Hi Terry,

Basically, it's just an implementation decision. Objects/Functions that are part of the VB.NET language are being implemented in that library, like some objects/functions are in MSCORLIB.DLL or whatever.

As far as If..End If, etc., they aren't in the DLL because they're statements, not functions or objects.

yag

>Alan,
>
>I appreciate your response as I did have a confusion that was cleared up once I saw that the compatibility namespace is a small subset of Microsoft.VisualBasic namespace.
>
>Maybe you could clear things up more. Key structure of the VB .NET language like if..end if, not, operators, handles,,, are they in a dll not contained in system anywhere? I don't see them listed in Microsoft.VisualBasic.
>
>And if so, how is it decided what should be separate and what goes inside system framework? (I was surprised to see that my ASP .NET application used nothing inside of Microsoft.VisualBasic namespace except chr() and I could replace that with usage of the byte data type.
>
>I'm not quite sure why this area seems so interesting, but certain discussions on list servers regarding C# and VB and the so-called VB baggage started it probably.
>
>(wouldn't it be nice if VS had a switch for the command window giving it a global scope like VFP so we could play with commands to get confidence with them where help file examples are scarce? <s>)
>
>Thanks again,
>
>>The Microsoft.VisualBasic library and namespace is just as core a part of the framework as the Microsoft.CSharp library and namespace or any of the other framework DLLs. It comes down when you download the .NET framework and is part of the redist.
>>
>>I understand some people not using the VB.Compatibility namespace, which is used more for VB6 upgraded apps, but this one should be thought of as just another framework piece.
>>
>>One nice thing about the .NET framework is that it allows the various teams to implement language and feature enhancements. Basically, we are divided into a Framework team, and various language teams. Instead of having to put everything together, we separate things into DLLs. Taking out the VisualBasic namespace would be like saying I never want to use the System.Data namespace.
>>
>>yag
>>
>>>I am interested in any comments along the line of whether other VB .NET developers are removing Microsoft.VisualBasic namespace from the default project imports list.
>>>
>>>Is it more OOP oriented to do so?
>>>
>>>If one wants to be more OOP oriented and disciplined, should one endeavor to find methods of the classes in the framework that are being used rather than use a function or statement from the language?
>>>
>>>Is the VB .NET language a namespace in the framework or something to be considered quite separate?
>>>
>>>etc, etc.
>>>
>>>I've already heard the suggestion to switch to C# thanks...<s>
>>>
>>>happy coding everyone,
>>>TIA