Confused about learning the .NET ArcObjects Library Reference

Question

Hello fellow developers,

I come from the java world where documentation contains function definitions and usage information for the Class for which I look up documentation. 
I have been trudging in the world of VB.NET for the past month and feel like I am only slowly making progress.
The main problem I am facing is that I don't know what each Class can actually do. 
Looking up the documentation generally shows me 
for Classes: which interfaces my Class implements
for interfaces: the functions that must be implemented and which CoClasses implement the interface

Comparing documentation between .NET and Java for the FeatureClass Class almost made me cry. Compare for yourself: 
http://help.arcgis.com/en/sdk/10.0/arcobjects_net/componenthelp/index.html#/FeatureClassClass_Class/0025000000mq000000/
http://help.arcgis.com/en/sdk/10.0/java_ao_adf/api/arcobjects/com/esri/arcgis/geodatabase/featureclass.html

If this is the norm for .NET documentation then it would mean I have to open every implemented interface and search through those functions just to get an overview of what the Class I am informing myself about can do. 
Right now I am using Visual Studio 2010 and letting autocomplete inform me about the possibilities but it makes it all so difficult to get an overview.

This all leads me to one conclusion: I must be doing something wrong. Please help me with info on how to get an overview of the classes more quickly in .NET.

Thanks,
Alex

P.S. I am slowly going insane.

AlexanderWolf · Answer

Thank you Idonahue and Neil for your reassuring comments. I started working with .NET because I need to help someone extend an already existing VB.NET project. I would have loved to do this in Java if I could have. I was hoping there was a different set of API docs available but I guess I will have to do it the way described by Neil. It is definitely a different approach between .NET and Java and you get used to it in either programming environment over time.

.NET ArcObjects API lists "functionality" in the Interfaces, while Java ArcOjects API lists "functionality" in the concrete class. By "lists" I simply mean that the docs present that information to developer.

I also think that the Java documentation is superior but that may just be because I am used to it. I will have to get used to the way its done in .NET

LeoDonahue · Answer

Oh, Alex, not to confuse you or anything, but check this out:  
.NET IFeatureClass Interface http://help.arcgis.com/en/sdk/10.0/arcobjects_net/componenthelp/0025/0025000002qs000000.htm

Scroll down to where you see the CoClass section.  Notice how a FeatureClass and a RasterCatalog both implement the same functionality, or so it seems?  Reading this one would think that a FeatureClass and RasterCatalog have the same "addField" member originating from IFeatureClass.

However, check out the Java API for the IFeatureClass interface: http://help.arcgis.com/en/sdk/10.0/java_ao_adf/api/arcobjects/com/esri/arcgis/geodatabase/IFeatureClass.html
It does not have the "addField" member.  In Java, while both FeatureClass and RasterCatalog have "addField" members, those contracts are actually declared in IClass.

The .NET docs do not present as clear a picture as the Java docs do as to in which actual Interface the functionality was declared.

Just my opinions.

LeoDonahue · Answer

Good points Neil,

I think it also has something to do with the Java API docs as well.  Java programmers get used to looking for classes that they are going to do something with.  In the Oracle Java API, interfaces are not all grouped together as they are in the ArcObjects Java docs.  So if I was wanting to work with a JPanel, I would look at JPanel in the API, not the Interfaces ImageObserver or MenuContainer, etc., because I wouldn't know about those before looking at JPanel for the first time.

It is definitely a different approach between .NET and Java and you get used to it in either programming environment over time.

.NET ArcObjects API lists "functionality" in the Interfaces, while Java ArcOjects API lists "functionality" in the concrete class.  By "lists" I simply mean that the docs present that information to developer.