A Gentle Introduction to
VB Programming

Tutorials: a first course in programming

1) Flags

In which draw colourful pictures.

2) World Factbook I

In which we look at the countries of the world one at a time. We practice if

3a) Function

In which we calculate values

3b) Boxes

In which we practice conditions with two numbers

4a) Strings

In which we manipulate and test strings.

4b) World Factbook II

In which we use an accumulating variable to count and sum.

5a) Using the documentation

In which we examine fonts.

5b) World Factbook III

In which we use the TreeMap Class.

6) Bricks

In which we use for loops.

7) Quilts

In which we practice a functional style of programming with immutable objects.

8) Database

In which we query and change a MySQL database.

Reference: how to...

Top Ten Tips

0) Hello World

Some short, trival programs.

1) Data types

Creating variables of different types. Converting between variable types.

2) Control structures

We control program flow with while, for, foreach, if, return, break and other constructs

3) Tests

We look at the different ways to test conditions.

4) In-built function

We can use many functions provided by the core language. String and number functions primarily.

5) In-built data structures

We can make use of arrays, hash tables and dates.

6) Input and output

We explore the options for reading and writing data to files and to databases.

7) Graphics

Drawing lines, polygons, strings and other shapes.

8) Graphic User Interface

Buttons, text boxes that users can see and control.

9) Programming techniques

Accumulating variables, recursion, function composition.

• Use progzoo from Eclipse
• In case of emergency. Batch files and Java programs so you can run on your own machine.
• Java documentation from Sun. Look at java.lang and java.awt
• Wiki Write your own tutorials.
• Is it safe?