Tony Gaddis - Starting Out With Visual Basic (8th Edition)

Eighth Edition

Eighth Edition

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Gaddis, Tony, author. | Irvine, Kip R., author.

Title: Starting out with visual basic / Tony Gaddis, Haywood Community College, Kip Irvine, Florida International University.

Description: Eighth edition. | Hoboken : Pearson, [2020] | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018048219 | ISBN 9780135204658 | ISBN 0135204658

Subjects: LCSH: Visual Basic (Computer program language)

Classification: LCC QA76.73.M53 G33 2019 | DDC 005.26/8dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018048219

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

ISBN 10: 0-13-520465-8

ISBN 13: 978-0-13-520465-8

Welcome to Starting Out with Visual Basic, Eighth Edition. This edition has been revised and updated for Visual Studio 2017. It is intended for use in an introductory programming course. It is designed for students who have no prior programming background, but even experienced students will benefit from its depth of detail and the chapters covering databases, Web applications, and other advanced topics. The book is written in clear, easy-to-understand language and covers all the necessary topics of an introductory programming course. The text is rich in concise, practical, and real-world example programs, so the student not only learns how to use the various controls, constructs, and features of Visual Basic, but also learns why and when to use them.

The first version of Visual Basic was introduced in 1991. Prior to its introduction, writing a GUI interface for an application was no small task. Typically, it required hundreds of lines of C code for even the simplest Hello World program. Additionally, an understanding of graphics, memory, and complex system calls was often necessary. Visual Basic was revolutionary because it significantly simplified this process. With Visual Basic, a programmer could visually design an applications user interface. Visual Basic would then generate the code necessary to display and operate the interface. This allowed the programmer to spend less time writing GUI code and more time writing code to perform meaningful tasks.

The evolution of Visual Basic from version 1 to version 6 followed a natural progression. Each new release was an improved version of the previous release, providing additional features and enhancements. Visual Basic versions offered backward compatibility, where code written in an older version was compatible with a newer version of the Visual Basic development environment.

In 2002, Microsoft released a new object-oriented software platform known as .NET. The .NET platform consists of several layers of software that sit above the operating system and provide a secure, managed environment in which programs can execute. In addition to providing a managed environment for applications to run, .NET also provided new technologies for creating Internet-based programs and programs that provide services over the Web. Along with the introduction of the .NET platform, Microsoft introduced a new version of Visual Basic known as VB .NET 2002, which allowed programmers to write desktop applications or Web applications for the .NET platform.