Tutorial: Programming in Visual Basic 2010 Chapter 09: Hello Application

Click on the link to view my first TUTORIAL.  It is only 5 minutes. http://screencast.com/t/MaIqhfrJ

I am currently working on Chapter 09 in the textbook Programming in Visual Basic 2010, Chapter 09: Hello Application.

This is the sort of stuff you learn in the textbook, although I did not learn this in class.  So, if you would like to follow along.

You can download Microsoft Visual Studio Professional for free at least for 30 days.  There is a way to get a free copy but I forget.  It is listed at the beginning of my book.  I believe you need to be a student.

I am using Jing, which saves everything in the .SWF format.  I forgot that this is kind of frustrating, but oh well, it's free.

This means it only runs on things with Flash on it.  But, I shared it to the screencast.com.

Here is the direct link to my video.  I hope you enjoy it. I am going to improve on them for sure.  Just hopefully I don't get too unfocused.

http://screencast.com/t/MaIqhfrJ

Now, this is a very simple and basic Visual Basic program.  Most of the stuff is already loaded up by Microsoft Visual Studio 2010.  You just need to know where to put some stuff.

But, with that simple 5 minute program, you can imagine what you could do with that.

You could make all sorts of interactive label and text boxes, it doesn't just have to say your name.

Then as I build on this basic component, I can make more complex web forms that will contain calculations, drop down menus, and so on.  Maybe even animations that are interaction.

Copying stuff is cool but you need to learn to learn on your own.  This is just how I learn.

It took me a a while to learn that.  It takes a while to get familiar with Microsoft Visual Studio 2010.  It takes a while to get used to Visual Basic 2010.  And this is the simplest of the languages.

I have already taken a 4 month Beginning Computer Science course where I learned Excel, Access and bits and pieces of the first three chapters of Programming in Visual Basic by Bradley / Millspaugh.

It is hard to motivate myself to pick up the book and learn on my own.  To advance my knowledge as well as go over stuff I already went over.  But, every time you go over it, you get better and learn new stuff.

(Right now I'm watching the Alamo on AMC, it is really well done with Billy Bob Thorton or whatever his name is and Santa Ana is making the final push to storm the walls of the Alamo at night.)

And when I did open the book, it took a while to focus, I started from the beginning and realized I wasn't learning what I wanted.  The book is very large, about 600 pages.  I have to break it down.

I am learning to skip most of the filler and head straight to the assignments, then go back and read over it if I have time or need clarification on something.

And after I started programming, it took a few tries to get to the point where I could do it in 5 minutes.

This is also the most simple of web projects, just to get my feet wet.

So it doesn't just happen overnight.

But, I think with this tutorial, you can do what it took me months to learn, to do in 5 minutes.

Or, even if I showed you how to do it in 5 minutes, if it was your first time, it would still take you longer.

When I get a chance, I'll type out the instructions into a .doc.

Not to mention it is a pain to download and setup.