Imports System
Public Class Program
Public Shared Function removeMiddleChar(ByVal str As String) As String
Dim length As Integer = str.Length
Dim middleIndex As Integer = length \ 2
Return str.Substring(0, middleIndex) & str.Substring(middleIndex + 1)
End Function
Public Shared Sub Main(ByVal args As String())
Dim str As String = "abcde"
str = removeMiddleChar(str)
Console.WriteLine(str)
End Sub
End Class
' run:
'
' abde
'