This is a page for some basic VB information. I write programs using VB 6.0 for machine control and personal use. While searching for information on how to do something, I learned that much had been left out for certain tasks (for beginners anyway). I have only included a few items at this time but these were the ones that were somewhat painful to me at the time.
History of VB: Just a short history of the VB language. IMB Computers introduced their first PC in August of 1981. The original versions shipped with MS-DOS and a light version of BASIC. By DOS 5.0, Microsoft had upgraded the early version of BASIC to Q-BASIC, a more powerful version. With the introduction of Windows 3x, the desire for a more graphical programming language led to the introduction of Visual Basic.
Visual Basic 1.0 was not considered a serious programming language when it was first introduced. It was an off-shoot of Basic which was being used for many applications in DOS programming. The advent of Windows saw the need and desire for graphical programming tools and VB was born. Up to this point, most programming was done in C, Assembly code, or one of the off-shoots such as Cobol (main-frame computers). The first release of VB was considered to be a "toy" language. It did not support database programming but one thing was evident, it was easy to use.
The release of VB 2.0 didn't add much in the way of functionality but the beginning of database developement began to form during this time.
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With the release of VB 3.0 the new language began to be taken seriously. Built-in database support for the Jet database engine, support for 16-bit applications (new at this time), and VBX modules showed that the "toy" language could indeed be a serious program for the developer. One major step foreward with VB 3.0 was the introduction of Data Access Objects (DAO). This database interface is the standard database program that VB user's learn.
With the introduction of VB 4.0 the addition of support for 32-bit applications was introduced. The language was essientially two versions, one for 16-bit applications and one for 32-bit applications. At this point support for 32-bit OCX controls began. Remote Data Objects (RDO) was first introduced in VB 4.0.
VB 4.0 also added some new features including creating OLE custom controls and DLL's. It also provided better compatibilty with the new release of Access 2.0 database.
The really big boast to Visual Basic came with the introduction of VB 5.0. With it new project types were introduced including ActiveX, ActiveX DLL's, and ActiveX documents. The compiler included with Visual Basic was also revamped so that it supported both the original P-Code compiler (pseudocode) and a native code compiler. VB 5.0 was a tremendous step up for the once, primative programming language.
The release of VB 6.0 was mostly an upgrade to VB 5.0. It extended the database functionality and added several new tools to the developers toolbox including support for the ADO data control. VB had come along way at this point and was being used for many of the applications needing database support.
With the introduction of Visual Basic.net a major change in the language has once again been made. We will just have to see how these new changes and features are accepted by the programming community.
Reference: Visual Basic 6, Unleashed by Sams.