New Features in VB.NET Whidbey - and why I chose C#

ONDotNet has an introduction to the changes coming to VB.NET in Whidbey/VS 2005/.NET 2.0: ONDotnet.com: New Features in VB.NET Whidbey, Part 1 [Apr. 26, 2004] This is why I chose C# 2 1/2 years ago:

"Another new keyword in VB.NET is To. For example:

'---new "To" keyword
Dim num(5) As Integer
Dim num(0 To 5) As Integer ' same as above

The To keyword serves cosmetic purposes only; it does not allow you to change the lower bound of an array:

Dim num1(1 to 5) as Integer   ' not allowed

Using the To keyword helps to make your code more readable; beginning VB.NET programmers (especially C++ and Java programmers) often did not realize that the number of array members is always one more than the index specified in the array declaration."

While I'm all for making code more readable, adding a completely useless keyword because newbie programmers couldn't get 0-based indexing shows a too high emphasis on making coding accessible to newbies, rather than trying to make bread and butter stuff easier for people who already know what they're doing.