Downloading VB.NET 2008 Express from Microsoft's site would be a good start.

start learning only the syntax and the basics (delegates,subroutines , variables ,loops etc)so you can write a code to provide minimum functionality with no syntax errors and exceptions then you can browse the .net framwork class libraries and the examples on each library on msdn ............to know how to properly deal with classes ,functions , subroutines etc.. dnt read books too much

The best way to learn Visual Basic or any programming language is by seeing it. You cannot learn Programming just by reading the books or tutorials. Following offers live sessions on Visual Basic Programming. You will be able to see the session live from instructor's desktop.

Is this a fact or an assumption? Having someone (aka teacher) to ask helps, but I guess it's not a requirement

Learning how to program is different than learning how to use Visual Studio to do the job.

If you already know how to translate a set of requirements into a description of the tasks an application has to do, you can make up some test projects, and try to build them in VB.Net or C#.

I started learning the language Visual Basic by just screening the keywords in some eBook, getting a global idea of the possibilities. The next step was to make small applications, gradually enlarging the scope. Combining small solutions into one usefull application is more a matter of being a programmer, not being a Visual Basic Programmer, at least, that is my opinion.

Some small tools you can start to pratice with are:

• Simple form, one text field, one button, one label. Type in text in the textbox, press the button, and show the text in the label.
• Make a form with a textbox and a button. Type in the textbox a number (i.e. 2). Pressing the button shows a Message (MsgBox), telling what number you typed (One, Two, Three, etc.)
• Enlarge the previous tool: check if the number is between 5 and 25. If less, show message "Less", if more show message "More". If between 5 and 25 show "Perfect"
• Enlarge the previous tool: create a textfile and write the typed numbers in it. Check the result with Notepad.
• Enlarge the previous tool: Open the file, and calculate the sum and the average of the typed numbers. Show this in a messagebox.

Search solutions on forums like this, TheCodeProject, or join Developer's Challenges.

I did...and so didn't a whole lot of people of my generation.

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