Preface viii
1 Test-Driving a Painter App 1
Introducing Computers, the Internet and Visual Basic 1
1.1 Computing in Business, Industry and Research 1
1.2 Hardware and Software 5
1.3 Data Hierarchy 6
1.4 Computer Organization 8
1.5 Machine Languages, Assembly Languages and High-Level Languages 10
1.6 Object Technology 11
1.7 Microsoft’s Windows® Operating System 13
1.8 Programming Languages 13
1.9 Visual Basic 14
1.10 The Internet and the World Wide Web 15
1.11 Microsoft .NET 16
1.12 Web 2.0: Going Social 17
1.13 Test-Driving the Visual Basic Advanced Painter App 21
1.14 Web Resources 24
1.15 Wrap-Up 24

2 Welcome App 37
Introducing the Visual Basic 2010 Express IDE 37
2.1 Test-Driving the Welcome App 37
2.2 Overview of the Visual Studio 2010 IDE 38
2.3 Creating a Project for the Welcome App 40
2.4 Menu Bar and Toolbar 45
2.5 Navigating the Visual Studio IDE 47
Solution Explorer 48
Toolbox 49
Properties Window 49
2.6 Using Help 51
2.7 Saving and Closing Projects in Visual Basic 53
2.8 Web Resources 53
2.9 Wrap-Up 54

3 Welcome App 65
Introduction to Visual App Development 65
3.1 Test-Driving the Welcome App 65
3.2 Constructing the Welcome App 68
3.3 Objects Used in the App 78
3.4 Wrap-Up 78

4 Designing the Inventory App 106
Introducing TextBoxes and Buttons 106
4.1 Test-Driving the Inventory App 106
4.2 Constructing the Inventory App 108
4.3 Adding Labels to the Inventory App 112
4.4 Adding TextBoxes and a Button to the Form 115
4.5 Wrap-Up 118

5 Completing the Inventory App 135
Introducing Programming 135
5.1 Test-Driving the Inventory App 135
5.2 Introduction to Visual Basic Program Code 136
5.3 Inserting an Event Handler 139
5.4 Performing a Calculation and Displaying the Result 143
5.5 Using the IDE to Eliminate Compilation Errors 146
5.6 Wrap-Up 149

6 Enhancing the Inventory App 163
Introducing Variables, Memory Concepts and Arithmetic 163
6.1 Test-Driving the Enhanced Inventory App 163
6.2 Variables 164
6.3 Handling the TextChanged Event 167
6.4 Memory Concepts 169
6.5 Arithmetic 170
6.6 Using the Debugger: Breakpoints 172
6.7 Wrap-Up 175

7 Wage Calculator App 190
Introducing Algorithms, Pseudocode and Program Control 190
7.1 Test-Driving the Wage Calculator App 190
7.2 Algorithms 191
7.3 Pseudocode 192
7.4 Control Statements 193
7.5 If…Then Selection Statement 195
7.6 If…Then…Else Selection Statement and Conditional If Expressions 197
7.7 Constructing the Wage Calculator App 200
7.8 Assignment Operators 204
7.9 Formatting Text 205
7.10 Using the Debugger: The Watch Window 207
7.11 Wrap-Up 210

8 Dental Payment App 225
Introducing CheckBoxes and Message Dialogs 225
8.1 Test-Driving the Dental Payment App 225
8.2 Designing the Dental Payment App 228
8.3 Using CheckBoxes 229
8.4 Using a Dialog to Display a Message 231
8.5 Logical Operators 235
Using AndAlso 235
Using OrElse 236
Short-Circuit Evaluation 237
Using Xor 237
Using Not 237
8.6 Designer-Generated Code 240
8.7 Wrap-Up 241

9 Car Payment Calculator App 256
Introducing the Do While…Loop and Do Until…Loop Repetition Statements 256
9.1 Test-Driving the Car Payment Calculator App 256
9.2 Do While…Loop Repetition Statement 258
9.3 Do Until…Loop Repetition Statement 260
9.4 Constructing the Car Payment Calculator App 262
9.5 Wrap-Up 269

10 Class Average App 282
Introducing the Do…Loop While and Do…Loop Until Repetition Statements 282
10.1 Test-Driving the Class Average App 282
10.2 Do…Loop While Repetitio