Visual Basic Programmer

Visual Basic Programmer

Access Database Programmer.
Visual Basic.Net Programmer.
Microsoft Office Programmer.


VB Programing support
Access Database
Microsoft Office
VB.Net & SQL Server




nev@NevVB.com.au



Ring me for Visual Basic and Access programming
Sydney, Australia
(02) 9453-0456




Contact Details



28/01/2012

MICROSOFT VISUAL BASIC PROGRAMMING

Visual Basic Versions

All about Visual Basic: Visual Basic VersionsVisual Basic has gone through many changes over it lifetime, and it is now with VB.Net, evolving at an ever increasing pace.

Here is a brief history of Visual Basic.

Version Year Comments
Visual Basic 1.0 1991 Project 'Thunder' was released for Windows at the Comdex/Windows World trade show in Atlanta, Georgia.
Visual Basic 1.0 for MS-DOS 1992 This release updated Microsoft's QuickBASIC Professional Development System with a new library that enabled use of a character-based Windowing system.
Visual Basic 2.0 1992 With VB2, forms became instantiable objects, laying the concepts of class modules as were later offered in VB4. Included ODBC for database access.
Visual Basic 3.0 1993 VB3 was released in Standard and Professional versions. VB3 included the Microsoft Jet Database Engine that could read and write to Access databases.
Visual Basic 4.0 1995 VB4 added 32-bit code compilation. Introduced classes, giving VB object orientation though inheritance. VB4 also replaced the VBX with a new type of add-on called OCX (OLE Control Extension), based on COM, Microsoft's component programming model.
Visual Basic 5.0 1997 VB5 introduced the ability to create OCX custom user controls, as well as the ability to compile to native Windows executable code. VB5 no longer supported compilation to 16-bit executables.
Visual Basic 6.0 1998 VB6 improved in a number of areas, including the ability to create web-based applications. VB6 has now entered Microsoft's "non-supported phase". VB6 is still in use today for maintaining existing applications.
Visual Basic 2002 Visual Basic.NET was the first version to target the .NET Framework. VB.NET introduced full object orientation and cleaned up anomalies in the language. The language was not fully compatible with VB6 and caused difficulty in migrating existing code.
Visual Basic 2005 The language continued to evolve, with features like the Using statement for freeing resources automatically. It supports generic types and nullable types. It added the ability to modify code while debugging, called Edit and Continue.
Visual Basic 2008 In VB 2008, the language was updated to support Microsoft's innovations in language-integrated query (LINQ). Other features include extension methods, type inference, anonymous types and Lambda Expressions. VB has strayed far from its roots as a simple programming language. None of these additions improve productivity in developing business oriented systems.
Visual Basic 2010 Most of the new features relate to large programming teams or object oriented programming – and are of little interest to the Visual Basic programmer. The Development Environment has a new (and slow) user interface using WPF.

The only new features of interest are:
  • Implicit Line Continuation
  • Properties created in one-line statements
  • The Primary Interop Assembly (PIA) needed for Microsoft Office COM applications has a reduced footprint size
Visual Basic 2012 Visual Studio 11 has yet to be released – it is expected sometime in 2012. .NET Framework 4.5 is needed to create Windows 8 Metro-style applications. There is full support for JavaScript.

The new Visual Basic features are:
  • Better support for Asynchronous processing
  • Asynchronous WebSockets
  • The Yield keyword to iterate through a collection
  • Call Hierarchy shows where a Method is called
  • Run Code Analysis and Launch Performance Wizard
  • Performance Analysis tool for tracking CPU and Memory usage
  • IIS Express is the new development Web Server

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