Visual Basic

'''Visual Basic''' is a language developed by Microsoft to advance BASIC into the realm of GUI programming. While Microsoft ceased development of the language at version 6, a new language called Visual Basic .NET was developed around the .Net Framework.

Used by Microsoft's flagship product Office, the embedded version of Visual Basic continues to be maintained. This version is known as Visual Basic for Applications and uses the same syntax as, and is mostly compatible with, Visual Basic 6.

Categorization

Visual Basic can be divided into a few broad categories: VBDOS, Classic VB, and VB .Net. *'''Visual Basic for DOS''' (or '''VBDOS''') is really part of the QuickBASIC family -- in fact, VBDOS can compile most QB programs without change, and could be considered the "missing link" between QB and "real" VB. See this section of WP's VB page for a tiny bit of info. (There is a Win16 program included with VBDOS that can translate VBDOS code to VB1 code, and vice-versa. The "forms" part of VBDOS is very similar to VB1; it's ''everything else'' that needed translating.) *'''Classic VB''' combines VB for 16-bit Windows, and pre-.Net VB for 32-bit Windows: **'''"Early" VB''' is VB1-3. The language is essentially the same as VB4-6, but the internals are a bit different, they're 16-bit only, and they use VBX controls instead of the later ActiveX controls. These compilers are almost certainly not in use any more, as they are for 16-bit Windows. **'''COM VB''' is VB4-6 and VBA. They are Win32 and use COM (OLE, ActiveX, OCX) components (although VB4 also has a Win16 version that can use VBX controls). *'''VB.Net''' isn't really VB, as far as most classic VB programmers are concerned. It's got a VB-like syntax, but the differences are great enough that it's really a separate language.

See also

Tasks