visual basic

overview

Visual Basic (VB) is an event driven programming language and associated development environment from Microsoft. VB has been replaced by Visual Basic .NET. The older version of VB was derived heavily from BASIC and enables rapid application development (RAD) of graphical user interface (GUI) applications, access to databases using DAO, RDO, or ADO, and creation of ActiveX controls and objects.

A programmer can put together an application using the components provided with Visual Basic itself. Programs written in Visual Basic can also use the Windows API, but doing so requires external function declarations.

evolution

VB 1.0 was introduced in 1991. The approach for connecting the programming language to the graphical user interface is derived from a prototype developed by Alan Cooper called Tripod. Microsoft contracted with Cooper and his associates to develop Tripod into a programmable shell for Windows 3.0, under the code name Ruby (no relation to the Ruby programming language).

Tripod did not include a programming language at all, and Ruby contained only a rudimentary command processor sufficient for its role as a Windows shell. Microsoft decided to use the simple Program Manager shell for Windows 3.0 instead of Ruby, and combine Ruby with the Basic language to create Visual Basic.

Ruby provided the "visual" part of Visual Basic-the form designer and editing tools-along with the ability to load dynamic link libraries containing additional controls (then called "gizmos"). Ruby's extensible gizmos later became the VBX interface.

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