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Visual Basic for Not Yet Techies"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 |
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Visual Basic may be superceded by Microsoft's new .NET languages, but for years it has been Microsoft's programming baby. Visual Basic is what happens when you expand QBasic into a full fledged language and create a visual programming environment for it. That's what MS did. Anybody who thinks that even a government-mandated sliced up Microsoft is soon going to go the way of the dodo bird, don’t waste your computer career preparation time reading this about Visual Basic. Everybody else . . . Visual Basic is the official programming language of MicrosoftNot surprisingly, it is very good for developing Windows programs. What a coincidence, eh? This does mean that it is a very popular program for companies who also use Microsoft Windows programs such as Office etc. Their employees are used to the Windows interface. So when they need to develop their own custom made programs, if they use Visual Basic, their employees learn the new program faster, and therefore most efficiently and at less expense, than if they have to go back to using a clunky DOS-style interface, or one completely different. Therefore, there is a high demand for Visual Basic computer career programmers, and that is likely to continue for as long as Microsoft is a powerful force in the marketplaceThat may not be forever, but the company is certainly likely to dominate for at least another 10 years (which is a long time in computer terms!). Visual Basic goes back to BASIC, a language developed by Dartmouth College to teach beginners how to program. Seems that FORTRAN was too much for them to start off with. Two teachers, John Kemeny and Thomas Kurtz, used FORTRAN to create BASIC. So, from the beginning, BASIC was designed to be, well . . . basic. It supposedly stands for "Beginner’s All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code." A name obviously made up to fit the acronym. Because it is a slow running interpreted language, designed to be easy and instructive for beginners, BASIC doesn’t have much practical application. It had very little structure and a strict set of rules for coding. Even today, though, it is a good start for learning how to program. It does introduce you to many programming concepts you will use in more advanced programs you must learn to get a job as a programmer. BASIC caught on, however. It has evolved and expanded into many different versions. Starting with QuickBASIC, it became a well-written, structured and professional compiled program on the level of C and Pascal. Visual Basic - Page 2 |
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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 |
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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. Copyright 2007 by Info Ring Press All 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 |