Serial Reading from arduino to VB (Visual Basic)

errrm. i dont know where to start but hey no one's judging sooo.

here's my sample code for the arduino, sending some data over the serial connection. with the help of many unknown sources or so that i forgot where i got them but credits to their owners if they manage to see some similarities. Im kinda lost at VB.

int lala = 4;
void setup()
{
Serial.begin(9600);
}
void loop()
{

if (Serial.available())
{
char thischar = Serial.read();
if (thischar = 50){
Serial.println(lala);
thischar = 0;
}
else
thischar = 0;
}
delay(100);
}

how do i read that "lala" value in which in my opinion turned to string? and if i wanted that namely string to be converted into a double type (example when lala = 2, double type would be 2.0) ?

i dont know where part of the forum would i have to post this, so sorry if ever it was wrongly post. I hope someone out there would answer me.

Google for 'visual basic serial input' or similar. For me, that returned about two million hits and the first page contained numerous links to tutorials and examples.