET languages.
>> As developer you first analyse what needs 
I'd say it is more and more fun to be a VB programmer actually. With VB10 it's pretty much on par with C#. Sure most examples are in C# but you can convert a sample to VB pretty easily, there are even automatic converters on the web. I wouldn't mind switching to C# but I'm happy to code in VB.
I started in VB.Net and quickly switched to C# once starting my professional career. My personal feelings towards VB are not positive in most cases. I will say that I love working in C# and I find a lot of very useful tools out there that are designed to work specifically with the C# configuration of VS.
C#, VB.Net, the arguement of choosing one over the other, IMO has less merrit than ever before. The two languages are becoming more and more similar. The IDE dev teams have merged. The technologies available to one are almost absolutely available to the other.
Without going into the technical merits of your post, I agree 100% with your thoughts on re-writing or switching just for the sake of switching. There are times where things should be rewritten but that should be a business determination, not a developer's. At my office, we are in the process of rewriting many of our existing applications, but that is to create better functionality and to streamline the operation and not just because we necessarily want to switch from Delphi to C#. But that is driven by the business, not the desire of developers to just rewrite code using the newest language/framework/etc. Your thoughts are in line with that and are completely appropriate. 
If you are just making traditional business apps, then I'd be asking, why not switch to web-based applications that work on every platform, including mobile.
I really need rich-client. Webapplications just aren't good enough 
Find the best tool for the job I say. 
The beauty of .NET is you can switch from VB.NET to C# (or any other .NET language such as F#) and not have to rewrite all of your existing code. You can combine multiple .NET languages in the same .EXE or .DLL. You could switch today and start writing all of your new source code files in C#.
How can anyone love VB? I know that you get used to things, but VB is a horrible language. I did once like it, and understanding libraries of any lang can make it seem indespensible. However after I switched to python I hated VB more and more. The only thing I missed was the simple gui. But with the baggage of the language, the fast gui toolkit wasn't worth it.
I think you are worrying about the wrong point. If you like VB, stick with it. When you have spare time, learn other languages built on top of the .NET framework (C# certainly, but there are a lot of others - http://www.dotnetlanguages.net/dnl/resources.aspx). The learning curve is fairly soft if you already work with .NET.
VB4LIFE! My theory has always been, if I have to take a extra half a second per line to translate my code in my head into C# when I could have just written it in VB and been done with it, that's an extra half a second times x lines of code I'm wasting each day. So let people argue about it all day long.. while you're doing that i'll be here writing in VB and getting my stuff done. 
It was clear from version 1.0 that VB.NET was going to be a second-class language in the .NET community. My only Windows development before .NET was in VB6 but I haven't written a line of VB.NET -- I moved immediately over to C#. The writing was on the wall then and it hasn't changed in all these years.
Well you know what they say, learn one new programming language every year. Although I understand that learning a new language is one thing and rewriting the whole app is another.
"Microsoft seems to be in the habit of creating things and then abandoning them..." - Ding!
Josh S. not sure your post makes any sense, and I'm not trying to be nasty, but I hear this pseudo-position frequently about VB.Net and I can't see the merit in it at all. The 'libraries' are the EXACT same libraries you use in C#, it's all the .NET Framework. Any decent developer should (IMO) be dropping the VB namespace anyway, thats the ONLY 'library' native to VB. If you remove that from your project, you are coding C# w/ a background compiler and case-insensitivity (which is stupid). So, they are one and the same, w/ (as some else mentioned) more forgiveness in the IDE. VB.Net (the IDE) has more polish to it, just works better. There is nothing 'unholy' about VB.Net, it's built on the exact same foundation is C#. So, I would have to ask you to back-up the heinous-affront-to-all-thats-holy position you have on VB.Net. I code both, but given the choice, always code VB.Net. If it dies, I'm good either way, but it would be unfortunate. 
Hello
Microsoft has a tendency to let things rot, but seriously VB.Net was an attempt to make it "easy" to keep crusty old VB6 code running. 
Interesting, when I google "Abomination programming language" I get: C++, C++, C#, Sanscript, Lambda calculus, C++, C, Google Languages (C++, java, javascript, python, go), ANT (java), and a techrepublic search.
>>"I haven't used it since VB6, but I can't imagine that its improved." 
It's funny how many people you see bashing VB.Net who haven't even touched it. I think a lot of people don't understand that it runs on the same framework as C#. 
- "The reason -of course- is that the VB syntax is easier to follow than C#"
Hey, you can even code in ruby for dotnet.
This is such a stupid thing to (still) be talking about. C# is a fine language. So is VB.NET. Both most C# kiddies (especially the one who have never even looked at C++ or C) want to believe that because their syntax is different, it is somehow superior. Here's their clue. They are both compiled to the same runtime. I wrote both. I prefer VB because I think that, being more verbose, it is more easily maintainable, but have, occasionally, spent years writing C# exclusively because that's what the project was using. Isn't it time to end the pissing contest? 
What is stopping the switch? A good dev will pick a new language syntax up quickly, VB and C# have the same framework underneath so it's not like you have to learn a whole new bunch of technologies.
