VisualBasic

since 1991 (earliest usage recorded on this site was 1990)

Visual Basic (VB) is the third-generation event-driven programming language and integrated development environment (IDE) from Microsoft for its COM programming model. VB is also considered a relatively easy to learn and use programming language, because of its graphical development features and BASIC heritage.
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 of ActiveX controls and objects.

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Technology Timeline Graph

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2011

2012

whosaysni

empty

adamv

jorjun

bittercoder

Ben

shiny

jefftriplett

paltman

rragan

wilane

justinlilly

growe

davisagli

beaugunderson

k_wade_a

AndyC

frankwiles

UloPe

jdunck

enki

greyfade

shywolf9982

jtauber

morgs

David

cloudssanswater

sbastn

drakkos

ShawnMilo

supakoo

Atrujillo

kratorius

sbaydoun

natevw

MarkofCain

dmnd

sanchom

barneyboo

bitprophet

vinilios

esevland

nsmgr8

sfaruque

xurizaemon

gnubardt

mallipeddi

brousch

bmaxwell

gsiegman

janewilson90

CerealBoy

bkmontgomery

undoingemptyvoid

johnny723

anoop

tartley

banterability

defrex

nullomodo

mattimck

dublindan

bkokash

RossP

PaulM

beshrkayali

alex

westonruter

mjhagen

stephen_mcd

streetcleaner

mdridley

jasonb

Bunglebogs

ch0llima

bkopanja

cstejerean

whaley

edv4rd0

pedrovalente

madewulf

Flamer

ntoll

jcarbaugh

trey

fisadev

adityo

daniellindsley

Da_Nuke

CrociDB

Indy

Rgoodermote

threefjefff

devien

z3d

NX172

gniero

Cema

fourplusone

myles

aaront

jonnyboris

GordyBrow

collypops

mwalling

Matt

chrisbrett665

brutasse

qwertymz

sdhamilton

mccolgan

angusisfree

isardana

thaostra

mrlemke

parsley72

alexsuraci

whosaysni - 2 years

empty - 22 years

adamv - 2 years

jorjun - 1 years

bittercoder - 11 years

Ben - 7 years

shiny - 20 years

jefftriplett - 10 years

paltman - 5 years

rragan - 19 years

wilane - 8 years

justinlilly - 3 years

growe - 18 years

davisagli - 6 years

beaugunderson - 8 years

k_wade_a - 18 years

AndyC - 1 years

frankwiles - 2 years

UloPe - 6 years

jdunck - 7 years

enki - 3 years

greyfade - 2 years

shywolf9982 - 5 years

jtauber - 1 years

morgs - 3 years

David - 17 years

cloudssanswater - 5 years

sbastn - 2 years

drakkos - 16 years

ShawnMilo - 8 years

supakoo - 3 years

Atrujillo - 3 years

kratorius - 5 years

sbaydoun - 4 years

natevw - 2 years

MarkofCain - 15 years

dmnd - 2 years

sanchom - 3 years

barneyboo - 11 years

bitprophet - 5 years

vinilios - 3 years

esevland - 5 years

nsmgr8 - 3 years

sfaruque - 15 years

xurizaemon - 3 years

gnubardt - 2 years

mallipeddi - 2 years

brousch - 15 years

bmaxwell - 14 years

gsiegman - 14 years

janewilson90 - 14 years

CerealBoy - 4 years

bkmontgomery - 1 years

undoingemptyvoid - 6 years

johnny723 - 10 years

anoop - 9 years

tartley - 8 years

banterability - 5 years

defrex - 3 years

nullomodo - 13 years

mattimck - 3 years

dublindan - 3 years

bkokash - 1 years

RossP - 2 years

PaulM - 4 years

beshrkayali - 3 years

alex - 1 years

westonruter - 4 years

mjhagen - 12 years

stephen_mcd - 3 years

streetcleaner - 3 years

mdridley - 12 years

jasonb - 3 years

Bunglebogs - 12 years

ch0llima - 12 years

bkopanja - 2 years

cstejerean - 4 years

whaley - 1 years

edv4rd0 - 8 years

pedrovalente - 2 years

madewulf - 7 years

Flamer - 4 years

