HISTORY OF DEV

May 1991

Visual Basic 1.0 released

MicrosoftThe software giant behind Windows, Office, Azure, and Xbox — founded by Bill Gates and Paul Allen. launched Visual Basic at Comdex, bringing drag-and-drop GUIGraphical user interface — windows, icons, and pointers instead of typed commands. development to Windows with a Basic dialect.

What it was for

Visual Basic (.NET)Visual Basic let non-specialists build Windows desktop apps: drag buttons and text boxes onto a form, double-click to write event code. Typical apps: in-house inventory tools, small-business accounting front-ends, data-entry screens, and line-of-business CRUD programs — without learning Win32 C APIApplication programming interface — a defined way for programs to talk to each other or to a service..

Companies

  • Microsoft

Why it's here

VB democratized Windows app development for a generation of business programmers.

Why it mattered

It paired a visual form designer with event-driven code — a model later copied across industry tools.

What it solved

Building Windows UIs in C or raw APIApplication programming interface — a defined way for programs to talk to each other or to a service. calls was slow; VB made GUIGraphical user interface — windows, icons, and pointers instead of typed commands. apps accessible to non-specialists.

Media

  • Visual Basic (.NET)
    ImageVisual Basic (.NET)

    Jason Groce, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

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