Honestly, VB.NET was created to support VB6 developers to go to .NET easily, hence the Microsoft.VisualBasic support, the support for Option Strict Off, Option Explicit Off. 
Hi! I program in several languages for several years, since Clipper in 1993 and VB6 in 1998 - up java, c#, vb.NET, and many others. I can say that this discussion that the community creates is silly, because today almost all languages do the same things, in different ways. Especially about vb.NET and c#, everything is interchangeable and convertible, then it makes sense to choose A or B only because someone said it is "more elegant" or "better". Today these technologies are so mature and equivalents, which can be done in Clipper, Cobol and other dead languages, under .NET with the same efficiency. So philosophies aside, the good programmer to choose just the syntax that feels more comfortable, and the geeks call that a fight over language, we can only say: the English language is better than the French or German? 
I wasn't formally trained as a programmer, just picked it up as I went along starting with VBScript and Javascript. I for one appreciate stricter languages because they force me to be a more careful coder. I had a business partner who refused to add option explicit to his ASP webpages, because it forced him to dim all his vars...I saw it as a good way to catch errors before code was released.
I agree with C#411 - you don't need to chose between a complete rewrite of your application in C# or adding new features. Simply add the new features in C#, leave the VB code as it is. I'd say that the more bilingual you get, the better - then you will have the best of both worlds. 
Such a peculiar discussion to me...
VB.NET and C# are both fine languages.
The debates over VB.NET versus C# have absolutely no merit but to promote the popular mythology that somehow a language with curly-braces is more elegant than one without.
Whether you code in C# or vb.net is just a personal preference.The code you write is exactly the same just different syntax.I code in both visual basic.net and C# and they are both second nature to me.You use the same .net libraries so I would say that if you like coding in vb.net that you should stick with it.Learning C# would be a bonus but it is not a must.
I can do in VB6 everything .NET does. :P.
VB.NET is used in several systems. All over the world.
VB.NET is a very nice and EASY language.
BUT...
MICROSOFT does not respect the community of developers.
ASP.NET does not have the same sucess as Classic ASP had in the past. That explains why MICROSOFT is losing market fast. MICROSOFT often try to create ridiculos things like code behind to Web Development, LINQ... etc.
That explains why DEVELOPERS go to another language.
MICROSOFT does not respect the community of developers. 
My stint as a professional programmer started and ended back in the 80s. At that time I was mostly writing apps with dBaseII and Lotus macros. And Wang glossaries, if anyone else is old enough to remember them.
I ran a VB User Group for years in the late 90's then was an early adopter of .NET. At the time in 2000, there were a few that wanted to jump to the new sexy C# language. I stuck with VB.NET and change the user group to VB.NET User group. At the time Microsoft wanted me to change that to Visual Studio user group and I wouldn't so they seeded a competing user group which after several months rooted our group out. 
From a hiring perspective, the available pool of qualified C# candidates is much larger than VB, so from a business decision making process, the choice is easy.
Unfortunately I do see things trending away from VB. .Net is .net and it isn't that hard to transition but it is a bit annoying for those of us who started in VB6.
I agree fully. I have worked with VB for years. While I move up to the latest VB.NET as new projects come along, or there is a good reason to convert up, I still have two projects in VB6. They will finally be converted this year to VB.NET (likely 2010) because there are now enough new features to be added that justify the rewrite.
I've worked on vb6, vb.net, c# and I tell you what.... VB in general is the bane of my life! It should be put out to pasture and stop causing misery for loads of developers. I dread and cringe when my director comes to me asking for a new feature in some of our legacy vb6 apps.
Often times we work in teams and we are charged with having to maintain existing code and develop new ones.In most if not all cases one language(vb or C# for example is used) for obvious reasons. The expectation is for every developer to stick with what has been chosen. Clearly since the framework provides for both it is to the developer's advantage to acclimate with both. Lately I have been jumping from job to job and found that doing so is both fullfilling and leaves no room for arguments that have nothing within your control. 
C#, always, never looking back. It's structured, has standards, and is easier to understand when reading (definately easier on the eyes). It's not a "willy nilly" language like VB that makes assumptions on variable names and what not.
I have some devotion to C and C++, languages I have worked with in my past, for subjective and sentimental, geek reasons. At the same time, I think languages are tools and the best tool is the more specific, faster, productive tool available to perform the job you have to do. Same for screwdrivers and hammers. Marketplace pushed me towards VB a few times. MS have pushed VB against us so hard and for so much time that turned it into something people took seriously, eventually. The initial lack of OO features in VB was something remarkable. I always avoided VB and, lucky me, succeeded on my efforts. It is ugly and nasty. Considering both, I embraced C# in a heartbeat. Of course, this is me. I respect diverse opinions and, above all, people's right to have diverse opinions. Best regards. 
I started life in VB6 and never really liked it. But I would say it has almost nothing to do with vb.Net in the present framework. That said, I switched to c# but I really makes little difference. I found moving to c# easy (it's not like trying to move to Java or c++). I would bite the bullet and move to c# - it won't be as hard as you think and, rightly or wrongly, it'll up open up a broader community and set of resources to you. VB.Net ain't bad, it's just not as well supported so why hamstring yourself. Go for it... 
As toward these heavy comments above I think we all are discussing some thing that is just a way to communicate with our compilers it hardly matters to us if they understand any language the only thing is how better we can tought them what we want.... So grow up VB developers we are still best and for C# DEvs ... u know what we are 
Shouldn't one of the strong considerations be how easy it is to find programmers that can maintain your system? It's much easier to find C# coders than VB.NET coders out there. Regardless of the merits, differences, similarities and simple opinions about each, one backs you into a much tighter corner when it comes to a talent pool to utilize. Have you looked for a FoxPro coder lately? 
I do agree with most of the comments. I have been a developer for 35+ years and have wandered through a large (and I mean large) number of programming langages. Beginning with Assembler in the pre-Apple days (my first computer was Apple serial number 5 bought from Steve Jobs at his garage. Unfortunately I did not keep it :S), all the way up to today's super-languages. My true feeling is that languages are very much like cults. Some of them have been pushed (and gone away) by cult makers to make money out of the believers. The day comes that ceratin cult is losing practicants (coders, customers) and, either create a new substitute or a new sect to recover them.
Hi,
I program in both C# and VB.Net, I have to say the syntax of VB is easier but in C# you have more possibillities. They are both good programming languages. People who say VB.Net is not good have never used it, or are focused on one language. It is better to be able writting in more languages. So it is not the language that's not good it are the people saying it. And if they didn't know C# and VB.Net both run on the same framework and in the end it is the same. 
I am a VB6 programmer (among other things) and will hopefully soon be coding in VB.Net. I have spent a lot of time learning .net and my impression is that the choice between VB.Net and C# is just about syntax.
I was forced to abondon.net in 2001, i had to do c#, since i was comming from a c/c++ background i moved. i cant even write vb code , let last time i tried i laughed at myself. Well chrissie1, things have changed to the direction of web and mobile device. i am looking to go mobile before i retire soon.
The new cool thing is to trash Basic in general and VB.net in particular. I can't understand why people think such arguments make them look smarter. As previously posted a language is just a tool, you should use the best tool for the job at hand. And many times you will find that vb.net it's a good choice for a number of scenarios, perhaps it would not yield the fastest or smallest solution, but you can solve your problem quickly.
I wonder when and why Hanselman made the switch. Anyone know? 
About 6 months ago I decided to move from ASP Classic to .NET, and I had the conundrum of deciding which language to learn. I bought a Wrox book on ASP.NET 3.5 and all the examples were provided in both languages, so I decided to learn VB.NET for no particular reason. Half way through the book I got assigned a big project, which was out of the books scope, and this is when it hit me that VB.NET had only a fraction of support and communities that C# had. I started to build the site in VB regardless, occasionally converting code snippets I sourced on c# into VB using online converters. In the end though this was proving a struggle as searching for solutions to VB based issues was increasingly hard and it became apparent that abandoning VB was probably the best thing to do.
Although not VB.NET, I use both languages almost every day. C# and C++/MFC I use for making Windows applications. VBA for writing things quickly in Excel. I wonder if Office will eventually support VB.NET... My first job was writing in old school Visual Basic, after that, everything has been C++/MFC or C#... I would not turn down a VB.NET job if the opportunity and pay was good. Unfortunately for VB.NET programmers most times it is not.. visual basic used to be a way to get things done faster and quicker. With .NET, that advantage has gone by the wayside since it is now the same as c#. It is better to pick your job first, then worry about which language they are using second... 
I love VB.NET. I think that it is a better language - it is easier to read and understand. It is also more convenient for ASP.NET web page development. Unfortunately, I have been coding C# for the past three years - that is what many clients seem to prefer. 
As a technical director of a small software house I am worried about how fast things get written. 
All my life I have seen horrible code in many different languages. Good code and good implementation do not depend on language, but who write them. This discussion on which language is better is useless! Vi abominations both VB and C # and other languages. The language does not make good programmers, no matter what.
I have programmed in both vb.net and C#. I prefer C# because it is closer to C++ and Java. VB was a great windows only language in its hey day. Now it really is a hassle to have additional keywords to do things in VB. Microsoft is saying they will support both languages but it EVERY new thing in .net comes out in C# first...EVERYTHING. Just look at what happened with the cell phone development kits.
I think when Microsoft created VB.NET, they did a big mistake: they left to developers the possibility to continue to think à la VB6. If they abandoned all VB6 specific keywords and encouraged people to convert them to equivalent framework functions, and they add a better system for casting values, and the possibility to use [] for indexes, then for me the two languages could be nearly the same. 
Good grief. Coke vs Coke Zero! It would be funny if people weren't so serious about their opinions. 
I'm a VB programmer, or at least that's what I use at my job, when I program something outside of it I use C#. Why? Well, just because that's what people seem more used to.
