Visual BASIC

A Microsoft Programming Language favored by developers for its ease of use (often billed as Rapid Application Development or RAD capabilities). These include features of both the IDE such as drag-n-drop GUI building tools and tightly integrated debugging support as well as language features such as a syntax based on the original BASIC which is easy to learn, read and use. Visual Basic is widely acknowledged as one of the best systems for using and building certain categories of COM components. Due to early interpreted and pseudo-compiled versions, the language acquired a reputation for poor performance, but particularly in later releases which introduced true compilation and agressive optimizations borrowed from Microsoft's C++ compilers, this has been disproven for most common usage scenarios (such as business applications). Version 7 moves VB to the .NET platform which means compiled VB code is identical to other compiled languages targeted to the .NET CLR. For many years, VB was the language of choice for corporate line of business applications, but with the increasing popularity of Java, the release of .NET and the carefully-designed C# language, the popularity of VB appears to be on the decline.

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