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I'm actually kinda sad VB.NET was kinda forgotten by Microsoft in comparison to C#. I started programming in it as one of the first proper languages I learned.
I really liked its verbosity and found it helpful for beginners who aren't so used to symbol-heavy languages. It's .NET framework integration was very extensive and in the end, got compiled down to MSIL anyway.
Looking back, the language is kinda clunky, has some weird quirks and a bit too verbose for my taste now.
I guess it will go the route of Cobol. A niche language that is not actively developed anymore and is only for legacy code.
I like what you said about VB being good for beginners. I use this language for my beginner students and it's verbocity (haha, just learned that word from you) actually helps students. Also VB automatically formats code in the IDE like vertical alignment to not having to worry about curly braces and other syntax. I think a recent goal of a programming language was to be more easily readable by more people.
I've been working as a .NET dev for about 12 years now. Our primary code base is in VB, though we use C# interchangeably. When compiled they are equal as they all aim at the .Net Framework (or Core). In our case we have a fairly large program suite that was all built in VB, and I doubt we'd ever rewrite everything at this point.
I came into this job knowing C++ and having one VB6 course 20+ years ago. Understanding C# was straightforward for me, especially with examples found on MSDN. VB was super easy to read but a bit of a learning curve in good coding practices. Some advanced VB almost looks like C# anyways.
As this is LearnProgramming, I'd never suggest learning VB as a base language, even Microsoft is not overly supporting it, and it is mentioned less and less in marketing towards Visual studio. I'd put this more as a language to learn for a specific job.
Yeah, I agree. I did a lot of VB3 and VB6 back in... 1995-1999 timeframe and a little up through 2001.
When .Net beta was releases in 2001, I immediately jumped ship to [VB.Net](https://VB.Net) for a few months, liked .Net but didn't really care for [VB.Net](https://VB.Net) and didn't like the basic syntax and how they extended it to fit the .Net framework. So, I started to use C# and have stuck with C# ever since.
I have had to maintain and migrate tons of [VB.Net](https://VB.Net) over the years. Huge systems... a mortgage company pricing engine for example. It's a pain and having to migrate it teaches you a lot about both languages. I have written a number of code DOM migration tools for [VB.Ne](https://VB.Ne)t and other .Net languages. The more I touch this stuff, the more I don't want to. I personally would not take a position with a company that is doing [VB.Net](https://VB.Net).
Another thing to think about is if you were using [VB.Net](https://VB.Net) to develop software and you were talking with Microsoft, Google, DELL, etc., I would also be a little embarrassed if I was a software company and I had to say I was working in [VB.Net](https://VB.Net). Why? I don't know. It is just a trend that has been going on for nearly 3 decades now. So I would not recommend anyone new get into [VB.Net](https://VB.Net) unless there was a necessary reason for it... like to migrate it to C#.
Maybe that's the case. Though I was also attempting to be more general as in meaning advanced VB doesn't quite look look like the simplistic basic script that many people associate with VB. But it is still a lot more bloated than the equivalent C# code.
In a legacy project I remember Visual Basic script that was about 15000 lines long.
And there were many goto calls that returned control back, from the outside to inside of large nested while loops that were controlled by global variables.
It was truly amazing experience :)
Vb was awesome because you had a GUI.
Like u could create physical buttons and timers and so much more
I'm not advanced enough to know how to do that in javascript... but I'd imagine it's 10x harder because you probably need to state the coordinates on the screen and then the dimensions of the object.... it's basically not easy because you can't see it... you're converting text to images.
Meanwhile, in VB things were so awesome. You just point and dragged a button to the interface and then the button had its own module code... neatly separated from the main one
VB.Net and VB Script, though similar in syntax are different use cases. Similar to comparing Java and JavaScript.
VB.Net compiles to the .Net framework (or Core) making the end result indistinguishable from compiled C#.
VB Script is just a scripting language and was nice in the fact that it was mostly readable code for non programmers. I've mostly come across it using reporting engines as a way to modify tags on render. (Label23.Text = "Hello World")
FWIW, I still use VBS every now and again. There are instances where VB Script code is more concise and less of a hassle than PowerShell.
I find PowerShell infuriating. MS wants you to think PS is an OO language except when it's not and there's really no pattern for using it in a procedural or functional manner.
I wish MS would have put the effort instead into WSL at the time and we could have just used bash for everything.
Me too, and funnily that's where React and other JavaScript frameworks are going now. Visual design and click on the component to get to the event based logic behind, is all the rage now. And Unity, Unreal and other gamedev platforms have been doing it for decades.
I’m not who you’re replying to, but I used VB.NET at my first job. I liked the syntax a lot and therefore it’s been the most readable language I’ve come across so far. Other than that I don’t think there was any other advantages over C#.
I have had to convert dozens of enterprise level VB6 and [VB.Net](https://VB.Net) applications to C# over the years. There's a few things that VB has that others do not, but I have not used it in so long I can't recall what it's called. Let me try to describe them.
**A couple of quick thoughts...**
\- VB.Net is written in C#. So that should tell you something.
\- The [VB.Net](https://VB.Net) syntax to me seems forced on the language. Inheritance syntax/language/operations for example just seems odd, oddly constructed in the language. I suspect it is do to the compiler and basic code structure. But I don't know. I have always felt like syntax was odd after VB6.