There are a lot of people bashing VB.Net who have obviously never used it. I am proficient in both. almost all of my .net programming has been in ASP.Net. I like VB.net as displayed in the IDE, for the ease in adding event handlers on controls that exist on the page and the auto-formating of your code and the better intellisense. I get very irritated when the intellisense in C# stop working for everything because one character is typed wrong. I also get irritated with trying to decipher someone elses code with ten consecutive curly braces and no discernable indents. This is particularly irritating when the other person uses the name of a class or property which is the same as a built-in name or property but with a different case. VB.Net prevents that. Also for those out their basing their opinion of VB.Net on VB6, then forget it. VB.Net uses the same classes, their structure and notation as all the other .Net languages. There is virtually nothing left of the old VB 3 - 6 or the old Basic Iv and GW-Basic. About the only thing left are the for(each) next loops and the if then else blocks (which in my mind is much better and clearer than the C#, JavaScript, C++, Java "for" paren curley brace or the "if" paren curley brace blocks. And no semi colon and curley brace hell.
I have to agree with Hector - the majority of the people criticizing VB.Net don't really have a good understanding of VB.Net and seem to be basing their opinion on experiencing someone else's poor coding skills in VB.
I think that what makes you a good or a bad programmer is how so good and fast you are to solve a task with the resources that you have, wich could vary too much from job to job and from client to client, but not the languaje.
I program in nearly every language available. Truly, I see no
The argument is immaterial on a technical front, however commercially, M$oft wants to obsolete VB.NET in the long term so it makes sense to migrate to C# and stop trying to ski uphill.
For thirty years I am continually amazed with this back and forth argument (just pick the tool that gets the job done and can adapt in the future). I love VB.Net, along with Delphi, C# and Visual FoxPro (the Rodney Dangerfield of programming languages - we get no respect) - too often I see programmers try to force a language on a task at hand and then fall short of its objectives. Right now C# is the WORD but does it really matter (I've seen as much bad C# code as I have seen VB or Delphi) - A good programmer adapts - using the right tool for the right job! 
I'm a VB programmer also. I've been fearing the death of VB for awile now, when MS started releasing new teck that only worked with C# (micro framework, zune, XNA ...)and I ask myself why would MS do this; in one hand MS tells VB is equal to C# and in the other cut us off from some cool stuff, almost a slap down.
Well here we are again, as someone said: a pissing contest. 
To answer your question directly, yes! abandon VB.Net! 
For me, programming is a tool I use to "get things done"; I am not a programmer by profession. I picked up VB6 years ago to implement a scientific data collection/management system because there was no one else around to do it. Along the way, I learned enough about proper program design and coding to not do some of the stupid things VB6 lets you do, and to eventually develop a well-polished set of apps that are still being used today. Once again, I'm in the position of needing to "code or die", and I'll probably use VB.NET, simply because it's the shortest putt to a solution. One thing I'll continue to do is to exercise the necessary discipline to design well-structured code, regardless of how VB would allow me to do otherwise. Just because you can run with scissors doesn't mean it's mandatory. 
I think that C# have a lot of good followers because there is people that like use a cannon to kill a bug, I am fan that we have to use the correct tool for each problem. Now VB.Net is enough for many of the problems in market.
VB is nice, because is near people. C like languages are near machines. Computer language can be human-friendly and can to remain powerfull: 
Good article, but even better comments. I wanted to chime in with my own personal experience using VB. I started out with VB6, moved on to VB.NET, and I've had no issues with the language since. I’ve developed several pieces of software for business and personal use, and the users of that software literally do not care whether I used QBASIC or C++, what matters to them is a good UI with the functionality they need, and ultimately a software program that gets the job done better than what they can do themselves or find some other software program to do. If you’re targeting Windows users, VB is a good choice. VB is also used for VSTO and VBA programming, for automating Microsoft programs such as Word, Outlook, Excel, or Access. I have found VSTO knowledge invaluable, as many times the company where I work needs to control certain aspects of their corporate email system, and VSTO add-ins for Outlook are sometimes the only way (or the easy way) to do this.
I've been thinking the exact same thing! I picked up vb.net over the last 18 months or so to develop a desktop tool for work. I'm an engineer and only had formal training in Fortan and C...decades ago. But since I worked with an Access database a few years ago I decided to go the route of vb.net for my project. I have found it relatively easy to use and the IDE and intellisense have been a tremendous help. But since no one else where I work programs in vb.net (they're mostly perl, python and java users) I've turned to internet searches to help me along. It's clear to me that C# is more popular but I have not found it too difficult to understand it and of course there are online translators to make sure I get it right. But I was wondering lately if I'd made the wrong decision and if I should switch - though this project is too far along to rewrite. I'm glad to hear that vb.net is not dead, however I think I will learn some C#. That said though, I think programming my tool in vb.net was not a bad thing. I will most likely not be around to maintain it and I think (hope) I've done a good enough job with the code that someone else should be able to understand it - even if they're not proficient in vb.net. 
It's amazing how silly and pointless arguments people make. In the entire list of long comments, the basic argument was the syntax and that vb.net was made for VB6ers, when as stated many times, vb.net and c# are two faces of the same coin.
VB.NET was designed to bring the developers familiar with BASIC into .NET. C# was directed towards C++/Java developers. Pick what you know best and get the project done on time and on budget. .NET is .NET no matter what language you use to utilize the technology.
