Whats the defining differences between Basic and Visual Basic?

What are the defining differences between Basic and Visual Basic?

Whats the defining differences between Basic and Visual Basic?
BASIC was created long ago (I do not remember the exact date) but Visual Basic is based on it. Visual Basic is also an IDE (Integrated Development Environment) which basically means you can drag 'n' drop objects. A bit like NetBean for Java.
Reply:easier to ask what the similarities are, which is the name





Visual basic is many things: A language, An integrated development environment, a drag and drop program building concept.





basic is a programming language meant to teach programming to people.


Microsoft brought out QBasic, which was a more menu driven approach to building more complex programs in BASIC.


Then, to make the IDE and language we know as Visual Basic, Microsoft took QBASIC and an IDE windowing concept known as RUBY and merged them for an early version of Visual Basic.
Reply:To answer this question accurately, you really need to be more specific about what version of BASIC you are wanting to compare Visual BASIC with.





The BASIC programming language has been around since the dawn of computing. There have been an infinite number of iterations of the language that were developed by many different companies. Some of the other more popular versions of BASIC over the years are:





BASICA


GW-BASIC


QBASIC





Some of the differences of Visual Basic compared to these other versions are:





1) Early versions of BASIC were interpretive languages. Meaning that they did not compile to executable code. In order to run the code, you had to have a copy of the actual source, and a copy of the BASIC interpreter. The interpreter would read the source code, turn it into machine code, and execute the code all at the same time. This slowed the programs down greatly. By comparison, Visual Basic first compiles the source code to executable code, and then runs the program seperately. This is advantageous because the program executes much faster. And you don't have to distribute the source, which could then be altered or stolen by a competitor. However, the compiled code is not completely self-sufficient. Binaries must be distributed for OS's before windows 2000 with your program.





2) Another major difference, is that Visual Basic is an event driven language. So instead of writing a program that starts at line 1 and proceeds through the program sequentially, you write a Visual Basic program to respond to requests from the user. The visual basic program waits for an event to occur, such as a mouse click or a key press, and then branches to a handler in response. Programs can still be written to execute sequentially, but are not as powerful.





3) Visual Basic has many built in libraries that will allow you to access GUI controls, databases, create ActiveX controls, etc. None of the other listed versions of BASIC have this support.





4) If there is a significant reason to use/learn Visual Basic, it is because over 60% of professional programmers in the business world program, all or in part, in Visual Basic!!! Microsoft has stated however that support for Visual Basic will end later this year in 2008, and has designated that the successor to Visual Basic will be Visual Basic .NET (VB.NET).