why does vb.net not support multiple inheritance?

Question

I\'ve seen some discussion on why c# does not implement multiple inheritance but very little as to why it isn\'t supported in vb. I understand that both c# and vb are compi

Answer 1

The lack of MI (Multiple Inheritance) is greatly tied to both the language-design and the intended host (CLR):

1) The difference in MI/SI is so fundamental to a language that it is very difficult (or perhaps impossible) to 'add it as a feature' later.

2) As for the intended host: while it would be possible to write a MI language for the CLR (just as it would be possible to write a language with continuations, etc, for the CLR -- it can be done) is that, in doing so, you lose interoperability with all the other ".NET" languages.

A much easier form of "MI" that can be retrofitted into the CLR is Traits handled via compile-time MRO collapsing (This is how Scala supports Traits on the JVM). However, this still requires major redesign/rethink of the language, and for something as 'vetted' as VB(.NET), good luck :-) Having to make sure that it plays nice with existing code is a big deal when adding improvements to a language.