Lesson 2: Introduction to
Visual Basic
Introducti
on
In this lesson, you will learn the Visual Basic
programming language as an event driven programming
language. You will also be familiarize with the historical
development leading to the current version of Visual Basic
programming language. Finally, you will be able to identify
the different parts and functionalities of the VB.net
integrated development environment.
Introduction to the
Visual Basic
Programming Language
Visual Basic is a third-generation event-driven
programming language and integrated development
environment (IDE) from Microsoft for its Component Object
Model (COM) programming model first released in 1991
and declared legacy during 2008. Microsoft intended Visual
Basic to be relatively easy to learn and use. Visual Basic
was derived from the Beginners All-Purpose Symbolic
Instruction Code (BASIC), a user-friendly programming
language designed for beginners.
It 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.
Brief History
Visual Basic
1.0 (VB1): May
1991
Visual Basic 1.0 (VB1):
May 1991
• Visual Basic 1.0 for Windows
was released in May 1991 at a
trade show in Atlanta, Georgia.
• This is a 16-Bit program that
runs under Microsoft 3.0 or
later.
Brief History
Visual Basic 2.0
(VB2): November Visual Basic
1992 1.0 (VB1): May
1991
Visual Basic 2.0 (VB2):
November 1992
• Visual Basic 2.0 was released in
November 1992. The
programming environment was
easier to sue, and its speed
was improved. Notably, forms
became core objects, thus
laying the foundational
concepts of class modules as
were later offered in VB4.
• Visual Basic 2.0 is similar to
VB1 for Windows, but includes
more tools.
Brief History
Visual Basic
Visual Basic 2.0 3.0 (VB3): June
(VB2): November 1993
Visual Basic
1992 1.0 (VB1): May
1991
Visual Basic 3.0 (VB3):
June 1993
• Visual Basic 3.0 was released in
1993 and came in Standard
and Professional versions. VB3
included version 1.1 of the
Microsoft Jet Database Engine
that could read and write Jet
(or Access) 1.x databases.
• The Professional version
includes Crystal Reports, and a
setup generation wizard.
Brief History
Visual Basic 4.0
(VB4): October
Visual Basic
1995
Visual Basic 2.0 3.0 (VB3): June
(VB2): November 1993
Visual Basic
1992 1.0 (VB1): May
1991
Visual Basic 4.0 (VB4):
October 1995
• Visual Basic 4.0 was released in
October 1995. It was the first
version that could create 32-bit
as well as 6-bit Windows
programs. It also introduced
the ability to write non-GUI
classes in Visual Basic.
• It integrates a new OLE based
runtime that is much larger,
memory consuming, and
slower than VB 3.0.
Brief History
Visual Basic
Visual Basic 4.0 5.0 (VB5): April
(VB4): October 1997
Visual Basic
1995
Visual Basic 2.0 3.0 (VB3): June
(VB2): November 1993
Visual Basic
1992 1.0 (VB1): May
1991
Visual Basic 5.0 (VB5):
April 1997
• With version 5.0 release in April
1997, Microsoft released Visual
Basic exclusively for 32-bit
versions of Windows.
Programmers who preferred to
write 16-bit programs were
able to import programs
written in Visual Basic 4.0 to
Visual Basic 5.0, and Visual
Basic 5.0 programs could easily
be converted with Visual Basic
4.0.
Brief History
.Net Generation
Pre .Net Generation
Visual Basic 6.0
(VB6): October Visual Basic
Visual1998
Basic 4.0 5.0 (VB5): April
(VB4): October 1997
Visual Basic
1995
Visual Basic 2.0 3.0 (VB3): June
(VB2): November 1993
Visual Basic
1992 1.0 (VB1): May
1991
Visual Basic 6.0 (VB6):
October 1998
• Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0, now
part of Visual Studio, was the
last version of the true “Visual
Basic” product.
• It was released mid 1998, has
improved in a number of areas
including the ability to create
web-based applications. VB6
has been the most successful
version in the history of Visual
Basic, it has entered Microsoft’s
‘non-supported’ phase as of
March 2008.
Brief History
Visual Basic .Net
.Net Generation
(VB7): February
2002
Pre .Net Generation
Visual Basic 6.0
(VB6): October Visual Basic
Visual1998
Basic 4.0 5.0 (VB5): April
(VB4): October 1997
Visual Basic
1996
Visual Basic 2.0 3.0 (VB3): June
(VB2): November 1993
Visual Basic
1992 1.0 (VB1): May
1991
Visual Basic .Net
(VB7): February 2002
• VB.Net is a simple, modern,
object oriented computer
programming language
developed by Microsoft to
combine the power of .NET
Framework and the common The Microsoft .Net Framework is a platform that
language runtime with the provides tools and technologies you need to build
Networked Applications as well as Distributed Web
productivity benefits that are Services and Web Applications. The .Net Framework
the hallmark of Visual Basic. provides the necessary compile time and run-time
foundation to build and run any language that
conforms to the Common Language Specification
• It is designed to create .NET (CLS).The main two components of .Net Framework
are Common Language Runtime (CLR) and .Net
applications, Windows or Web Framework Class Library (FCL).
applications, and Web Services.
