Is there a VB.NET equivalent to the C#:
public string FirstName { get; set; }
I know you can do
Public Property name() As
There is no shorthand for Visual Studio 2008 or prior for VB.NET.
In Visual Studio 2010 and beyond, you can use the following shorthand:
public property FirstName as String
This will be handled as your short version in C# is - I think they call it "Auto Property"
See also: Auto-Implemented Properties (Visual Basic)