"Copy paste coding gets even better when you are a C# programmer"
Why stick with VB? It doesn't take long to learn the C# syntax.
Why did you write this? To confuse people? Seriously. The code is compiled by the CLR. Have ever looked at the output of the compiled language? It is the same from vb to C#. You can covert anything written in C# to vb.net painlessly. 
I haven't found any good reason to choose C# or VB over the other, as anything that can be one in one language can be done in the other. It seems to come down to aesthetic preference. For me, I prefer VB because my original background was PL/I, and it seems natural to me to write IF .... THEN ... END IF rather than IF ....{ }.
Great article. 
"Microsoft discourages it" ?? Really, how so? Where is it written? 
I have used QuickBasic, VisualBasic, Access, VB.net and it was easy to use. Now I use C# (new company) and it was easy to change. Syntactical Sugar. Whitch language is better. Oh god.
Nice article and some productive comments!
I am a proud VB.Net programmer...
Just forget .Net all together! Open source scripting languages power the internet.
VB.anyflavor - it's over, just walk toward the light.
Now... I'm just a student doing game design, and the game engine I'm required to use only allows us to code in java, c# or boo (never even heard of this one), as well as ShaderLab.
I code in what people pay me to code in, period. I know I'm a rock-solid programmer, because I'm hired and paid good money by top-tier firms. And my number-one language, after SQL? VB*A*. Yeah, dig it. (All the scorn you could possibly muster wouldn't hold a candle to the colleague mockery I've withstood in the last 15 years, so save yourself the effort.) I write (or, usually, rewrite) bulletproof apps that ship to production in 1/2 the time of the VB.net guys, 1/4 the time of the C# guys, and 1/10 of the time it takes for the same apps to become a glimmer in a Java programmer's eye. I ship modifications in minutes, even in very high-pressure environments. I'll happily build in C# or any other language (and happily learn anything anyone pays me to learn), but I won't sell crap apps or even crap code to clients who likely don't know the difference. That is the only standard I recognize. 
Per one of your points, C# examples. Try conversion sites:
I don't have a problem with VB.NET, but I also don't believe it is easier to read than C#. The only thing I had a problem with VB was due to inexperience. The integer divide of 3/2 in VB.NET is 2. I was swearing at the stupidity of VB because of that when I found out the real integer divide is 3\2(=1) Every other language I've used with integer math, 3/2 is 1. (That takes getting used to when you are first starting to learn a programming language.) 
WimTB - Amen! You hit the nail on the head! I've been waiting for someone to have a view like this for YEARS.
Most of this discussion seems to go nowhere. All the individuals who say things like "I have not used VB since VB6 and nothing has changed since" are, obviously talking nonsense. Programming in any form of VB up to and including VB6 was akin to a criminal offence but as soon as I saw VB.NET, I thought "at last it has become a real language". If you do not include the VisualBasic.dll in your code, it is completely interchangeable (almost) with C# but more verbose. (Occasionally they get out of lockstep eg at one stage you could only use single line lambdas in VB but multi-line in C#). I also instantly liked C# because it looked like Java but tasted like Delphi. Use whatever suits or whatever is the standard for whom you work. 
a silly argument/discussion for the ignorant and uninformed. Good interview discussion since it bears out personality and any one passionate either way should be avoided because it proves they don't know what their talking about and most likely will have a negative impact on a team.
Thankyou everyone for giving your interesting opinions. All of the above difference are good reasons to have multiple languages on your skill set. So, IMO, it is good to learn C# while you continue developing in VB (or vise versa for the opposition party). 
I have been programming in C# for the past 2 years and it's syntax is eaasier to follow ( since it's design principles evolved from C/C++/Java). All those languages were part of my college curriculum and thus C# was the natural path for me to follow. My Advice to you would be to jump ship and start learning C#. It has more support in the community, more code samples on the web and even microsoft prefers .NET applications to be coded in C# than in any other language. 
Wow - is this old chestnut still hanging around? Language snobbery is not new and any way you paint it, the VB detractors out there are just that - snobs! As some of the posters have already suggested the underlying framework is the same for VB.Net and C#.Net. Since this is true, and the same can be done with either, who is to say which is right or wrong? It is almost like saying English is good and Spanish is bad (absolutely no disrespect to Spanish speakers out there)! After all, this is all about communicating with a machine in order to achieve an objective. In the bad old days it was very difficult (if not impossible) to write control systems in anything other than C or C++ (or assembler if you really wanted). With the shared libraries now, I would hazard a guess there is not much you can do in one language that you cannot do in the other. I have coded in both (as well as more torturous languages like Lisp, Pop etc) and certain things are more fluent in one over the other, but that does not mean that they are bad or wrong - just different. Both are high level languages sufficiently removed from the intricacies by compilers. All you language variant Nazis need to think a little more 'out the box' - at the end of all this, the only thing we all deal with is ones and zeros! 
If you don't keep up with the pace of industry growth, you'll be left behind to starve.
