Visual Basic: Encyclopedia II - Visual Basic - Evolution of Visual Basic

Visual Basic - Evolution of Visual Basic

VB 1.0 was introduced in 1991. The approach for connecting the programming language to the graphical user interface is derived from a system called Tripod (sometimes also known as Ruby), originally developed by Alan Cooper, which was further developed by Cooper and his associates under contract to Microsoft.

Visual Basic - Timeline of Visual Basic before Visual Basic .NET

• Visual Basic 1.0 (May 1991) was released for Windows.

• Visual Basic 1.0 for DOS was released in September 1992. The language itself was not quite compatible with Visual Basic for Windows, as it was actually the next version of Microsoft's DOS-based BASIC compilers, QuickBASIC and BASIC Professional Development System. The interface was barely graphical, using extended ASCII characters to simulate the appearance of a GUI.

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

• Visual Basic 3.0 was released in the summer of 1993 and came in Standard and Professional versions. VB3 included a database engine that could read and write Access databases.

• Visual Basic 4.0 (August 1995) was the first version that could create 32-bit as well as 16-bit Windows programs. It also introduced the ability to write classes in Visual Basic.

• With version 5.0 (February 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 can easily be converted with Visual Basic 4.0. Visual Basic 5.0 also introduced the ability to create custom user controls, as well as the ability to compile to native Windows executable code, speeding up runtime code execution.

• Visual Basic 6.0 (Mid 1998) improved in a number of areas, including the ability to create web-based applications. VB6 is currently scheduled to enter Microsoft's "non-supported phase" starting March 2008.

• In April 2005 Microsoft announced that support for non .NET versions of Visual Basic would end within a few years. The Visual Basic community instantly expressed its concern and lobbied users to sign a petition to keep the product alive. Microsoft has so far refused to change their position on the matter. Ironically, around this time, it was exposed that Microsoft's new anti-spyware offering, Microsoft AntiSpyware, was coded in Visual Basic 6.0 (although this can be explained by the fact that the product was "inherited" with Microsoft's acquisition of GIANT).

Visual Basic - Timeline of Visual Basic .NET

• Visual Basic .NET was launched in 2002 along with the .NET Framework. Its language features are much richer than previous versions, although it is more complex. VB .Net is not backwards compatible, so many older VB programs must be modified to remove features incompatible with VB .Net (e.g., non-zero base arrays, the use of Variant, etc.)

• Visual Basic .NET 2003 was launched in 2003 along with the .NET Framework 1.1.

• In 2004 Microsoft released a beta version of Visual Studio.NET 2005 (codename Whidbey). This included a beta of version 2.0 of Visual Basic .NET

• Also in 2004, Microsoft announced a return to offering support for Visual Basic hobbyists with the announcement of Visual Basic Express, and Visual Web Developer Express. Both are reduced feature versions of Visual Studio 2005 and support Visual Basic.NET 2.0.

• On November 7 2005 Visual Studio 2005 was released, which includes Visual Basic .NET 2005 along with the .NET Framework 2.0. Microsoft also introduced Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition, a cut-down free edition designed to introduce people to the Visual Basic .NET environment.

Visual Basic - Visual Basic and HyperCard

Putting Visual Basic into historical context invites comparison with HyperCard, a programming tool developed by Bill Atkinson, Dan Winkler, and their associates at Apple Computer and released in 1987. Both HyperCard and VB initially present the user with a "drawing" environment in which UI objects can be dragged, sized, captioned, and have a set of properties edited. Both connect a set of events, associated with the visual objects, to fragments of code. In both cases, the code is written in a programming language that is intended to cater to the novice and be easy to use. This is not to suggest that VB is a clone or copy of HyperCard. The relationship is more like that of C or Pascal to ALGOL; one can detect a family resemblance.

Unlike VB, HyperCard's programming language, HyperTalk, like COBOL before it (and AppleScript after it), consists of syntactically valid English sentences, such as "Get the number of card buttons." (Whether this actually makes it any easier to read, write, understand, or maintain than BASIC is arguable.)

Another difference that may have contributed to the rise of VB is that VB produced applications that were virtually indistinguishable in look, feel, and general characteristics from Windows applications produced with traditional development tools. That is, it produced "true-form" Windows applications. HyperCard produced HyperCard stacks, which do not resemble true Macintosh applications. HyperCard briefly spawned a limited cottage industry of commercial "stackware," rather like the former market in spreadsheet templates, but saw little commercial application (with notable exceptions: the fully commercial adventure game Myst was based on an elaborated version of HyperCard). HyperCard "stacks" were always recognizable as such.

HyperCard made a big impression when it was released in 1987, but for various reasons Apple did not follow it up vigorously or develop it much beyond what it was in 1987. By the year 2000 Apple had effectively abandoned it; it was officially discontinued in April 1999.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "Evolution of Visual Basic", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki