When Was Visual Basic Developed

[Joke Grinman]

VisualBasic (VB) before .NET, sometimes referred to as Classic Visual Basic,[1]is a third-generation programming language, based on BASIC, and an integrated development environment (IDE), from Microsoft for Windows knownfor supporting rapid application development (RAD) of graphical user interface (GUI) applications, event-driven programming and both consumption and development of components via the Component Object Model (COM) technology.

VB was first released in 1991. The final release was version 6 (VB6) in 1998. On April 8, 2008, Microsoft stopped supporting the VB6 IDE, relegating it to legacy. The Microsoft VB team still maintains compatibility for VB6 applications through its "It Just Works" program on supported Windows operating systems.[2]

Microsoft significantly changed VB for the .NET technology and rebranded it Visual Basic .NET (VB.NET), and then later rebranded it back to Visual Basic. Therefore, Visual Basic can refer to a classic version, a .NET version or both. This article is about the versions before .NET.

In 2014, some software developers still preferred Visual Basic 6.0 over its successor, Visual Basic .NET.[5] Visual Basic 6.0 was selected as the most dreaded programming language by respondents of Stack Overflow's annual developer survey in 2016, 2017, and 2018.[6][7][8]

As was the intention of older BASIC variants, VB was intended to have a low learning curve. Further, the IDE was intended to promote productivity; even for complex GUI applications. Programming involves visually arranging components or controls on a form, specifying attributes and actions for those components, and writing code for that directs behavior. Since components have default attributes and actions, a programmer can develop a simple program without writing much code.

Since a VB program is compiled as a native code executable instead of interpreted as old BASIC variants, it runs relatively fast and requires relatively little storage space. But, from version 5 on, it requires relatively large library files to be loaded at runtime; about 1 MB. Core runtime libraries are included by default in Windows 2000 and later, but extended runtime components require extra installation consideration. Earlier versions of Microsoft Windows (95/98/NT), require the runtime libraries to be distributed with the executable.

Forms are created using drag-and-drop techniques. A tool is used to place controls (e.g., text boxes, buttons, etc.) on the form (window). Controls have attributes and event handlers associated with them. Default values are provided when the control is created, but may be changed by the programmer. Many attribute values can be modified during run time based on user actions or changes in the environment, providing a dynamic application. For example, code can be inserted into the form resize event handler to reposition a control so that it remains centered on the form, expands to fill up the form, etc. By inserting code into the event handler for a keypress in a text box, the program can automatically translate the case of the text being entered, or even prevent certain characters from being inserted.

Development in the IDE is organized as a project which can be configured to output as a program (EXE), a dynamic-link library (DLL) or an ActiveX control library (OCX) which is a specialized a DLL.

Controls provide the graphical functionality of a GUI application, and programmers attach code to event handlers to perform actions. For example, a drop-down control displays a list of items. When the user selects an item, an event handler is automatically called that executes the code that the programmer attached to the handler.

Via the COM technology, unused memory is recovered for reuse using reference counting; recovering when the count reaches zero. VB reduces the count when a variable goes out of scope or when assigned to Nothing. This design prevents memory leaks that plague some, older languages such as C & C++. It differs significantly from the more modern approach of garbage collection.

The VB compiler is shared with other Visual Studio suite languages, C and C++. Nevertheless, by default the restrictions in the IDE do not allow creation of some targets (Windows model DLLs) and threading models, but over the years, developers have bypassed these restrictions.

