Comments on: The New Keyword

By: Anwar

Anwar — Tue, 25 Oct 2005 12:52:00 +0000

Dick, the post itself is wonderful and Mr. Tushar has added a more realistic proof for avoidance of usage of New keyword. I tried the code and it did return me false. To conclude, I am in agreement with this post and gained some good knowledge from here. Thanks guys. Cheers !

By: Tushar Mehta

Tushar Mehta — Fri, 03 Dec 2004 05:28:00 +0000

While machine benefits are nice, they are never the primary reason why I make conceptual decisions. However, there is a important *functional* reason to not use New in the Dim statement. It becomes impossible to test if an object is nothing Try the following:

Sub testIt()
Dim x As New Class1
Set x = Nothing
MsgBox x Is Nothing
End Sub

The message box display will always be false. Get rid of the New in the Dim statement and it becomes possible to test for nothing.

That said, in VB.Net, it is strongly recommended to use the New clause in the Dim statement. Apparently, the overhead no longer exists. Don’t ask me how or why.

By: Dick

Dick — Thu, 02 Dec 2004 04:39:00 +0000

Russell: Thanks. Be sure to let me know when your site is updated so I can have a look.

By: Russell

Russell — Thu, 02 Dec 2004 00:15:00 +0000

Excellent Article! This is one of the best explanations I've seen on the subject. It really bugs me that about 95% of all code I see that deals w/classes uses New in the Dim statement! Spread the word!

p.s. Great site - I can't believe that I haven't heard of it before, but I'll be sure to link to it once I update my site.