I have been a developer for nearly 15 years, I started with good old VB5, for GUI dev / C++ for protocol stacks (I worked for a telephony company), I agree with most of the comments here anyone who knocks a language is in my opinion ignorant. My new company adopted the switch from VB.net to c# about 4 years ago based solely on the fact there is more content on the net for C#. I personally prefer C# now, some of the syntactical differences make it a little neater for instance:
Like FredTheKat, I would really to see evidence of "Even Microsoft discourages the use of VB.Net". I know it's getting a little old, but I would encourage you to watch http://channel9.msdn.com/blogs/charles/luca-bolognese-c-and-vbnet-co-evolution-the-twain-shall-meet.
Great post. I'm a VB.NET Developer and I blog on my site for other VB.NET Developers. Maybe I should change the title of my blog to VB.NET specifically. 
Great post Christiaan.
The situation sucks. In reality, VB.Net is a better language, and I don't mind defending that position. Its keywords say what they do (e.g. MustInherit vs static - what do you mean static???), and the use of End Function, etc. makes code easier to understand (and I regularly code in Java and JS for Node.js). VB.Net even had late binding years before C#.
Well as a .NET Developer i feel slightly offended by this article, but must say that us VB.NET Developers are doing the REAL work and we don't have time to blog...
As a general developer, I find it unbeleivable that the C# communitiy think of themselves as so superior. Costantly bagging VB as a minor language yet totally blind to their own shortfalls.
This topic has been argue at less once time every year since 2001. :)
I enjoy just hammering alt-### into raw text files and then saving them as .exe files. Sure, it takes longer but the sense of accomplishment is profound. I'm kidding, of course, and find this concept almost as silly as debating which language will die, which one will prevail, etc. Can you get your project completed with the langugage(s) you have mastered? Great. If not, retool, but spare us the 'forget what you know and learn this new and clearly better in most ways language' speech. Yes, there will always be another one to learn. Who thought VB/VBA would serve so many for so long? I'm counting decades instead of years. 
Did you know the "B" in VB stands for "Beginner"? LOL.
@Vince - It actually stands for BASIC which in turn stands for Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code. 
I never really trusted Micro$osft products, I do enjoy C#, I prefer it over Java, a lot, but it's just that, preference, I can use both, It's not a big deal, you should grow up and learn C#, it's gonna make your life easier, you'll be able to read Java easier, C/C++ easier, PHP, Perl and all C-derived languages.
I have no big problems switching from vb, C# or Java. Yes, I face a little bit difficulties when switching or porting to C or C++.
I am a hobbyist C/C++ programmer who has just recently ventured into the .Net arena with C#. I still prefer native over managed but as far as the managed code is concerned: Does it matter really which language you start with? You always end up with IL. VB.Net is as powerful as C# and the code is easily convertible between the two. Whatever works for you go with it. 
Let go of the past, embrace C# 
I learned BASIC, C, C++, Assembler and C# (in that order) and I can proudly say that BASIC (qbasic, vb6 & vb.net) has served me the most. I use c#.net for hobby programs and that's just to preserve my skills.
I didn't wade through all of the comments, but I don't believe anyone has discussed how our skillsets (VB, C#, Java, ....) affect our marketability. I'd love to see some statistics on installed code-base by language and industry; I've never been able to find any (I can't afford Gartner). Currently I'm a VB programmer because my employers seem to think the training is easier and so that's what we write in. If I could choose, I'd probably pick Java with C# running a close second, but I don't get to choose and I don't think I care. The only things I can do in C# that I can't do in VB are esoteric and need a real good reason to do anyway. My opinion, worth about two cents. 
VB.Net Vs VC#.Net
Yes I feel strongly that Microsoft is also discouraging use of vb.net. I am working with vb from version 4. We had written from small program to complete ERP system. Now a days most of the books and online examples you will only get c# examples. In books they will usually mention that for vb code check CD provided with the book. Even getting a decent team vb.net is seems to be impossible. What we doing now a days we hire fresher in train them in vb
I want to add two points to this discussion:
Didn't read the other comments but think you're reacting to hype. Considering it's history (VB.NET is based on Basic as C#.NET is on C; and both bases are older than most of my co-works), I don't think it will go away any time soon. It will be here longer than COBOL, and that language isn't dead, lack of newsprint not withstanding.
i spent 8 years as a vb.net/oracle programmer & then was told a huge project was now in C# because someone didn't take notes in a meeting correctly & spent 1 1/2 years building the core. so, i went thru a little "curly brace" pain, but doing so much javascript made the transition much easier. but, now since i have apps both in vb.net & c#. some oracle, some sql server, i spend much of my day switching back and forth. the difference - i'll have to get back w/ you on that as i do, winforms,webforms,webservices,windows services in both languages and for me, i can get what i need done in either. C# intellisense doesn't hold your hand as much as it does in vb.net (which is nice) - but, i kinda like switching back and forth. it does keep you on your toes for sure.it's like having two beautiful girlfriends. you're not so much in a hurry to pick only one. i would stay where you are comfortable as long as it meets your business needs. 
I think that using VB.NET or C# doesn't make no difference if before the dialect there isn't a good project for classes, interfaces, etc.
Longtime VB developer here, never got into C++ and was late to .NET because, as is the case, cheap employer and why rewrite if what you have is still viable and still works.