Visual Basic 1.0 was introduced in 1991. The drag and drop design for creating the user interface is derived from a prototype form generator developed by Alan Cooper and his company called Tripod.[19][20][21] Microsoft contracted with Cooper and his associates to develop Tripod into a programmable form system for Windows 3.0, under the code name Ruby (no relation to the later Ruby programming language). Tripod did not include a programming language at all. Microsoft decided to combine Ruby with the Basic language to create Visual Basic. The Ruby interface generator provided the "visual" part of Visual Basic, and this was combined with the "EB" Embedded BASIC engine designed for Microsoft's abandoned "Omega" database system. Ruby also provided the ability to load dynamic link libraries containing additional controls (then called "gizmos"), which later became the VBX interface.[22]

All versions of the Visual Basic IDE, from 1.0 to 6.0, are no longer supported by Microsoft. The associated runtime environments are also unsupported, except for the Visual Basic 6 core runtime environment, which Microsoft officially supports for the lifetime of Windows 10[34] and Windows 11.[35] Third party components that shipped with Visual Studio 6.0 are not included in this support statement. Some legacy Visual Basic components may still work on newer platforms, despite being unsupported by Microsoft and other vendors. Documentation for Visual Basic 6.0, its application programming interface and tools is best covered in the last MSDN release before Visual Studio.NET 2002. Later releases of MSDN focused on .NET development and had significant parts of the Visual Basic 6.0 programming documentation removed as the language evolved, and support for older code ended. Although vendor support for Visual Basic 6 has ended, and the product has never been supported on the latest versions of Windows, key parts of the environment still work on newer platforms. It is possible to get a subset of the development environment working on 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, Windows 10 and Windows 11.[36] Owing to its persistent remaining popularity,[37] third-party attempts to further support it, such as Rubberduck, exist.[38]

Cooper's solution to this problem didn't click until late 1987, when a friend at Microsoft brought him along on a sales call with an IT manager at Bank of America. The manager explained that he needed Windows to be usable by all of the bank's employees: highly technical systems administrators, semi-technical analysts, and even users entirely unfamiliar with computers, like tellers. Cooper recalls the moment of inspiration:

I got frustrated one night and started firing rubber bands at my screen to help me think. It was a habit I had back then to shake up my thinking. Probably more practical on a tough glass CRT than on a modern flat screen! After firing a few rubber bands, I was still stuck. So I fired up a doobie to see if that would help. As I flicked my lighter and looked at the fire, it all came together. Fire a rubber band. Fire up a doobie. Fire an event!

Once Cooper had a working prototype, he shopped it to publishers around the Valley. Everyone he spoke to told him the same thing: show it to Microsoft, we don't want any part of competing with them on this.

Cooper had met Bill Gates years back in the early days of Microsoft, but they were hardly on speed dial. Cooper's friend at Microsoft managed to arrange an audience with Gabe Newell, then a mid-level executive who worked on Windows. (Newell went on to become co-founder and CEO of the video game company Valve.)

Gates wanted Tripod. The parties hammered out a deal over the next few months. Cooper would finish the project and ensure it passed through Microsoft's rigorous formal QA process, at which point it would be bundled in the upcoming Windows 3.0.

A major change was architecting the gizmo palette to load in dynamically (using Windows' new DLL concept), with an API for third-party developers to create and distribute their own gizmos. Cooper describes the design decision:

I envisioned a product where third-party vendors could write their own gizmo DLLs and users could add them to the product in the field without needing to recompile. We defined an interface whereby Ruby would interrogate nearby executable files with a query message. If the file responded appropriately, Ruby knew that it was a cooperating gizmo and proceeded to request its icon to display in the tool palette.

After all, the best way to design a form is to draw the form, not write code to reproduce it. With a mouse and a palette of pre-dawn graphics images, you should be able to combine lines, boxes, and buttons interactively on a screen to design a form for a program. That kind of interactive design of objects should also let you attach to or combine your creations within a program.

The Business Languages Group at Microsoft was tasked with making Gates's vision a reality. This was not received enthusiastically. The group was already stretched thin, charged with maintaining Microsoft's QuickBASIC IDE, the BASIC compiler, and developing a new language engine (dubbed Embedded Basic) for inclusion in a relational database product codenamed Omega (which would eventually become Microsoft Access).

Originally intended to be a quick 6-month project, the complexity of translating Ruby's shell construction kit into a full-fledged programming environment resulted in 18 laborious months of development.

By the time the project was ready to ship, little of Ruby's code remained. Ferguson recalls being asked if Ruby accounted for more than 15% of the product code, the contractual criterion for including attribution to Cooper's team:

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