ntoll - 1 years

jcarbaugh - 1 years

trey - 2 years

fisadev - 4 years

adityo - 2 years

daniellindsley - 3 years

Da_Nuke - 10 years

gg - 1 years

CrociDB - 4 years

Indy - 3 years

Rgoodermote - 4 years

threefjefff - 9 years

devien - 5 years

z3d - 3 years

NX172 - 9 years

gniero - 9 years

Cema - 9 years

fourplusone - 3 years

myles - 3 years

aaront - 2 years

jonnyboris - 4 years

GordyBrow - 2 years

collypops - 1 years

mwalling - 7 years

Matt - 7 years

chrisbrett665 - 7 years

brutasse - 1 years

qwertymz - 1 years

sdhamilton - 7 years

mccolgan - 6 years

angusisfree - 5 years

isardana - 1 years

thaostra - 1 years

mrlemke - 4 years

parsley72 - 4 years

alexsuraci - 1 years

whosaysni

1990–1991

Thrown away at pre-1.0, which was a toy.

empty

1991–

Still work with it occasionally.

jorjun

1992

Scratched an application itch I had with this language, liked the PASCAL similarities, otherwise dropped this one in mild disgust after just a few months.

bittercoder

1992–2002

My first experience with Visual Basic was at high school, where it was being used to teach basic programming classes. Took to it quickly, and developed a number of programs with it - though still favoured c++ programming for games etc. development at the time. Started using the language again (VB5/6) to develop COM objects for use from within ASP classic applications just prior to adopting ASP.Net.

adamv

1992–1993

Did some Visual Basic for DOS. Got paid too, about $40 or so.

jefftriplett

1993–2002

My first projects were video games using graphics I pulled out of doom. A shoot the energizer bunny style of game.

shiny

1993–

kinda like programming using a mouse.

1993–1999

1994–1998

1994–

1994–1996

This is how I learned programming. The first program I was proud of was an AOL Punter, which would flood people w/ malformed font codes to disconnect them from the service. Oh, to be a script kiddie.

wilane

1994–2001

Well, everyone makes mistakes

davisagli

1995–2000

I taught myself to program using code examples from the Visual Basic Programmer's Journal. Culminated in the creation of Cowtris. Then I discovered the brave new world of open source languages and didn't look back.

AndyC

1995

I've not done a lot of Visual Basic Programing but I did write a Screen Saver in it for VIZ magazine based around their popular character Billy the Fish

frankwiles

1995–1996

growe

1995–

Have written a few programs in early versions of VB, but haven't used it properly since it became OO and got integrated into .NET. The earlier versions were pretty horrid, and now that C# exists for .NET programming, I can't see VB's relevance any more except to pander to those who never grew out of its earlier versions.

k_wade_a

1995–

My first paying gig was using VB

jdunck

1995–2001

At MCI, on the heels of me learning C, there was this newish thing-- dynamic programming for the web. I had heard of the web, and MCI had a fast connection for those days. I'd even used UI Urbana's list of sites page. Another dev had written some VB 3 behind CGI to drive some data entry extranet site, then transferred to another department. Someone needed to add features, and that turned out to be me. It was pretty amusing trying to explain that there was more to the program than the <input type='submit'>, and no, it would take more than a few minutes to rewrite the whole thing. With detours, VB 3-6 was my bread and butter for quite a while.