Use C#. VB is dying. It's much easier to adapt to the C# syntax if you're familiar with Java and vice versa. Go with the flow unless you're trying to go after a niche market. 
I am a VB6, VB.Net, and VBA programmer. I remember when I was in College one student asked the instructor his opinion of a new language call C, the instructor basically said it was a fad and would not stand the test of time as the other older languages. I was taught Fortran in College and I know of a company that uses Fortran due to its speed and it is an old language. The Colbal programmers made lots of money during the 2000 date scare because it was exclusively used in financial programming. I like VB.Net and I will continue to program proudly in VB.Net. I use VBA all the time and since it is part of alot of programs out there like MSOffice, AutoCAD, Visio, and many many others I don't think VB is going away. I have found the VBA and VB.Net are dominant in the Industrial Controls programming with HMI and such. I have been using VBA with MSExcel for simple and quick tools to speed up processes. I just don't like dealing with those brackets and parenthese and semi colons which seem to waste a lot of time. I would rather type VB in Russian than have to deal with C# syntax. That said I have also used LISP which is considered to be an artificial intelligence language and is also used in AutoCAD and it reads like Latin text with brackets, parathenses, semi colons. It is just my preference to use VBA and VB.Net and I will continue to do so until it dies. I can learn any programming language but until I have to for a project I don't want to take the time from other projects.
Things fall apart now : .NET languages has been abandonned by Microsoft. HTML CSS3 Javascript are today programming languages. And Desktop OB (OutOfBrowser) applications will be Web IN (InBrowser) applications. I was desapointed that MS don't want to tell us the thruth on his Windows 8 basic implementation knowledges. 
The knowledge required for application programming in any .NET language is 90% .NET classes and 10% using the specific language structure. The language is mostly irrelevant -- and personal preference. For me, there would be a problem with programmers who only know one language. 
My preference is definitely c# over vb.net. I do, however, work in vb.net. As someone previously mentioned vb.net is now pretty much on par with c# but they both have their pros and cons. The end game is that between the two languages you can accomplish just about the same thing and while vb.net is "frowned upon", it's not going anywhere. I would say your best bet is to learn c# at your own pace and at that point you can easily transpose c# examples to vb.net 
This old VB is the joke language has been going on since VB v C++ and is still going on.
if you like syntax of VB more (like me) stick to it unless if you must move to c# due to oblicatory reasons like policy for ex , otherwise no need as both are the same , so better to learn syntax of c# also to be able to easily understand the examples , you will be more productive sticking with what you like, its totally a self preference issue as MS say, MS demos in c# because simply their internal developers use it since they came from C++ , this is not our case self developers 
With Visual Studio 2010, VB and C# are now almost indistinguishable from a funtionality point of view. Even in MS documentation, they now say that form most developers, which language is a matter of personal preference.
I started with VB.Net and think it is a good language. It can do pretty much anything that C# can do. I now use and prefer C# because of the more succinct syntax but to each his own. At the end of the day, a language is just a tool. If a company wants me to use Java, Ruby, Python or any other language, I will gladly learn how to use it well. It does seem that Microsoft is giving much more attention to the C# community, which is unfortunate. But if you like a language, then stick with it until there is clear evidence of its demise. Of course, there's always legacy apps :) 
I did VB.net for a couple of years and I think it actually is good enough for anything you want to do, except moving to a different language, but if you are a C# guy, you are halfway to do java, PHP or even C++. As a VB guy, had to do this change (Vb.net to Java) and it was pretty trumatic, indeed. (Curly brackets hell, capitalization, semicolons, get used to read code, etc.) and your productivity gets delayed because of this simple things which in the other case would be more natural, you can focs your attention on language and library particularities than first getting used to just 'read and write' code. 
We have been with vb.net since long and we definitely will be with it in future too. 
so here we go, the lemmings are jumping off the cliff again.
I find it amusing that most of these conversations come from developers in the lofty situation that they are the sole owners and decision makers for the applications they write. Most of us in the real world are subject to writing and maintaining apps as the business dictates. If there is a new application or platform being discussed I can weigh in with my opinion of whqt is to be done. Otherwise I have to adapt to what exists and dance with the one who brung ya. 
Microsoft has never had interest in any community. They just push products, and they need to continue pushing, that is the old pre open source model. Software as a product, it's the same with mobile phones, everybody is being pushed to buy the new model. If you want to belong to real community, switch to an opensource language. 
My idea is that people despise things as Visual Basic. Too easy. Linear, human-oriented, english-like programming language.
While it's arguable that C# and VB are ultimately the same thing (if you don't believe me, download a copy of the .Net decompiler from Telerik and check out what it does to a .Net EXE file) C# is a far more expressive way to program, and the syntax is terser and closer to "what we like to do". C#, in fact, is everything Java should've been -- a Java replacement for these days, as opposed to 15 years ago. VB, on the other hand, is an attempt to take that beauty and cludge it onto a BASIC-like syntax: a reverse-compatibility exercise for old VB 6 programmers: I believe it exists to get such people into .Net... but now that this exercise is pretty much complete, ten years later, its usefulness must be seen as pretty much over. 
