Visual Basic for Not Yet Techies 2

"Computer Careers: How to Guarantee Your High Tech Jobs Programming Skills will Remain in Demand for as Long as Microsoft Dominates the Software Market"

by Richard Stooker, President Info Ring Press and author of Secrets of Changing to a Computer Career

Visual Basic 's big break to stardom, however, came when Microsoft "adopted" it

Visual Basic is a big advance on a language designed to be only basic. They were looking for a program for customers who enjoyed digging into their computer’s guts but who had advanced beyond DOS macros and batch commands. They didn't need to start from scratch, just change basic to Visual Basic.

Microsoft included QBasic with DOS 5.0. This made QBasic the most popular program for beginners to learn. It was already there on their computers, nothing new to buy.

Microsoft was also one of the first companies to come out with a QuickBASIC compiler for PCs.

Microsoft kept evolving this until they came up with a full-fledged programming language called Visual Basic. It is essentially QuickBASIC with Windows graphical tools that you use to create customized Windows programs.

What a lucky break for Microsoft that their adopted programming language would use a Windows environment to create Win programs, so end users would not have any need or desire to leave their Windows operating system. As mentioned, that’s probably just a coincidence.

Windows programs are inherently difficult for those with computer jobs to write

After all, you not only have to program what you want the main action to be, you have to keep in mind that the user might suddenly minimize the screen, expand the window’s left margin, put a block of text in the Clipboard, etc. Unlike older computing, a lot can be happening all at once. As users, we've come to take this for granted. Programmers cannot.

However, because it is designed by the makers of Windows to deal with all these possibilities, Visual Basic can make them as easy as possible for programmers.

This makes writing Visual Basic programs much easier to do from scratch than any other language

As long as you’re familiar with the general Windows environment and know what you want your program to do, it holds your hand and helps you along. Before it, anybody wanting to write a Windows program had to know C. And specifically how to deal with the Windows environment.

This makes it probably the easiest program to get started with. That doesn’t mean you can master it in a week. But with some knowledge and experience you can start sending out your resume, while you keep learning. This is impossible with other languages.

You can learn Visual Basic in college, but that’s the long way around

You can take Visual Basic classes in technical schools and computer schools. There are many online classes. Some people learn it from books or CD-ROMs.

It’d be a good idea to actually start with QBasic, so you have a better knowledge of the program’s structure, even if the graphical interface will later on do most of the work for you (heck, it even comes with an Application Wizard.) It’ll still be better for you to know and understand what’s going on underneath the hood. You can install QBasic from your Windows 95 or 98 CD-ROM.

Because Visual Basic itself is really so much working with the visual graphic interface, you really must buy that from Microsoft and get started with hands on training and experimenting.

After you’ve learned the basics, network with Visual Basic programmers, both online and offline. Find your local users group and attend their meetings, to advance your computer career.

Next: C programming language

Use Your New Computer Career as a Stepping Stone to Even Greater Success

Send off for your free 7-part Techie Plus eCourse now. So that you can learn:

The 7 most important skills to even greater business achievement -- not to mention wealth and (maybe) fame
Why techies are expendable in bad times and how to protect yourself from them
Why the world's richest computer programmer has not written any code in ages
How one ex-engineer now makes $500,000 a year
The abilities most techies don't even realize they don't have -- which confines their success to their technical abilities
Why techies are expendable in bad times and how to protect yourself from them

It's fast and easy. You will receive the first part in your email box within minutes.

I respect your privacy. I will never sell, rent or trade your email address.

After you subscribe, the form will redirect you to a thank you page.

Thank you!

Rick Stooker

Permission is granted to reprint the above article in an ezine or on a website as long as it is reprinted in full, with no changes, with full credit and with this contact information and link included at the bottom. All other rights reserved.

Computer Careers (Home) Sitemap Contact Privacy

Info Ring Press

Richard Stooker

PO Box 617

130-G Ballwin Manor Dr

Ballwin, MO 63011

(636) 394-2052

rick@inforingpress.com