Do these statements have the same effect?

They are the same.  IsNot is the opposite of the Is operator. The advantage of IsNot is that you can avoid awkward syntax with Not and Is, which can be difficult to read. (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/t3bat82c.aspx)

If Not var1 Is Nothing Then

Is a continuation from VB6 where there wasn't an "IsNot," and so this was the only way to determine if a variable was Nothing. They two statements above serve the same purpose. the IsNot makes it easier to read and understand.

Are we talking about the same thing here.

Your referring to "IsNot" and I'm referring to "IsNothing"...

Ooops! I'm sorry Blake. You're right there.

That said... IsNothing and "Is Nothing" are intended to achieve the same thing.

However, IsNothing accepts both reference or nullable types and value types (e.g. int, long, double). However, when given a value type - well ... a value type can never be Nothing so it's a wasted check. "Is Nothing" however will only accept reference types and doing a:

Dim value As Integer
If value Is Nothing Then...

Select allOpen in new window

will not compile, and the compiler will raise the error "'Is' operator does not accept operands of type 'Integer'. Operands must be reference or nullable types."

IsNothing is also reportedly slower that "Is Nothing" or "IsNot Nothing"

Ok,

With that said, what is the best way to check a datagridview cell in the CellPainting Event in order that it doesn't throw an exception before being used? Which syntax is preferred?

Syntax 1

If Not e.Value Is Nothing

Select allOpen in new window

or

Syntax 2

If Not IsDBNull(e.Value)

Select allOpen in new window

IsDBNull is completely different than Is( )Nothing. DBNull is an object; Nothing is not.

So I should use

If Not e.Value Is Nothing

Select allOpen in new window

Not sure why this isn't sticking to memory.

Is "Is Nothing" the same as

If var1 = "" 

Select allOpen in new window

Thanks Kaufmed...that helped!

I added in code just after you accepted to demonstrate.

Also, I think MlandaT answered your original question above (http:#a40291514).