Brief History
Visual Basic 2003
(VB8): April 2003
Visual Basic .Net
.Net Generation
(VB7): February
2002
Pre .Net Generation
Visual Basic 6.0
(VB6): October Visual Basic
Visual1998
Basic 4.0 5.0 (VB5): April
(VB4): October 1997
Visual Basic
1996
Visual Basic 2.0 3.0 (VB3): June
(VB2): November 1993
Visual Basic
1992 1.0 (VB1): May
1991
Visual Basic 2003
(VB8): April 2003
Visual Basic .NET 2003 was
released in April 2003.
Microsoft re-engineered Visual
Basic from the ground up,
including full object-based
programming facilities and
complete integration with
the .NET Framework Common
Language Runtime (CLR).
This release became the first
version in the history of visual
basic to provide programming
tools for Pocket PCs and other
mobile devices.
It also had better XML features
Brief History
Visual Basic 2005
(VB9): November
Visual Basic 2003 2005
(VB8): April 2003 Visual Basic .Net
.Net Generation
(VB7): February
2002
Pre .Net Generation
Visual Basic 6.0
(VB6): October Visual Basic
Visual1998
Basic 4.0 5.0 (VB5): April
(VB4): October 1997
Visual Basic
1996
Visual Basic 2.0 3.0 (VB3): June
(VB2): November 1993
Visual Basic
1992 1.0 (VB1): May
1991
Visual Basic 2005
(VB9): November 2005
In 2005, Microsoft released
Visual Studio 2005, which
included Visual Basic 8.0 and
the .NET Framework 2.0. Visual
Basic 2005 is the name used to
refer to this update as
Microsoft decided to drop
the .NET portion of the title.
The new features included
Design time expression
evaluation, My pseudo-
namespace, dynamically
generated classes and Data
Source binding for easier
Brief History
Visual Basic 2008
(VB9): 2008 Visual Basic 2005
(VB9): November
Visual Basic 2003 2005
(VB8): April 2003 Visual Basic .Net
.Net Generation
(VB7): February
2002
Pre .Net Generation
Visual Basic 6.0
(VB6): October Visual Basic
Visual1998
Basic 4.0 5.0 (VB5): April
(VB4): October 1997
Visual Basic
1996
Visual Basic 2.0 3.0 (VB3): June
(VB2): November 1993
Visual Basic
1992 1.0 (VB1): May
1991
Visual Basic 2008
(VB9): 2008
In 2008, Microsoft launched
Visual Studio 2008 including VB
9.0 and the .NET Framework
3.5.
Visual Basic 2008 as it is
known, includes features like
Anonymous types, support for
LINQ, Lambda expressions and
XML literals.
In 2008, Microsoft also released
the free Visual Basic 2008
Express as an updated version
of Visual Basic 2005 Express.
Brief History
Visual Basic 2010
(VB10): 2010
Visual Basic 2008
(VB9): 2008 Visual Basic 2005
(VB9): November
Visual Basic 2003 2005
(VB8): April 2003 Visual Basic .Net
.Net Generation
(VB7): February
2002
Pre .Net Generation
Visual Basic 6.0
(VB6): October Visual Basic
Visual1998
Basic 4.0 5.0 (VB5): April
(VB4): October 1997
Visual Basic
1996
Visual Basic 2.0 3.0 (VB3): June
(VB2): November 1993
Visual Basic
1992 1.0 (VB1): May
1991
Visual Basic 2010
(VB10): 2010
Visual Basic 2010
was launched by Microsoft in
the year 2010. Visual Basic
2010 is a full-fledged Object-
Oriented Programming(OOP)
Language.
Though it is a full-fledged OOP
language, it still retains most of
the original syntaxes of Visual
Basic.
Visual Basic 2010 retains most
of the syntaxes that are similar
to older versions of Visual
Microsoft Visual Basic
2010
Visual Basic 2010 is an object-oriented programming
language
• Object: anything that can be seen, touched, or used
• Class: a pattern used to create an object
• Instance: an object created from a class; object is
said to be instantiated
Integrated Development Environment (IDE):
• Contains all the tools and features needed to create,
run, and test programs
• Includes Visual Basic, Visual C++, Visual C#, and
Visual F#
Microsoft Visual Basic
2010
Application: program or suite of programs
Windows-based application:
• Has a Windows user interface
• Runs on a personal computer
User interface: what the user sees and interacts with when
using an application
Web-based application:
• Has a Web user interface
• Runs on a server
• Accessed with a computer browser
Microsoft Visual Basic
2010
Windows applications consist of
solutions, projects, and files
Solution: a container that
stores projects and files for an
entire application
Project: a container that stores
files associated with a specific Figure 1-1: Illustration of a solution, project, and file
portion of the solution
A solution may contain one or
more projects
