1. Chapter 1 - VB.NET by Schneider
An Introduction to Computers and Visual Basic.NET
Chapter 1 - VB.NET by Schneider

2. Outline and Objectives
Introduction to Computers
Using Windows
Files and Folders
An Introduction to Visual Basic.NET
Biographical History of Computing
Chapter 1 - VB.NET by Schneider

3. Chapter 1 - VB.NET by Schneider
Background needed
Microsoft Windows
Mouse
Notepad
Windows Explorer
Files and directories
Chapter 1 - VB.NET by Schneider

4. Introduction to Computers
Personal computer
Generally, a computer that is operated by one person at a time
Chapter 1 - VB.NET by Schneider

5. Computer uses in Society
Banking – customer transactions
Airlines – reservations system
NASA – control satellites
Internet – , research, shopping
Chapter 1 - VB.NET by Schneider

6. Programs Students Will Create in This Text
Create and manage a list of friends' addresses and phone numbers
Calculate loan payments and amortization
Computations to support other course work
Chapter 1 - VB.NET by Schneider

7. Communicating with the Computer
Machine language – low level, 0 and 1, hard for humans to understand
VB.NET – high level, understood by humans, consists of instructions such as Click, If, Do
Chapter 1 - VB.NET by Schneider

8. Computers and Complicated Tasks
Tasks are broken down into instructions that can be expressed by a computer language
A program is a sequence of instructions
Programs can be only a few instructions or millions of lines of instructions
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9. Chapter 1 - VB.NET by Schneider
Servers
A server can be almost any computer
A server provides resources to other computers
Files
Internet
Printers
Chapter 1 - VB.NET by Schneider

10. All Programs Have in Common:
Take data and manipulate it to produce a result
Input – Process – Output
Input – from files, the keyboard, or other input device
Output – to the monitor, printer, file, or other output device
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Hardware and Software
Hardware – the physical components of a computer
Microprocessor
Keyboard
Disk drive
Monitor
Software – The instructions that tell the computer what to do
Chapter 1 - VB.NET by Schneider

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Programmer and User
Programmer – the person who solves the problem and writes the instructions for the computer
User – any person who uses the program written by the programmer
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Problem Solving
Developing the solution to a problem
Algorithm – a step by step series of instructions to solve a problem
Problems are solved by carefully reading them to determine what data are
given and what outputs are requested. Then a step-by-step procedure is devised to
process the given data and produce the requested output. This procedure is called an
algorithm. Finally, a computer program is written to carry out the algorithm.
Algorithms are discussed in Section 2.2.
Chapter 1 - VB.NET by Schneider

14. Types of Problems in this Text
Business computations
Managing records
Managing lists
And more
Chapter 1 - VB.NET by Schneider

15. Chapter 1 - VB.NET by Schneider
BASIC developed at Dartmouth in the early 1960s
Visual Basic created by Microsoft in 1991
VB.NET similar to Visual Basic, but more powerful
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Internet
A connection of thousands of networks around the world – each network has
A computer and one or more routers
Router is a device or computer connected to two or more networks
All use TCP/IP
Chapter 1 - VB.NET by Schneider

17. World Wide Web vs. Internet
World Wide Web is a collection of information stored on servers throughout the Internet known as Web servers.
HTTP – HyperText Transfer Protocol enabled researchers to share data – creating a "web" of information
Internet is used to access documents on the World Wide Web
It determines the overall performance of computer.
CU: coordinates and controls all the other parts of the computer system.
ALU: Does the actual processing by performing mathematical operations
Microprocessor: the CU and ALU mounted on a single silicon chip
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18. Chapter 1 - VB.NET by Schneider
1.2 Using Windows
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19. Chapter 1 - VB.NET by Schneider
Mouse Actions:
Pointing
Hovering
Clicking
Double-Clicking
Dragging
Pointing means moving your mouse across your desk until the mouse pointer is over
the desired object on the screen.
Hovering means to linger the mouse at a particular place and wait for a message or
menu to appear.
Clicking (sometimes people say single-clicking) means pressing and releasing the
left mouse button once. Whenever a sentence begins “Click on ,” you need to
1. move the mouse pointer until it is at the object you are supposed to click on and
2. press and release the left mouse button.
An example of a sentence using this jargon might be “Click on the button marked Yes.”
You also will see sentences that begin “Click inside the ” This means to move the
mouse pointer until it is inside the boundaries of the object, and then click.
Double-clicking means clicking the left mouse button twice in quick succession
(that is, pressing it, releasing it, pressing it, and releasing it again quickly so that
Windows doesn’t think you single-clicked twice). Whenever a sentence begins
“Double-click on ”, you need to
1. move the mouse pointer until it is at the object you are supposed to double-click
on and
2. press and release the left mouse button twice in quick succession.
For example, you might be instructed to “Double-click on the little box at the far left
side of your screen.”
Note: An important Windows convention is that clicking selects an object so you
can give Windows or the document further directions about it, but double-clicking tells
Windows to perform a default operation. For example, double-clicking on a folder will
open that folder.
Dragging usually moves a Windows object. If you see a sentence that begins “Drag
the ”, you need to
Chapter 1 - VB.NET by Schneider

