Visual Basic 6: Alive and Kicking - Why VB is better than people think
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Like I said, while VB had a bad name, it also managed to grow a pretty decent following. VB had many things the other languages simply didn't have.
For example, no other language allowed for quick application prototyping like VB did. A VB programmer could create a skeleton of an application in practically no time. Given some specifications, a VB coder could whip together a somewhat-working prototype in mere hours compared to the days it would take to accomplish the same task in other languages.
Sure, Visual C++ also had WYSIWYG design tools, but they weren't as integrated into the language as they were in VB. There was still a bit of work involved, just to make the screens functional. This wasn't so in VB. Draw the form, draw some controls on the form, and that was it. For a menu or one form to call another, you added one line of code to pop the form. But other than that, you could create the complete framework for an application while only writing a few handfuls of code.
To many, this kind of functionality is invaluable. Imagine getting to see what your application looks like before writing a piece of code. Being able to see the screens and how they're laid out often opens the mind to other thoughts, design wise, that may not be considered until the program is already complete otherwise. With quick prototyping, design changes are easy to implement at a moment's notice.
While many won't admit it, it became a common practice for many Visual C++ shops to prototype their applications using Visual Basic first. They would build the application framework and show it to management, or to the customers for feedback. Once they had gathered all feedback and gotten a sign-off on the application, they would then re-create it from scratch in Visual C++. Why did they do that? It could have been for many reasons. But the point I'm making is that VB was a solid tool, even for people who didn't like it.
But prototyping isn't the only thing VB does well. For starters, the VB controls you build your forms with are tightly coupled with the language. And taking a prototype to a finished product is a fairly simple proposition. The VB language is also very easy to use and learn, as compared to other languages. For example, which of the following do you think is easier to learn?
VB:
For myVar = 1 to 10
print "The value is " & myVar
Next myVar
C:
for (c=0;c<10;c++) {
printf("The value is %dn", c+1);
}
The BASIC language was created to be simple to use. Sure, it could still be a little cryptic, but nowhere as near as difficult to read as C, C++, Java, Pascal, or dozens of other languages.
I could go on and on about COM integration, reusable components, access to Windows printers and file systems. What you couldn't get at using the base code, you could easy access by a few calls to the Windows API; the SAME API used by Visual C++.
To sum things up, Visual Basic was a robust platform for developing applications.
But it wasn't perfect. I'd be a liar if I sat here and pretended that Visual Basic was the end-all solution for all programming projects. There are countless examples of when another language, be it Visual C++, Visual Foxpro, Java, or another development tool was a better fit for a certain purpose.
That being said, VB had its place in the grand scheme of things. And while it couldn't be everything to everyone, it was always a solid alternative for many projects.
Next: Why VB6 is still alive today >>
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