Introduction to Visual Basic 2010

WHAT IS VISUAL BASIC?

·         Visual Basic is a window based Object-Oriented and Event-Driven Programming language.

·         Object is anything that can be seen, touched, or used. Program written for Windows environment typically use objects such as Check boxes, list boxes, and buttons.

·         Visual Basic 2010 is available either as stand-alone product called Visual Basic 2010 Express, or as a part of a Visual Studio 2010. Both products include an Integrated Development Environment (IDE), which is an environment that contains all of the tools and features you need to create, run, and test your programs.

HISTORY

·         Visual Basic (VB) is a third-generation event-driven programming language and integrated development environment (IDE) from Microsoft for its COM programming model first released in 1991.

·         Visual Basic was derived from BASIC and enables the rapid application development (RAD) of graphical user interface (GUI) applications, access to databases using Data Access Objects, Remote Data Objects, or ActiveX Data Objects, and creation of ActiveX controls and objects.

·         Timeline

o    Visual Basic 1.0 (May 1991) was released for Windows at the Comdex/Windows World trade show in Atlanta, Georgia.

o    Visual Basic 1.0 for DOS was released in September 1992. 

o    Visual Basic 2.0 was released in November 1992. The programming environment was easier to use, and its speed was improved.

o    Visual Basic 3.0 was released in the summer of 1993 and came in Standard and Professional versions.

o    Visual Basic 4.0 (August 1995) was the first version that could create 32-bit as well as 16-bit Windows programs.

o    With version 5.0 (February 1997), Microsoft released Visual Basic exclusively for 32-bit versions of Windows. 

o    Visual Basic 6.0 (Mid 1998) improved in a number of areas including the ability to create web-based applications. VB6 has entered Microsoft's "non-supported phase" as of March 2008. Mainstream Support for Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 ended on March 31, 2005. Extended support ended in March 2008.

o    Visual Basic.Net (2002) VB 7.0 is the first version of Visual Basic .NET, which run on .NET framework 1.0. The most important feature is Managed code, which contrasts with Visual Basic 6.0 and before.

o    Visual Basic.Net (2003) VB 7.1 was released with version 1.1 of the .NET Framework. 

o    Visual Basic 2005 VB 8.0 is the name used to refer to the Visual Basic .NET, Microsoft having decided to drop the .NET portion of the title.

o    Visual Basic 2008 VB 9.0 was released together with the Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 on 19 November 2007.

o    Visual Basic 2010 VB 10.0. In April 2010, Microsoft released Visual Basic 2010. Microsoft had planned to use the Dynamic Language Runtime (DLR) for that release but shifted to a co-evolution strategy between Visual Basic and sister language C# to bring both languages into closer parity with one another.