What is VB?
Visual Basic (VB) is a mature programming language developed by Microsoft. Despite its rather old age, it remains widely used today for both maintaining existing applications and building new ones. VB is designed to be accessible, integrates well with Microsoft technologies and allows you to develop Windows applications in a quick and efficient manner. Here’s a look at the pros and cons of using VB for your business applications:
Pros of VB
- Ease of use - Visual Basic was developed to be easy to use, making it accessible to beginners and even non programmers (at a push!). It's syntax is relatively simple and straightforward, using English like keywords and a graphical user interface (GUI) builder for designing interfaces.
- Legacy support - Manyyyy legacy applications are written in Visual Basic and there is still a need for maintenance and updates. VB provides backward compatibility, allowing you to maintain and extend your existing applications which negates the need for investment into new technologies.
- Integration with Microsoft technologies - VB is part of the Microsoft Ecosystem so it integrates very well with other Microsoft technologies such as the .NET framework, Microsoft Office applications and databases including Microsoft SQL Server. This makes it easier for you to build comprehensive, integrated solutions without the complexity of juggling different platforms.
- RAD (Rapid Application Development) - VB is all about the rapid development of applications. Features such as its drag and drop interface, extensive library of prebuilt controls and integrated development environment (IDE) including auto complete and debugging tools are testament to this.
- Large community and resources - Because VB is now into dinosaur territory, it has a large community of developers and a plethora of resources you can access including tutorials, forums and libraries making it easier to find help and solutions to any problems you encounter.
Cons of VB
- Limited platform support - Visual Basic is primarily designed for Windows which means building cross platform applications isn’t its strongest suit. Whilst there are ways to run VB apps elsewhere, it’s certainly not as plain sailing as it is with languages such as Java or Python.
- Performance - Compared to lower level languages like C++ or even C#, Visual Basic can and does suffer from performance issues due to factors including interpreted nature, automatic memory management and runtime overhead.
- It's not the most flexible - Whilst VB provides a quick and straightforward way to build applications, its simplicity can sometimes limit the flexibility and control that you have over the code when compared with other languages such as C# or Java.
- Dependency on Microsoft - Visual Basic is of course tightly integrated with Microsoft's ecosystem, which means its future depends on Microsoft's support and development efforts. If Microsoft decides to deprecate or significantly change VB, it could cause you serious issues if you're relying on the language for business critical systems or applications (although as of March 2024, nothing of the sort has been announced).
To finish
To summarise, Visual Basic is still a powerful tool for rapidly developing Windows applications, for beginners and experienced developers alike. It is relatively straightforward to write code in visual basic and allows programmers access to a range of powerful tools. However, its limitations in platform support, performance and flexibility may make it less suitable for certain types of projects or environments and the decision to use VB as the basis for your business application(s) should be based on your specific circumstances and objectives.
See also
What is Visual Basic?
