What Is Visual Basic?
Visual Basic is the latest generation of the original BASIC language. BASIC started as the language of home computing. The acronym stands for the Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code. Even in its modern object-oriented wanna-be-like-C++ iteration, it's still one of the easiest to learn and most often used computer programming languages.
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VB History
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BASIC started out in the1960's as a language for non-specialists. It's line numbers, easy English-language commands and simple syntax made it a hit. By the end of the 70s, most "home" computers came with BASIC in ROM.
Evolution
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BASIC began as an interpreted language--each command translated into machine code on the fly during execution. In the 1980s, each brand of machine could only run code specifically written for it. BASIC floundered around nearly a decade before Microsoft took it to the next level in 1991.
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Visual Basic
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VB for Windows, introduced by Microsoft in 1991, was the first BASIC to sport a Graphical User Interface. From there, the evolution roughly parallels that of C++. The next decade saw the language develop into an easy to use (almost) object-oriented language with drag-and-drop ease of use.
VB Today
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Visual Basic today is, as in past lives, one of the most popular of programming languages. However, due to its power and versatility, it's not just for the home tinkerer anymore. For instance, the latest version contains built-in web-enabled functions and objects, ensuring the language doesn't fall behind technology.
Free VB
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The Microsoft Visual Basic Integrated Device Environment can be downloaded for free from the Microsoft website for anyone who wants to learn Visual Basic. Many training and tutorial sites are available on the web and most colleges offer courses.
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- Photo Credit All images Courtesy of Google Images