20. Windows and Its Little Windows
Title Bar
Active window
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21. Chapter 1 - VB.NET by Schneider
Using the Notepad
Reviewing Notepad to learn more about Windows application
Notepad is an item in the Accessories menu
Notepad can be used to create simple data files
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22. Chapter 1 - VB.NET by Schneider
Notepad
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23. Chapter 1 - VB.NET by Schneider
Parts of the Window
Restore button
Vertical scroll bar
Horizontal scroll bar
Menu bar
The default extension for a file created with Notepad is TXT.
Esc key used in Notepad to remove a dialog box
Clicking on the Maximize button of a window makes the window fill the entire screen
Clicking on the Minimize button of a window changes the window into an icon
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24. Chapter 1 - VB.NET by Schneider
1.3 Files & Folders:
Disk is a permanent storage.
A disk can store thousands of files.
A disk drive is identified by a letter.
To organize your files you have to store them in different folders (directories).
Chapter 1 - VB.NET by Schneider

25. Key Terms in using Folders
Root folder
Path Example:
C:\VB01\VB.EXE
File Specification: You should always know where you are saving your files.
Filename
Drive letter
Think of a disk as a large folder, called root folder, that contains several smaller folders each with its own name.
The naming of folders follow th same rule as naming files
Each folder is identified by listing its name preceded by a backslash
A filespec typically includes the drive, path and the filename.
File is identified by a small
directory or folder is identified by a folder icon
executable file: is identified by a rectangle with a thin bar across top
Go over: How to create a folder
to rename a folder
to delete a folder or file
to Copy a folder or file
To move a folder or file
Chapter 1 - VB.NET by Schneider

26. Chapter 1 - VB.NET by Schneider
Explorer window
Chapter 1 - VB.NET by Schneider

27. Using Windows Explorer
Start | Run | type in Explorer
Folder pane on left
Detail pane on right
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28. To Display File Extensions
Alt/T/O
Click View
Uncheck "Hide file extensions for known file types"
Click OK
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29. Chapter 1 - VB.NET by Schneider
To Create a New Folder
Highlight the folder that is to contain the new folder
File | New | Folder
Type in a name for the new folder and press Enter
Chapter 1 - VB.NET by Schneider

30. To Rename a Folder or File
Right click on the folder or file
Click on Rename
Type in a new name (or alter the current name) and press Enter
Chapter 1 - VB.NET by Schneider

31. To Delete a Folder or File
Right click on the folder
Click on Delete
Click on Yes
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To Copy a Folder or File
Right click on the folder file
Click on copy
Open the folder where the copy is to be placed
Right click on the second folder
Click on Paste
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To Move a Folder or File
Right click on the folder or file
Click on Cut
Open the folder where the copy is to be moved
Click on the second folder with the right mouse button
Click on Paste
Chapter 1 - VB.NET by Schneider

34. Using the Open and Save As Dialog Boxes
Chapter 1 - VB.NET by Schneider

35. Chapter 1 - VB.NET by Schneider
Read-Only Attribute
Folders and files copied from a CD or DVD onto a hard disk are read-only
To turn off the read-only
Right click on the file or folder
Click on Properties
Click on the General tab
In the Attributes section, uncheck read-only
Click OK button
Chapter 1 - VB.NET by Schneider

36. Introduction to Visual Basic .NET:
Language used to create Windows application.
Provides a Graphical User Interface or GUI.
The sequence of instructions executed in the program is controlled by events.
Chapter 1 - VB.NET by Schneider

