Introduction to programming with Visual Basic.NET Dr. Marty Sirkin

 This class is designed for:  Non-programmers  People interested in learning to program  Potential CS majors who want to “get their feet wet”  This class requires:  No background in Computer Science  No previous programming experience

 A programming class  You will program a LOT  You will learn by doing, not reading  A lot of fun  You will be amazed by how much you will be able to do (both quickly and easily)  Do-able  If something is difficult, please just ASK. I am more than happy to help as much as you need

 Interactive. I expect people to:  Ask questions  Ask more questions  Ask even more questions  Challenge my statements and assumptions Potted plants are best suited for the lobby!!

 Been a programmer since 1969 (age 8)  Attended:  Caltech (BS Physics)  University of Washington (MS, PhD Computer Sci)  Worked for:  NASA (JPL)  IBM Research  Various startups  Started my own firm: First Choice Software  Consulting and then product firm  CRM Software  CEO/CTO  Ran it for 12 years  Sold it in 2005

 The best way to reach me is . I am always on , and that is the quickest, best way to contact me. My address is:   I will make every attempt to get back to you very quickly, and almost always this will be within a couple of hours.

 This class will cover:  Computer Arithmetic  Basic computer architecture  What is a program/How to design and write programs  Basic flowcharts  History/Why Visual Basic.Net  Visual programming, and how it is different than imperative programming  Visual programming

 Class Meetings  Wed/Fri: 1:00 – 2:15  Office hours  Mon: 12:00 – 1:00  Duffy 012  Or me to set up a time!

 What I expect from you in class is pretty simple:  Respectful of each other and yourselves  Be prepared (reading assignments)  Try hard  What you can expect from me:  My attention  My respect  My best effort, no matter how much effort it takes

 Homework  Reading each week  Written assignments  Help understand the concepts  Programming  Trying out what we’ve discussed in lecture  Project  Will be programming  Will build on weekly assignments  Goal is for you to feel pumped by what you’ve completed, in very little time  Details to be handed out early in semester

 Midterm and Final  Insuring that you’ve learned the core concepts  If you are up on assignments/project, they should be EASY

ItemPercent of Grade Weekly Homework40% Midterm Exam10% Final Project30% Final Exam20%

 My goal is to teach you  I want you to learn, get excited about programming, and continue with it past this class  Grades are far more important to students than they are to me  I will award liberal extra credit for students who go way above and beyond  It is trivial (in programming) to do more and better with your programs.

 Written assignments handed in at class  If you won’t be at class, me in advance to make arrangements  Programming assignments can be ed to me  Details to be explained when assignments are handed out

 To repeat: I want to make sure that you succeed. I am more than happy to help you as much as you need until you do succeed. But the onus is on you – you must ASK for help.

 Object Oriented programming  Visual Studio  What it does for you  Tour/features  Data types  Debugging your programs  Event-driven programming  Controls overview  Input/output methods

 Control structures (if/then, others)  Loops  User-defined procedures/functions  File input/output  Multiple forms, manipulating forms  More with arrays  Interacting with databases (time permitting)  Web programming (time permitting)  Graphics (time permitting)

 There is a class web site. It is located at:  The site contains the.ppt files of class lectures, assignments, and useful links.  If you have any issues with the website, please let me know!

 … of this course you will be able to:  Write sophisticated Visual Basic programs  Write fairly sophisticated graphical interfaces  Be able to debug programs you write in a scientific, efficient fashion  Move on to the next logical step of Visual Basic.NET programming:  Services  Custom assemblies  Move on to other programming languages, including Java or C#

Time for a demo of the class final project…

 I live for trivia. I will typically ask trivia questions at the end of each homework assignment  Trivia is optional, and is intended for fun  From time to time, some of the trivia questions will be worth (small amounts) of extra credit  If you’ve got a great trivia question for me, please do send it in!