Visual Basic (VB) is a third-generation event driven programming language and associated development environment from Microsoft for its COM programming model. Visual Basic was derived from BASIC and enables the rapid application development (RAD) of graphical user interface (GUI) applications, access to databases using DAO, RDO, or ADO, and creation of ActiveX controls and objects. Scripting languages such as VBA and VBScript are syntactically similar to Visual Basic, but perform differently.

A programmer can put together an application using the components provided with Visual Basic itself. Programs written in Visual Basic can also use the Windows API, but doing so requires external function declarations.

In business programming, Visual Basic has one of the largest user bases. In a survey conducted in 2005, 62 percent of developers reported using some form of Visual Basic. It currently competes with C++, C# and Java for dominance in the business world. JavaScript is another competitor to Visual Basic.

The final release was version 6 in 1998. Microsoft extended support will end in 2008 and the designated successor is Visual Basic .NET.

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