In this post I try to describe some commonly used C# operator and their VB equivalent. This is intended as quick reference for C# or VB programmers who know one language but are in the process of learning the other. So, let's start.
typeof and GetType()
In C#, the typeof() operator is used for getting a reference to any type. For example,
Type t=typeof(string);
Will return a type object referring to string. The same result can be attained in VB by
Dim t As Type=GetType(String)
So, typeof in C# becomes GetType in VB.
As and TryCast
In C#, there exists a useful operator for converting between types without throwing errors. The as operator. The as operator only works on reference types. For example
TypeB b=new TypeB();
TypeA a=b as TypeA;
Note: TypeB inherits from TypeA. The as operator only supports inheritance and interface conversion.
The equivalent of above snippet in VB is,
Dim b As New TypeB
Dim a As TypeA = TryCast(b, TypeA)
In both the example, if the conversion fails, the variable b will be null and no InvalidCast exception will be thrown.
Hope it helps,