The title really says it all. In VB.NET is there a difference between these statements when checking for value equality
Dim notEqualsCompare as Boolean = Not a = b
Dim angleBracCompare as Boolean = a <> b
I usually use 'Not a = b' just because it reads better. I read the '<>' operator as 'is less or greater than' which only really makes sense for numeric values, but from my brief testing they behave the same.
Is there ever a situation where one is preferable?