At present, many programmers are still using VB because it is simple to use and it can still help us do many things. So how does VB develop? This article gives a brief history of the development of VB.
(1) Visual Basic 1.0 was born in 1991. The function of Visual Basic 1.0 was very simple. Microsoft added VBX control for it instead of the ocx control we are familiar with. It lacked database support, and at this time, VB was still an interpreted language. , the .exe file cannot be generated yet. But his biggest innovation was the addition of event-driven models and visual development.
(2) In 1992, Microsoft launched Visual Basic 2.0. In this version, Microsoft added object variables and the most primitive inheritance concept, as well as OLE and simple data access functions, as well as a large number of third-party controls.
(3) Visual Basic 3.0 was released in 1993. In this version, Microsoft added support for the latest ODBC2.0, support for the Jet data engine and support for the new version of OLE. The most attractive part is that its support for databases has been greatly enhanced. The Grid control and data control can create excellent data window applications, and the Jet engine allows Visual Basic to quickly access the latest Access database. Visual Basic 3.0 also adds many new financial functions. In addition, a considerable number of professional-level controls have been added to enable the development of Windows applications of a considerable level. Visual Basic 3.0 was the most popular version of Visual Basic in China before 1998.
(4) The release of Visual Basic 4.0 in 1995. Visual Basic 4.0 was a revolution, but at the time, it was a disaster. First, the vbx control disappeared and was replaced by the ocx control. OLE was no longer the traditional OLE. Now, the language used in Visual Basic 4.0 has been changed to Visual Basic For Application. All this makes it difficult to transplant VB3.0 and above versions to VB4.0, but it is undeniable that Visual Basic 4.0 laid the foundation for Visual Basic to become a COM language.
Microsoft introduced COM programming ideas in this version, such as adding class modules and encapsulation features required for component development such as attribute procedures, function procedures, and subroutine procedures to the language. At the same time, this version of Visual Basic can also develop dll functions, and the written classes can be shared with other languages in this way. At that time, it was faster to develop COM components with Visual Basic than any other development language.
(5) Visual Basic 5.0 was released in 1997. This version of Visual Basic provided the strongest support for com. At the same time, Microsoft also added a local code compiler to solve the performance bottleneck caused by the p code in vb4.0. , greatly improving the efficiency of applications. Visual baisc5.0 provides more object-oriented support, allowing developers to create events and interfaces, improved class modules, and support for creating your own collection classes, ActiveX controls, in-process COM DLL components, and ActiveX running in the browser document.
The IDE of Visual Basic 5.0 supports IntelliSense, which is a very convenient feature for developers. You don't have to remember long member names and keywords. Just press . and everything you want will pop up.
(6) Visual Basic 6.0 was released in 1998. Visual Basic 6.0 is already a very mature and stable development system. Microsoft released Visual Basic 6.0 as a member of vIsual studio, which shows that Microsoft is changing the product positioning of vb. Become a powerful tool for large-scale enterprise development. In VB6.0, Microsoft added the ADO data access model, which made it possible to quickly access large amounts of data and improved VB's ability to develop distributed applications with n-tier structures. At the same time, Microsoft also added the ability to develop web applications for VB. ability.
(7) The birth of Visual Basic.net in 2002 was another revolution in vb. vb.net added many new functions. vb6.0 could not implement inheritance, so it has been accused by C++ programmers of being a pseudo-object-oriented language. vb.net It also supports multi-threading and introduces try...catch structure exception processing.
But for vb programmers, it is another disaster. This version of vb is no longer the traditional Visual Basic. In terms of language, Visual Basic 4.0 abandoned Quick BASIC and adopted Visual Basic For Application. Then vb.net abandoned Visual Basic For Application has become a brand new language, but this change has also frightened VB programmers. VB.net is in a very embarrassing situation. On the one hand, it has undeniable powerful functions. On the other hand, due to a large number of version compatibility VB programmers turn to C# or Java, programmers using VB.NET are far inferior to VB6.0, and it is difficult for developers to switch from VB6.0 to VB.NET.
Judging from the currently disclosed information about Visual Basic.net 2005, Visual Basic.net 2005 is worth looking forward to. In this version of vb.net, Microsoft has added more features, such as: generics, operator overloading, Partial Type, the default instance of the form (allowing you to use the VB6 syntax to use the form), various improvements in syntax, the My keyword, etc., Microsoft claims that in Visual Basic.net2005 can read and write the registry, access files, read and write serial ports, and obtain application information with just one line of code. It allows us to program as easily as going to a store.