Expressions and Statements

Expressions are simply a statement where you have included a calculation that should end as a result (numerical, character or as a boolean also).

Example of expressions are given below:

5+6  (Sample Numeric Expression)

x+y

"Nidal" & " Arabi"  (Sample String expression)

x.ToString() + " Is the Number of Children"

X > Y (Sample Boolean Expression)

 

Statements on the other hands are the building block of the programming when dealing with VB.NET

They are made up of (or combination of)

• keywords-i.e. reserved words for the VB.NET language like Dim, If, Else, etc...
• Operators (Explained in previous post)
• Variables (Explained in previous post)
• Constants (Will Be explained when need arise...But think of them as variables with a specific single value that should not be changed once assigned)
• Expressions (Explained Above)

There are three main different categories of statements

1. Declarative: When you define a variable like Dim EyeColor as String
2. Assignment: When You assign a new value to a variable like EyeColor = "Brown"
3. Executable: A statement that usually instruct the computer to do something special like If A  > B Then MessageBox("A is Greater then B")

To summarize

• Each statement is simply a command to execute
• Each statement can be on its own line. Statements can also be grouped on a single line by separating them with a column. Example of two statements together would be X = X + Y : Y = Y * 2
• Sometimes you may also need to span a single statement on two lines. You can do this simply by using the underscore character. Example: Gross Income =  _
  TotalIncome – Tax.
• A sequence of statement can make you programs do beautiful things. :)