Visual Basic .NET is the result of a significant rebuild of Visual Basic for the Microsoft .NET Framework. There are a number of changes that make Visual Basic .NET easier to use, more powerful than Visual Basic 6.0, and give it the kind of access to system resources that in the past required the use of languages like C++. One of the most important additions is object inheritance. In Visual Basic .NET, all managed types derive from System.Object. An important new language feature is garbage collection, which is administered by the Common Language Runtime and provides better memory management. The universal type system allows for greater interoperability, also contributing to the enhanced power and flexibility found in Visual Basic .NET.