37. Chapter 1 - VB.NET by Schneider
Sample Input Screen
Chapter 1 - VB.NET by Schneider

38. How to Develop a VB.NET Application
Design the Interface for the user.
Determine which events the controls on the window should recognize.
Write the event procedures for those events.
Chapter 1 - VB.NET by Schneider

39. When a VB .NET program is running….
VB.NET monitors the controls in the window to detect events (mouse clicks, movements, keystrokes, etc.)
When VB.NET detects an event, it examines the program to see if the programmer has written an event procedure for that event.
If an event procedure is written for the event, VB.NET executes the procedure and goes to step 1.
If no event procedure is written, VB.NET waits for the next event and go back to step 1
Chapter 1 - VB.NET by Schneider

40. When a Traditional program is running…
Execution starts from the entry point and moves according to the flow of the program
Chapter 1 - VB.NET by Schneider

41. Different Versions of Visual Basic
VB.NET – 2002 – NOT BACKWARD COMPATIBLE WITH EARLIER VERSIONS OF VISUAL BASIC
Chapter 1 - VB.NET by Schneider

42. 1.5 Biographical History of Computing
Chapter 1 - VB.NET by Schneider

43. Chapter 1 - VB.NET by Schneider
George Boole – devised Boolean algebra
Charles Babbage – created "analytical engine"
Augusta Ada Byron – first computer programmer
Herman Hollerith – founder of company that would become IBM
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Alan Turing – deciphered German code in WWII; father of artificial intelligence
John V. Atanasoff – inventor of first electronic digital special purpose computer
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Howard Aiken – built large scale digital computer, Mark I
Grace M. Hopper – originated term "debugging"; pioneered development and use of COBOL
John Mauchley and J. Presper Eckert – built first large scale general purpose computer, ENIAC
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1940s continued
John von Neumann – developed stored program concept
Maurice V. Wilkes – built EDSAC, first computer to use stored program concept
John Bardeen, Walter Brattain, and William Shockley – developed transistor that replaced vacuum tubes
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John Backus – created Fortran; early user of interpreters and compilers
Reynold B. Johnson – invented the disk drive
Donald L. Shell – developed efficient sorting algorithm
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48. Chapter 1 - VB.NET by Schneider
John G. Kemeny and Thomas E. Kurtz – invented BASIC
Corrado Bohm and Guiseppe Jacopini – proved that any program can be written with only 3 structures: sequence, decision, and loops
Edsger W. Dijkstra – stimulated move to structured programming by declaring "GOTO" harmful
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1960s continued
Harlan B. Mills – advocated use of structured programming
Donald E. Knuth – wrote definitive work on algorithms
Ted Hoff, Stan Mazer, Robert Noyce, and Frederico Faggin – developed first microporcessor
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1960s continued
Douglas Engelbart – invented computer mouse
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51. Chapter 1 - VB.NET by Schneider
Ted Codd - software architect; laid the groundwork for relational databases
Paul Allen and Bill Gates - cofounders of Microsoft Corporation
Stephen Wozniak and Stephen Jobs - cofounders of Apple Computer Inc.
Dan Bricklin and Dan Fylstra - wrote VisiCalc, the first electronic spreadsheet program
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1970s continued
Dennis Ritchie - creator of the C programming language.
Ken Thompson - created the Unix operating system
Alan Kay – developer of Smalltalk, a pure object-oriented language
Don Chamberlain - created a database programming language, later known as SQL,
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Phillip “Don” Estridge - at IBM directly responsible for the success of the personal computer.
Mitchell D. Kapor - cofounder of Lotus Corporation
Tom Button - group product manager for applications programmability at Microsoft;
headed the team that developed QuickBasic, QBasic, and Visual Basic.
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1980s continued
Alan Cooper - considered the father of Visual Basic.
Tim Berners–Lee - father of the World Wide Web.
Charles Simonyi - the “father of Word.”
Bjarne Stroustrup - creator of the C++ programming language.
Richard M. Stallman - founded Free Software Foundation
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Marc Andreessen - inventor of the Web browser.
James Gosling – creator of Java.
Linus Torvalds - developed the popular Linux operating system.
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1990s continued
Brian Behlendorf, Rob McCool, and Roy Fielding - developers of the Apache HTTP server, an open-source Web server that can scale up quickly to handle high volumes of traffic.
Chapter 1 - VB.NET by Schneider