Visual Basic Online Coding Challenges

Visual Basic is a programming language for creating graphical user interfaces. It runs on Windows, macOS, iOS, Android, and other platforms.

Since it’s common to create several applications with the same functions, it’s important to learn how to create strong, reusable code. Visual Basic is one of the most popular languages for creating applications, so if you’ve never created your applications, this is a great place to start. There are many platforms out there, such as Geektastic (https://geektastic.com/online-coding-challenges) that offer a platform to practice online coding challenges in many programming languages, including Visual Basic.

In this post, we’ll show you what Visual Basic online coding challenges are and how they can help you learn the basics of programming in Visual Basic.

Visual Basic Programming for Dot Net

Visual Basic.Net (VB.NET) is an object-oriented programming language executed on the .NET Framework, meaning that it can fully access the libraries in the .Net Framework. In 2002, Microsoft launched Visual Basic.Net to replace Visual Basic 6 programming language. However, you cannot compile a code written on the previous versions on VB.Net.

It was designed to be easily understood by beginners and proficient programmers. It is easy to make a Graphical User Interface (GUI) and execute the work on the interface without writing a lot of codes.

You can create windows applications and others for the web using VB.Net and then use Visual Studio as the Integrated Development Environment (IDE). It will show you errors in the code and give suggestions, making your code reliable and scalable.

Challenges of using Visual Basic

It is a proprietary language

Visual Basic is written by Microsoft, which means that you cannot transfer it to other operating systems. It is a good language, but it is not suitable for powerful programming because it is slower than the other languages. The applications developed on VB only work on Windows Operating Systems, and it majorly caters to database applications and graphics.

It has memory limitations

Visual Basic is a GUI based development tool, and it has graphical elements that require more memory space to install and run. However, it cannot directly handle pointers, making it unsuitable for creating programs like games, which require a lot of processing time.

Better declaration of arrays by C

VB is slightly disadvantaged by C because C can declare arrays better than Visual Basic. One can start an array of structures at declaration time in C. You cannot perform this operation in Visual Basic.

Large talent pool

It is also easy to learn VB, making it popular among programmers. That means the talent pool is big, making it hard to find a job as a VB programmer.

Visual Basic Features and Characteristics

Visual Basic is used by many programmers globally, and it is popular because of the various features it packs. These features include:

• Visual Basic is object-oriented. That means it treats everything as an object.
• Visual Basic is an evolved programming language. The modern version is simple and capable of building numerous applications.
• VB allows you to develop Windows, web and device applications
• VB is not case sensitive, but it contains many other features that make it similar to other programming languages like Java, C and C++.
• VB automatically clears unused objects, offering a good memory management system.
• It is impossible to execute unexamined type casts on Visual Basic because it is a type-safe programming language.
• Visual Basic is useful in discovering errors, and it has organized and scalable approaches for code recovery and formatting.
• VB supports Boolean conditions for decision making, simple generics and a standard library.
• VB features events management and automation of garbage collection.
• There is simple multithreading which makes your applications multi-task simultaneously.
• When creating a user interface on VB, you use the drag and drop feature.
• VB lets you inherit your form from already existing ones on Windows Forms.

The Rise and Fall of Visual Basic

The Rise of Visual Basic

Visual Basic 1.0 was launched when Microsoft released Windows 3.0, and it grew in popularity because of its practicality. It was simple to understand and navigate than languages like C++. Programmers loved it because you could create a user interface easily and get coding quickly.

Its edit-and continue feature allowed one to run their programs, identify errors, fix them and then continue coding.

When the VB6 was released, it became more popular than the C++ programming language, and it was a great improvement over the previous versions. Microsoft launched Visual Basic.Net, which was a powerful tool that had many features useful for business developers.

What Went Wrong with VB?

Visual Basic saw a decline in users when C# introduced type safety and memory management features, which were key features for VB programmers. C# became more powerful and desirable to developers than VB.

Nowadays, VB is not popular among professional programmers and the decision by Microsoft to side-line it in favour of C# made VB less desirable. In 2020, Microsoft announced that it would no longer add new features to the Visual Basic (VB.Net) programming language.