1995–1997

1995–2002

1995–2000

1996

1996–2000

First language I started using "seriously" back when I had just started High School. A behemot, and probably ugly, but I don't remember much of it. I never realized it was "object-oriented".

cloudssanswater

1996–2000

David

1996–

morgs

1996–1998

First full time job after graduation.

greyfade

1996–1997

Took a class. Wanted to learn programming more formally. Didn't. Regret it.

kratorius

1997–2001

supakoo

1997–1999

The dark years. Actually wrote a book database for my parents in Visual Basic. That was some ugly code.

natevw

1997–1998

I wanted Microsoft's IDE so badly in Jr. High, but fortunately it was too expensive to ever have at home. Will not admit involvement in a failed project that required this in 2007.

sbastn

1997–1998

Hi my name is Sebastian and I programmed in VB for a year. Don't want to do it ever again. THXBYE

drakkos

1997–

Learned in university, plus it's a language I have been forced to teach on more than one occassion.

sbaydoun

1997–2000

The easy high level language that kept me away from the low level programming concepts.. which was bad :(

ShawnMilo

1997–2004

I was introduced to Visual Basic in DeVry, and used it in my first two jobs. Eventually I started using ASP (replacing all of my production VB apps). Then came PHP which launched me into the open-source world. Looking back, using VB really slowed down my growth as a developer.

Atrujillo

1997–1999

nsmgr8

1998–2000

Horrible!!!

barneyboo

1998–2008

VB6 was my first properly self-taught preteen language, so it has some nostalgic value, and as an environment for quickly throwing together barely-working DB frontends I think the world still needs something like it. Post .NET its completely redundant - building the extra layers of competency needed to make it .NET valid has totally taken away its unique selling point. It must be destroyed. Learn C# instead.

bitprophet

1998–2002

Wrote a few silly programs throughout late high school, and held a summer job working on an insurance sales app. Its only good trait was its accessibility.

sanchom

1998–2000

My high school computer science course used this language. I had a course conflict with the CS course one term, so I came in during lunch hour to do the work instead. What resulted was a merger of physics and computer science the likes of which haven't been seen since... or... yet another variant of tank wars.

xurizaemon

1998–2000

I still feel dirty over this. Partly because the customer was the property wing of an oil company. It didn't help that they sprung for hookers.

dmnd

1998–1999

sfaruque

1998–

Still use it to pull off a quick desktop app now and again.

vinilios

1998–2000

mallipeddi

1998–1999

I had a P3 machine at home running Windows 95. I also had a copy of Microsoft Visual Studio and I started doing a lot of GUI apps for fun with VB.

gnubardt

1998–1999

esevland

1998–2002

brousch

1998–

Mostly VBA in Access and Excel

MarkofCain

1998–

gsiegman

1999–

The bane of the programming world. This language is responsible for so much bad code and terrible practices.

janewilson90

1999–

My first proper language. Still use it to make little applications

CerealBoy

1999–2002

High School fun. Good riddance.

undoingemptyvoid

1999–2004

Used for some UIs and mostly some scripting support for a CAD tool. Used it rarely - hope to never ever use it again.

bkmontgomery

1999

All it took was one project. I knew I would never touch this crap again.

johnny723

1999–2008

My first project was to use Visual Basic and Crystal Reports to create some sort of a decision support system for an e-learning platform. Then apart from development I was also involved in teaching Visual Basic in lectures, from VB6 to VB2008. I stopped using VB when we moved to C# eventually in 2009.

1999–2007

1999–

1999–2006

1999–2003

2000–2002

2000–

2000–2002

2000

Yes, it was great at that time. But it got all the good staff after .NET

defrex

2000–2002

Made a killer chat client that worked over my Hight School's network.

PaulM

2000–2003

Highschool programming was taught in VB6.

