Not = or <> preferable in VB.NET

Question

In VB, I believe the following are equivalent:

If Not x = y Then
...
End If

and

If x <> y Then
...
End If

Am I wrong? Is there some scenario in which they are not equivalent? If so, what is it? If not, is one preferred over the other? Why? In the latter, the <> operator is pretty foreign looking to me, as I am more used to the C# !=. I also end up forgetting if it is <> or >< all the time. The downside of the former seems to be that it reads like Yoda speaks.

Answer 1

Using Not x = y is like using !(x==y) in C# instead of just using x!=y.

Use <>. Lack of comfort with a language's syntax is a poor excuse for knowingly using it improperly.

FYI, <> is used in SQL. VB.Net isn't the only language that uses it.