I have seen the following code, specifially an object or reference will be
surrounded with square brackets and can not find any documentation to
explain the syntax for the usage. Can someone tell me the reasoning behind
this?

Thanks
Kevin
[Assembly] i.e.
Dim asm As System.Reflection.[Assembly] =
System.Reflection.[Assembly].GetExecutingAssembly()

or

For Each a As [Assembly] In AppDomain.CurrentDomain.GetAssemblies
   PopulateAssemblySummary(a)
Next

or
[string]

Public Function Compare(ByVal x As Object, ByVal y As Object) As Integer
Implements IComparer.Compare
           Dim intResult As Integer = _
               [String].Compare(CType(x,
ListViewItem).SubItems(_intCol).Text, _
               CType(y, ListViewItem).SubItems(_intCol).Text)

           If _IsAscending Then
               Return intResult
           Else
               Return -intResult
           End If
       End Function