Visual Basic is the primary development tool for rapid development under Windows, following on the traditional BASIC-type language and syntax from the earliest dialects of the original language.

History

Visual Basic 1.0 was released in 1991, for Windows 3.0, and featured a code syntax very similar to their DOS package, QuickBasic. VB, though, also featured the ability to build intuitive interfaces without getting bogged down so heavily in the code to manipulate the interface, unlike in QuickBasic.

Visual Basic 2.0 was an update, providing more flexibility for developers, but applications were still limited.

Visual Basic 3.0 provided, for the first time, support for database engines, making it possible to build database applications with VB.

Visual Basic 4.0 represented something of a milestone - it came in two basic development versions - a 16-bit and a 32-bit version, though the differences were not obvious - the 32-bit version designed for Win32s and the then-new Windows 95.

Visual Basic 5.0 was released in 1997 and was completely 32-bit, and offered better support for Windows functions than before, with all-new support for ActiveX. Experience suggests that 5.0 produces more efficient code than before.

Visual Basic 6.0 was released in 1998, its main features compared to 5.0 was better cross-system (9x against NT) support - with better support for elements such as Unicode, and far better database handling, which was difficult in 5.0, though not impossible.

Now, Microsoft is on to the .NET series of Visual Basic.

What It Can Do

Visual Basic is a simple language that can be used to quickly and easily design Windows applications.

There are also two languages which form sub-sets of the full Visual Basic language - Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) and Visual Basic, Scripted Edition (VBS)

VBA is used within Microsoft Office applications, enabling very complex features to built within them - indeed it is possible to design moderately complex applications within Excel and Access.

VBS is normally used within web-pages, to provide client-side interactivity, or more commonly as part of ASP (Active Server Pages) sites, especially where a site is sufficiently large or complex to require the use of a database on the server.

Official Website

The official Microsoft site on Visual Basic is at http://msdn.microsoft.com/vbasic/