A tool for a task, I say. I program in about 10 different languages, depending on the scenario and need. There's nothing particularly wrong with VB.Net -- though it wouldn't be my choice to start a project in it. C# is neater and quicker to write -- and I find that the IDE annoys me less by not attempting to in/out-dent everything every time I start to insert a new logic block.
"Do you know how hard it is to even find VB.Net developer on the web that have great blogs? I guess most of them decided to blog in C# instead"
All should push on Microsoft for the allowing of Mixing C# and vb codes. While the default might be VB, it should allow the importing of code in C# by simply noting the code type for the module or class or form for that mater is in C# and not VB. Then things become much easier for all.
I have a non-US keyboard. On my keyboard the characters {[]};()#@ all require at least a two-key combination. I suspect a lot of non-US keyboards have the same problem. Because of this I dislike all languages using these characters.
C# and VB.NET have been converging for so long that the practical differences between them are negligible. Both offer complete targeted access to the .NET framework. It's only older technologies that folks should be considering moving away from - classic ASP and the like are the things that are worth porting. There is nothing to be gained from moving away from VB.NET. 
I prefer vb over c#. All my coder pals do c# but I just love the way VB looks and feels way more organized and lucid as compared to C#. I have converted entire c# projects to vb when they are brought to me for further improvement.
VB/C# are "wrapper" for .NET and CLI. C# looks like C++ but is not C++. Why not simplify tools to manage code written in a language that is a constant from 30 years? Because Microsoft gain money from chickens like me, that not grow writing spaghetti code for few money while work as reseller for Microsoft products. Microsoft know that can count on a new generation of donkeys every 10 years. Are 30 years that I write and re-write same things (in MSSQL/TSQL Enterprise - 54.000€/Processor - do not exists fopen,fwrite,...). There is teorically a big difference but pratically no difference between me an my collegues 10 years younger. 
VB.net is just as strong and fast as C#, you just have to set it up like so:
Personally, I really like VB.NET. The code is easy to read, quick to create and with some discipline on my part easy to maintain. I see its demise predicted every year, but I assure you that there are still a lot of us out here perfectly happy to keep developing in it.
There are hardly any reasons to move an existing VB.NET codebase to C# and many reasons not to, including the development costs.
I think it is now clear that thanks to the underlying .Net framework, it makes no difference to the final project if you did it in VB, C# or J#, or whatever the dotnet compliant available language of your choosing.
I read this exchange of views from top to bottom, and I found it very enlightening and informative. I am a weekend coder who maintains just a few web sites now, and I have a site with a bit of Javascript and server-side VB.Net. I was considering moving it all to C#, as the language is very similar to JavaScript.
I have been writing in VB since VB3 and VBA and of course into .net since inception. I have to chuckle as VB was the most popular language through the years but never got respect from other language developers. I made the jump to C# as it's necessary to keep up with technologies. I found it easy to learn. I actually attribute that to the fact that I know javascript. I enjoy the cleanliness of C# vs the verboseness of VB: braces VS Function/End Function, switch{} vs select case end select, etc... I unfortunately feel that VB will go away. I'm a member of a MS user group in CT and no one is writing in VB any more. I recently went on several interviews and all but one were C#. Oh well. Keep the skills honed and do your best to not tread to deeply into a technology that MS may abandon. I remember my first "so happy" choice was ASP vs ActiveXDocuments for web. Phew!!! 
Much as I love(d) VB, C# is the way to go.
I'm not sure why the author sets up the problem as "VB.NET and WinForms" vs "C# and ASP.NET". Either language works with either application. 
VB .NET is almost identical to C# and maybe the bad reputation of VB .NET is caused by stupid rumors spreaded in the web by people who never used that language. And the rumors can really destroy a product, no matter how good or useful is that product. 
"Spaghetti programmers"? What are they? Are they like spaghetti westerns? Are they a self-identified group? Is there a group of people widely known as the spaghetti programmers out there somehwere that I somehow missed out on? 
It all goes through the CLR so there are no performance differences. The syntax is about the same, so there are few coding advantages, c# just has all those silly ; and { } all over the place to slow things down - they're not really needed anymmore visual studio auto indents so why to you need superflous delimiters? It doesnt make reading the code any easier.
People that say C# is better then VB.NET and the job market believes, just shows how ignorant folks are out there. I've been programming in VB.NET since .NET came out and of yet to hear of something I can't do that C# can. I don't like all those C# semicolons and braces its an eye sore. That was stone-age. Wake up folks VB.NET or C# your either can program in .net or you suck. they are so similar you can run them thru a web converter and toggle between languages like speaking English or speaking English. Stop the VB.NET bashing and jump on board with me you will be happy as your life becomes easier and others follow. ditch the braces
I think vb.net is a good language to learn, it does pretty much what the others can do. If you want to create java like code you could do c# instead. 
I really think the point is moot. VB had its hay day and it was well. I live in the greater Portland,OR area and I can't remember anyone asking for a VB.NET programmer in the last 3 years. RIP VB.NET.
VB.net vs C#
I hate vb now, i go along with c# much better than vb..
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