I am a Senior in High School and my Senior Project is going to be learning Visual Basic. Before they let me get started on that though, I have to write a paper that is somewhat related to the project. I decided to write my paper on the advantages and disadvantages of Visual Basic when being compared to Basic C. My problem is that I do not know anything about Visual Basic yet because I have not learned it! My paper is due October 31 and the project doesnt start until two weeks later. If anyone knows anything about this subject please help me. Thanks
ghostlink_
September 28th, 2003, 06:19 PM
Advantages:
Easy to Develop in.
It provides many common controls(IE. textboxes,etc) so the user will feel right at home when using your program.(IE. all they have to do is right click and goto paste.)
Disadvantages:
The user must already have the appropriate runtimes installed, which usually they do.
More "Upper level" than things like VC++...
That's just what comes to my mind, any other thoughts?
bubu
September 28th, 2003, 08:47 PM
How much time i have to learn it?
M Owen
September 29th, 2003, 06:34 AM
Advantages:
Easy to Develop in.
It provides many common controls(IE. textboxes,etc) so the user will feel right at home when using your program.(IE. all they have to do is right click and goto paste.)
Disadvantages:
The user must already have the appropriate runtimes installed, which usually they do.
More "Upper level" than things like VC++...
I would generally agree BUT, VB is for rapid development of applications or at least more quick development of applications to be honest ... Every programmer still has to design the program to be written ... Differences: C allows you to do whatever you want (even to your detriment). VB has many "rules" that cannot be broken ( tho some can be bent and most can be circumvented). These rules are helpers that allow for faster development of a program ... In C you have to do everything yourself (this is a bit of an overstatement because even C has helper classes) ...
Cimperiali
September 29th, 2003, 11:36 AM
Vb
quick and almost easy to learn, almost quick to develope, but less powerful (many things you cannot do, or have to fight to do, or have to bypass using Api - which are calls to ... C/C++ components that reside on your machine...). Usually also an interface which is nicer (but less customizable). Vb is usally welcome in developing software where frontend is more iomportant than power (usually, software for customers business or backoffice like)
vs
C and C++
Harder to learn, harder to develope (less help you will find while developing), but at last the software (if well done, of course...) will run faster and will have very few limitations. Usually also a bit
less nice interface...as you will have to develope it all from scratch (unless you're using Visual C++, of course). But even in first case, you mhight be able (after some years of practice) to develope even better ones...or at least, to customize a bit more...
Usually you use C and C++ when power or precision is important, like guiding a robothic mechanism, or even developing a game.
Even if you could find C/C++ softfare for customer business, and VB software for (simplest) games, it would be unwise to use Vb for space shuttle software... A friend of mine, back in the '80 used GwBasic and Basic to develope software for medical registrations (=machines attached to lpt1 port...). But he was maybe the only one at least in my country...
If you have to compare Visual Basic and Visual C, note also this "small" difference:
Vb is not reallky an OOP language, as it relies on delegation and polimorphism in it may be only done while dealing with interfaces. And it does not allow to deal with multithreading.
By the way: I know very few of C/C++ and Visual C. You could get more info in C-like forums
And, despite it may seems reading above, I like Vb a lot... ;)
See you on the Net
Cesare I.
bubu
October 1st, 2003, 05:53 PM
Talking bad about VB makes me very very sad... :o
But we have to face the true...
oktronic
October 1st, 2003, 06:41 PM
Well let me add my two cents....
I develop in both C++ and VB professionally....ok I stretch the term develop in VB since I only use it when forced too by gun point...
For the purpose of this post, I'll refer to C/C++ as just C++ :)
The advantages in VB? Really there aren't any for any professional programmer....
VB is a easy to learn language. Everything is pretty much spelt out for you. And it is really a beginner's language...
this is what basic stands for:
Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code.
It was a easy way to get people to use computers at the time.
So for a beginner, BASIC is a fast to learn and easy to program language for beginners, and that really is its only advantage.
However, A skilled C++ programmer can program anything you can in VBasic, just as fast and make it far more powerful.
Its a myth that VB is a faster development enviroment. A myth created by beginners because they simply don't know how to program effectivly in C/C++.
I've done the flat time race with VB friends and I can build winapps, dialogs and Activex controls, etc just as fast. Faster for dlgs and apps, VB can beat me on the draw for Activex, but not by much, especially now that .NET made it quicker....
Which brings us to the only disadvantage of C++ programming...
C++ isn't for the beginner. Its a very complex and very demanding programming language. It take time to learn and even when you think you've learned everything, out pops something you never knew...
But it was designed to be this way.
Which is why skilled C++ programmers are still in high demand and VB, Java, etc are showing record numbers in the unemployment lines and lowest pay for years...
The advantages to C++?
There are no limits to what you can do.
There are lots of solutions to problems. (sometimes too many).
I've never been stopped by walls put up by problems. There's always away around.
Just a rough example of what I'm talking about:
COM, this is dynamic class creation from an and external source like a Dll...essentially....
MS will tell you that if you want to use an COM class that the class must be registered and you use CoCreateInstance to get an interface ( a class pointer to a virtual table ). What the neglected to tell you is that you don't have to have it registered unless you don't know where the dll is located. Registration is really about telling windows where your class is, so if you already know, why do you need it registered? you don't :) You can get around it using C++.
Visual Basic on the other hand can't really get around that peticular problem with out the aid of C++.
This is the a basic break down of the only real differences.
