Visual Basic

Visual Basic (VB) is the third-generation event-driven programming language and integrated development environment (IDE) from Microsoft for its COM programming model. The final release was version 6 in 1998. Microsoft's extended support ended in March 2008 and the designated successor was Visual Basic .NET (now known simply as Visual Basic).

Two other languages that contain the "Visual Basic" name are Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) and Visual Basic .NET (VB.NET). VBA is primarily used for macros and extensions in applications, whereas VB.NET is a compiler-based language used for creating stand-alone applications.

Microsoft continues to support VBA in Office for Windows.

VB in GIS
VBA is used to create macros and scripts in Esri’s flagship software ArcGIS Desktop. Visual Basic 6.0 (VB 6.0) was used to aid in software development for ArcGIS Desktop until Esri announced that ArcGIS 9.3.1 was the last release to support VB 6.0. VB 6.0 will not work in version 10 and onward because Esri no longer installs the required DLLs with their software. VBA is supported in version 10, but is not installed by default and requires the user to call Esri support to obtain a license. After version 10, Esri no longer supports VBA. Suggested alternatives include Python for scripting and Visual Basic .NET (VB.NET) for software development, although Desktop also supports C++, C#, and other code as well.