View Poll Results: VB a language?

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  • BASIC is the language, VB is a BASIC compiler, get it right people

    5 41.67%
  • Really? Are you sure? Thats interesting...

    3 25.00%
  • no...that cant be true...

    1 8.33%
  • NO! VB is a language! It has to be!

    3 25.00%

Thread: VB vs. BASIC

  1. #1
    l'Anziano DavidP's Avatar
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    Exclamation VB vs. BASIC

    okay...I know this is a pretty trivial matter....but its just one of those pet peeves that I have...and we all have our pet peeves...

    VB != language
    VB == compiler
    BASIC == language
    My Website

    "Circular logic is good because it is."

  2. #2
    Registered User Cruxus's Avatar
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    I usually think of Visual Basic as a programming language, a development environment, and a compiler because it is one complete, proprietary package from Microsoft. The Visual Basic language, in my opinion, is a variant of the Basic language, in so much as there is such an entity at all. The Visual Basic .NET language continues this divergence from the classic Basic development systems of fifteen or twenty years ago. It would be like calling C++, C#, or Java not a programming langauge of their own but, instead, different versions of the same C language.

  3. #3
    Registered User Mario's Avatar
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    Programming Language: A vocabulary and set of grammatical rules for instructing a computer to perform specific tasks.

    Therefore VB is a programming language.
    Regards,
    Mario Figueiredo
    Using Borland C++ Builder 5

    Read the Tao of Programming
    This advise was brought to you by the Comitee for a Service Packless World

  4. #4
    looking for the truth moemen ahmed's Avatar
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    no doubt VB is a programming language, not a compiler, as its totally diffrent from basic........as it contains its own structure ad its own grammer and functions which r not found in basic ........

    itsnt my opinion or others' opinion its just the FACT..........
    Programming is a high logical enjoyable art for both programer and user !!

  5. #5
    Registered User Dual-Catfish's Avatar
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    Therefore VB is a programming language.
    When you're programming in the Visual Basic IDE, you're actually programming in BASIC. At least that's how I've come to understand it.

  6. #6
    TK
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    I don't know if it is fair to equate MFC with C++, Microsoft has never proven that it is capable of writing a valid standard C++ compiler. Many C and C++ advocates do not support MFC because they say that it is poor OOP design.

    The question to ask is who makes these things, and the answer is Microsoft. When you are a victom of this operating system the only thing that you can do is to do whatever they tell you to do, your choices are very limited.

  7. #7
    Registered User Mario's Avatar
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    Originally posted by Dual-Catfish

    When you're programming in the Visual Basic IDE, you're actually programming in BASIC. At least that's how I've come to understand it.
    Not really. VB is much an extension of BASIC as C++ can be considered an extension of C... even more. Visual Basic has similar syntax. But the changes needed to accomodate a windows based event driven language, plus OOP support (laughable, mind you) does make VB a brand new language.

    A programming language is not defined in terms of its compiler. I'm not sure if this statement is entirely correct, but what I mean is that changes in grammar and language structure (of which VB has plenty when compared to BASIC), no matter the compiler, constitute a new programming language... even if an interpreted one.

    Otherwise it wouldn't make sense calling C++ a programming language.
    Regards,
    Mario Figueiredo
    Using Borland C++ Builder 5

    Read the Tao of Programming
    This advise was brought to you by the Comitee for a Service Packless World

  8. #8
    l'Anziano DavidP's Avatar
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    Not really. VB is much an extension of BASIC as C++ can be considered an extension of C... even more. Visual Basic has similar syntax. But the changes needed to accomodate a windows based event driven language, plus OOP support (laughable, mind you) does make VB a brand new language.
    Visual Basic is just BASIC with Windows libraries instead of DOS libraries. That is like calling the Win API a seperate language from C++. There are DOS and Windows API's for C++, and the same is for BASIC. Visual Basic uses Windows libraries. It is that simple...

    It is still BASIC. It has all the BASIC keywords. It has the BASIC syntax. It is the BASIC language, just with Windows libraries.

    It is just a change of libraries. It's almost like deleting the line

    #include <dos.h>

    in a C++ program and adding this line

    #include <windows.h>

    BASIC does have OOP, so dont say it was added in VB. Maybe earlier versions of BASIC compilers did not support it, but several later versions of BASIC compilers do, like QBasic 7.1 for example.

    If you call VB a seperate language from BASIC, that is like calling Borland C++Builder seperate from C++. It just is not correct.

    So therefore, VB is BASIC. Not its own language. Just uses Windows libraries. Plain and simple.
    Last edited by DavidP; 07-05-2002 at 08:58 PM.
    My Website

    "Circular logic is good because it is."

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