RossP

2000–2001

Another language used at High School. And then never again.

stephen_mcd

2001–2003

Served its purpose at the time, but in hindsight was horrendous

Bunglebogs

2001–

alex

2001

Learned it out of some book my parents got me, didn't have the discipline to stick with it though.

westonruter

2001–2004

Thank God I only had to use this for a couple classes.

mdridley

2001–

streetcleaner

2001–2003

Looking back in anger…

ch0llima

2001–

Learned VB6 at school for Standard Grade Computing. It seemed great at the time but has been eclipsed by the newer Microsoft toolset and a much better OO paradigm.

jasonb

2001–2003

fast for gui's

beshrkayali

2001–2003

Awful step... but it's something you gotta go through on Windows :P

2001–2002

2001–2004

2001–

2002–2008

I had to take over a grade managing application at the university. Not my funniest job.

pedrovalente

2002–2003

ntoll

2002

Was inflicted upon me as part of my MSc course. Have also had to refactor VB.NET on occasion.

Flamer

2002–2005

whaley

2002

Learned for a single college course and then quickly expelled it from my memory.

edv4rd0

2002–2009

Began mucking around in VB5 in 2002, used .net 2008 in my course in 08/09 and used (included some vba scripting)

jcarbaugh

2002

The summer between my junior and senior years in college, I worked at a VB shop in my hometown. It turned out to be a great experience working on some really cool apps like a program for tracking the sales of explosives and a point-of-sale system for an animal feed manufacturer.

trey

2003–2004

CrociDB

2003–2006

One of the first languages I learned. I don't like it anymore.

fisadev

2003–2006

First at school, then for desktop apps at my first job. My dark past... hehe

adityo

2003–2004

Da_Nuke

2003–

Ah, my first programming language ^^ I took it in high school. It was thanks to it that I found my vocation for computers: I found it very fucking easy, but everybody else just kept saying it was the hardest thing in the world (which makes sense if you consider the engineering homeroom doubled as the design homeroom, and also because they taught it to those from business ¬¬). I eventually found out how much Visual Basic 6 fucking sucked, but at least I managed to make a little software project in high school that scored me $150 dollars :D The latest one I learned was Visual Basic .net. I liked it, now Visual Basic was a real programming language instead of some scripting bullshit :3

2003

Used in a high-school programming course. Wrote an over-the-shoulder adventure game, using graphics brutally ripped off from Quest for Glory.

daniellindsley

2003–2005

fourplusone

2004–2006

threefjefff

2004–

First language they teach you in high-school. Thanks to .NET, it's still kind of handy to keep around I guess.

devien

2004–2008

04-05 for a level, creating a simple database app. 08 for 1st year IT course, creating a table tennis scorer. c# is much better.

gniero

2004–

Thanks to CrociDB, my first VB "app" was Button calling the BEEP

Cema

2004–

Had to use in a commercial environment when joined a project written in VisualBasic. Now mostly rewritten in C#.NET

Rgoodermote

2004–2007

Indy

2004–2006

Used it when had Windows installed in my computer. Easy to use IDE but could bind beginners to a single vendor's libraries and coding style.

2004–2006

2004–2006

2004–

2005–2006

Dropped this as soon as I no longer had to use it for university assignments. There's nothing particularly wrong with the language, but there's certainly not anything right with it.

jonnyboris

2005–2008

aaront

2005–2006

So glad to not be doing VB6 anymore.

brutasse

2006

I just remember I used it at some point.

collypops

2006

Used to create a desktop version of an ASP app. Never. Again.

qwertymz

2006

Used it for uni. Hope to never see it again.

chrisbrett665

2006–

sdhamilton

2006–

Some awful university assignment, despise all BASIC languages.

Matt

2006–

VB.NET isn't that bad, really!

mwalling

2006–

mccolgan

2007–

Only used it once for class. I probably won't use it again.

isardana

2008

Had to learn it at university. I have heard it being recommended for introducing people to programming but I don't see it, its syntax is a bit inelegant and its a bit messy to start with. Use C#(if you like your .NET) or Java instead.

angusisfree

2008–

parsley72

2009–

Had to learn VB6 in my new job because the current application is written in it. Desperately trying to replace it!

thaostra

2009

Forced to learn it for class.

mrlemke

2009–

Not a bad language when rapidly developing applications, however I only really use it for a MMORPG engine.

alexsuraci