Visual Basic

Microsoft's Visual Basic©, commonly known as VB, is a software engineering workshop (SEL) for creating Microsoft Windows© applications. The first version of VB, released in 1991, was designed to extend the BASIC programming language with graphical features, and to provide a user-friendly environment for developing dedicated Windows applications based on these extensions. With the advent of the Internet, VB expanded its range to include Web functionalities such as an HTML editor.

VB is a constantly evolving tool. For example, version 6.0 (October 1998) begins to introduce object concepts into the BASIC language, and provides a whole range of Web functionalities. VB was also the first to integrate new Microsoft standards, and was even the means by which new standards such as OLE, ActiveX and DCOM were imposed.

Long considered a rapid prototyping tool, it is now the most widely used in its category, its most serious competitor being Inprise's Delphi© software. Many individuals use VB because of its low cost, simplicity and rich technical support. With the advent of Windows NT and the Internet, VB has become an indispensable tool in the industrial sector.