I hope it helps you,
Good luck
belgarath3356
October 8th, 2003, 08:54 PM
Ok now that i have written a paper on what is good and bad about VB i need to learn how to use it for the project part of this thing. Can anyone reccomend some good books, or are they all about the same thing? What type of programs do i need? I really have no idea where to start. :D
jvbd02
October 8th, 2003, 10:33 PM
If you are looking for a good book try Wrox: Beginning Visual Basic 6 by Peter Wright. Very good book if you are looking to pick up the fundamentals.
jvbd02
October 8th, 2003, 10:35 PM
Oh - and don't bother with the books that say you can learn it in 24 hours or 21 days.....
ghostlink_
October 9th, 2003, 12:46 AM
My room mate is selling that Peter Wright book..... I think he brought it for a class as used, and he doesn't have any vb classes anymore, so it's for sell..... he tried to sell it to me, but it's geared towards beginners (the title kind of gives that away though.....).
It's in really good condition (possibly never opened knowing my roommate)......
email dpcrwfrd@memphis.edu if you're interested and i'll relay the interest to him.... i'm sure that a more than reasonable price can be reached, but i'll have to get him to dig up the recipt from when he bought it and knock $5-10 bucks off......
mgn0528
October 9th, 2003, 09:58 AM
VB is a easy to learn language. Everything is pretty much spelt out for you. And it is really a beginner's language...
I'm not sure I exactly take offense to that, but I definitely disagree with it. Yeah, VB is easy to learn, but I think it's progressed A LOT in the past several years. Your staements may have been true about 6 or 7 years ago, but with VB 6.0 and .NET Visual Basic has become quite a powerful language in addition to being great for rapid development. I program PROFESSIONALLY in VB.
That's not to say I don't agree that C++ is a very powerful language, and I know a bit of that, too. But, I would take developement in VB over C++ when it comes to customer friendly software developement anyday. I don't think that makes me a beginner or lazy.
If you are looking for a good book try Wrox: Beginning Visual Basic 6 by Peter Wright. Very good book if you are looking to pick up the fundamentals.
Agreed.
Oh - and don't bother with the books that say you can learn it in 24 hours or 21 days.....
LOL... Hey! That's how I started! :)
lsmeteor
October 9th, 2003, 10:42 AM
Originally posted by jvbd02
Oh - and don't bother with the books that say you can learn it in 24 hours or 21 days.....
haha, that's how I started too.... But the 24 hours were stretched into weeks ( about 1 hour per week ) and the 21 days into months (about 1 day per month). :)
jvbd02
October 9th, 2003, 11:05 AM
I started with the 21 days book - to discover that it could only be done in 21 days as there was very little to learn from it compared to the Beginning Visual Basic 6 which can be read in almost as short a period of time.
Gotta admit though - those 21 days were stretched somewhat....
belgarath3356
October 9th, 2003, 08:19 PM
I have plenty of time to learn it, but then I have to make something to show what i learned and so on. I have no idea what to do for that part, any idea's? Hehe I'm gonna have to cite this website because I seem to be using it a lot. Thanks for all of your help guys.
mgn0528
October 10th, 2003, 09:17 AM
...I have to make something to show what i learned and so on.
Well, there's always "Hello, World!" :)
dtv
October 11th, 2003, 07:40 AM
Just to extend the vb things you're all saying, the hyper vb disavantage is the speed, related with C. But have in mind that the problem is not the vb language, is the compiler. There are basic compilers in the global market prommising 30%+ faster executable programs (power basic etc). VB's final app runtime dependencies is not really a problem. Microsoft knows (all OSs are coming with all -or the most- of the VBs runtimes).
Also, the speed may be important, and may be not. The Professional thing someone told, is not true at all. I am making my living with VB too. With a nice vb code, incredible database engine components and a real powerfull modern Pentium CPU, you get what you want.
Its not fair for C, to compare a C program running on Pentium 2, with a VB program running on Pentium 4. But this is the real life: Todays CPUs is the 50% of all the package (software+hardware).
Common commercial apps can be made with VB in a few days. Only a real experienced user in C can build the same program (running faster of course) during the same period.
I think I could be the happiest person in the world if I knew C++. But the thing that I am only using [V]B from the real basic version of Sinclair ZX Spectrum's (year 1981), is not a reason that will upset me even a bit. Do I have to mirror myself as a "Beginner" cause I use the basic stuff for 22 years?! Oh, then I must be a real low IQ person (its not that bad even if its true).
The fault is to the univercity. Decates ago the school was teaching only Basic, its not my fault, sorry.
dtv
October 11th, 2003, 07:51 AM
As a follow-up to my previous post:
Once I decided to keep searching some C++ books in deep. Having a smile on my face I knocked my boss' office and said: "You gonna have REAL software in some months, by getting knowing C++".
He answered:
"I dont know whats that, but if this is something that will increase your productivity, then I am welcome it for good."
I thought, hmm, I never gonna make it to program in C++ what I really can do now with VB. Plus to that, when other offices in my job asks for programs (utilitys or large apps), all of them want the result to be in only some days! That was the fact: I can only program so fast only with VB.
And I stayed there. I am not a stand-alone programmer in the market to make real extremely fast and powerfull programs just to win the competition. I only have a regular job as a computer engineer and developer.
VB is what I really need, in my case at least.
Cimperiali
October 13th, 2003, 12:47 PM
First:
sorry, but I am going to move this to the general discussion forum
Second:
Big books:
Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 Programmer's guide
(microsoft press)
Programming Visual Basic 6.0
(by Francesco Balena)