Hello Experts, I have been developing applications using VB.net for the past 5 years. As I tried to learn Java earlier and found it very difficult for me I did stick on to VB.net. And for me C# is more or less similar to Java.
Now I cannot get away with it. I have to code on C#. Is there a way I can get to speed with C# fast. I would really appreciate if you can let me know your thoughts and if there are any good resources I can try.
First, don't panic. The syntax is slightly different, but in my experience, most people that I've worked with who have been developing in VB.Net are able to get over that and get up to speed in a week or so.
The main thing to remember is that they are both .NET,and it's the .NET Framework and the Class Library that do all the work. It's not like Java where you would have to learn a whole new set of libraries. In C#, a System.Text.StringBuilder is the same System.Text.StringBuilder you would use in VB. The learning curve really isn't that bad if you keep this fact in mind.
Plus, if you're using the MSDN library, there are examples in both languages in almost every case, so you can pick up a lot of the differences just by using the examples.
If you have been doing VB.NET for that long then the underlying OOP concepts in that language and your experience with the .NET Framework put you in an excellent position to learn C# quickly. This means all you really need to learn is a new syntax and the best way to do that is to practice.
I think the best way would be probably buy a book on 'Learning C#' ... why? Because its a structured approach.
You'll fly through the book because you already understand programming concepts such as data types, loops etc.
I find Wrox books are great for these topics:
Depending how serious you are, you could also purchase the 'Professional' edition by Wrox for more complex parts of C#.
I prefer the book option because its route through the langauage... the only other way would be to keep researching on google/msdn on to find out how to do things in C#... which might get annoying and tiresome.
As others have said, once you have a good grasp of C# you will be able to reopen your older VB.NET projects and actually convert them to c# with ease.
HTH
I find language translators useful:
http://www.developerfusion.com/tools/convert/vb-to-csharp/
I am working on a presentation & want to include both VB.NET and C# code. If I don't know how to translate something from C# to VB.NET, I dump the code into the translator and I learn.
I have relearned VB.NET stuff that I have since forgotten. I'm sure that it will work the other way around.
Actually, if you've been doing VB.NET for last couple of years the transition shouldn't be as hard as you make it out since the language are very similar. You just have to look at the tons of online C# to VB.NET code translators that are available for evidence. Well several years ago when I was porting over VB.NET to C# code the main things it would choke on was arrays since syntax is different enough and case sensitivity since VB isn't case sensitive. Nowadays, there might be more problems though will all the additions they keep adding to C#.
You can try http://converter.telerik.com/ far better than conversion engine of DeveloperFusion.