Visual Basic

Visual Basic is a third-generation event-driven programming language and integrated development environment (IDE) from Microsoftfor its COM programming model first released in 1991. Microsoft intends Visual Basic to be relatively easy to learn and use.^[1][2]Visual Basic was derived from BASIC and enables the rapid application development (RAD) of graphical user interface (GUI)applications, access to databases using Data Access Objects, Remote Data Objects, or ActiveX Data Objects, and creation ofActiveX controls and objects. The scripting language VBScript is a subset of Visual Basic.^{[citation needed]}

A programmer can create an application using the components provided by the Visual Basic program itself. Programs written in Visual Basic can also use the Windows API, but doing so requires external function declarations. Though the program has received criticism for its perceived faults,^[3] version 3 of Visual Basic was a runaway commercial success,^[4] and many companies offered third party controls greatly extending its functionality.

The final release was version 6 in 1998. Microsoft's extended support ended in March 2008 and the designated successor wasVisual Basic .NET (now known simply as Visual Basic).

Though Visual Basic 6.0 is no longer officially available there remains a sizable number of developers who still prefer Visual Basic 6.0 over .NET.^{[citation needed]}

A dialect of Visual Basic, Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), is used as a macro or scripting language within several Microsoft applications, including Microsoft Office.^[5]