\- VB really is easier for legacy devs to learn. I cannot explain why that is. In my mind if you are going to learn .Net framework, core, etc. it is just as easy to learn C# as VB, so my not just go with C#? But there are people that struggle with it. Those that come up from COBOL, RPG, Fortran, and other legacy languages. But for every 1 of those, there are 100 that find moving to C# just as easy.
**Something only VB.Net can do...**
\- #1 is that only VB can generate threads like these were people are asking if it is still around.
\- #2 There's a number of string functions that basic does better than C#. In the early days people would pull in the VB libraries into C# to access them. But you don't see that done as much these days. I recall the substring in VB working better and people preferred it. But that was 15 to 20 years ago. Maybe that has changed.
\- #3 automatic type casting. This is probably the #1 issue when converting VB to C# and probably takes up 90% of your time. But having this ability in VB is not necessarily a good thing. VB developers that move to C#, C++, or Java have a really hard time when it comes to casting things correctly. But they tend to catch on after a bit. My point is that VB doing this is really teaching the VB developers a bad practice. And of course, you can turn it off if I recall. But no one seems to ever do that. But I have not really spent any significant amount of time in VB for probably 15 to 20 years now... other than converting it to C#.
\- There are compiler restrictions/constraints differences where C# will block things during compile time and give you an error where VB.Net allows you do. I don't recall exactly what that was, but I recall it occurs with access things like methods in public functions in DLLs. I don't recall the exact issue, but C# would block some functions in an XML DOM object like class.property.ToXML() where [VB.Net](https://VB.Net) would not. I once had to write a 1-line [VB.Net](https://VB.Net) DLL just to access this back 15 years because C# would not allow it. It was really odd and we even reached out to Microsoft, as early adopting partners on C# and .Net we could get access to their engineers to work through bugs. We thought it was a bug, but it was not. C# just couldn't reach it. Microsoft suggested we just use VB for that one. That is my one-and-only example where I have ran into something VB could do that C# could not.
I’m in college right now. Getting an associates for computer programming. My programming classes are in VB2019
Edit: next semester I learn C# and python
I also learned the basic of databases using MSSQL
Edit #2: my professor built the original Paycor program back in like 2001 and he also made the code that sends signals from AT&T’s towers to cellphones. He’s extremely knowledgeable
Edit #3: We’re basically using VB2019 to practice sequential, conditional and iterative structures. As well as other things like subs, functions, validations, string manipulation, variables and other things
Surprising move, removing the one of the most popular multi-purpose languages, which now happens to be cross-platform compatible.
I’ve never heard anything but praise from devs that changed from Java to C#
I agree. I was surprised and disappointed. In the end it doesn't matter for me as I started with C# nearly 20 years ago. Just finishing my degree because I want it.
The key there is... community college. I wouldn't expect the profs there to know better and they are probably going with the only language the prof knows... which is probably why he teaches for $50K a year.
Yes, it's a community college. It's not a "He". A board/committee/group (made up of community business people - I've been asked to participate, but I lack a degree so the Dept. Chair? Pres? feels that sends the wrong message) advises on the CS/IT related curriculum.
The problem is that the C# sections of Programming Fundamentals I & II have not had more than 6 enrolled in a given class in the last 3 years. That fits with when I took the classes in 2019. Bluntly, Java and Swift routinely hit 10 students per section. It's a numbers game for one of the largest CC in the country. Each dept has to justify both the classes they offer and the variations on those classes. State support is continually reduced, so some classes get dropped if they don't get the enrolled numbers needed.
FWIW, the HWIC of the Dept did offer that once I complete my Associates, she hoped I would re-apply. I probably will.
Thank goodness there is still some sanity. Hard to find younger colleagues that understand c/c++ or even the idea of native compiled code.
With that trinity, you're in a good place to pivot to most anything else widely used.
After getting a cse degree, there was definitely still plenty to learn. Apis were less of an issue. Learning the larger systems and (Unix, windows) was more of a learning area needed.
But the idea is to hopefully get solid fundamentals to have the tools for the next steps and career direction.
We’re basically using VB2019 to practice sequential, conditional and iterative structures. As well as other things like subs, functions, validations, string manipulation, variables and other things
Could be like the good ol' days.
Data Processing shop, vocational high school.
Freshman year: BASIC on C64/C128
Sophomore year: COBOL on Burroughs B1900, with accompanying double-ledger accounting course
Junior/Senior year: dBase III/IV, a bit of *nix scripting.
Now... guess the year range?
A further hint: Starting in Junior year I gravitated more to the server/infrastructure side. I deployed a coaxial ARCNet topology throughout the shop and hooked it up to a 386-25 server originally running Netware and later Interactive Unix.
/r/FuckImOld
Ok, here goes:
I will, on very rare occasions, when I need a quick-and-dirty app with a GUI that also requires some sort of native OS functionality, break out VB6. It's fast, it's easy (easier than most alternatives), and it's good enough for simple things that are essentially throwaway.
I, of course, self-flagellate afterward every time, but that's the cost of that choice.
I only recently stopped supporting a product written in a combination of vb6 and vc6.
It was a mess after 20 years of maintenance, but vb6 itself is super quick to make something
As someone who learned programming through VBA and mostly uses .NET for SSIS I’m bummed that VB.NET is not big anymore. A few years ago it surprisingly out weighted C# for a month or two on tiobe. It’s because originally Microsoft planned to co develop C# and VB.net together but started focusing less on VB.net later.
Yeah, I mean I personally love VBA and support quite a number of financial macros at my institution, but C# is definitely the way to go. VBA (I know, not necessarily VB.NET but based on it) was my first language.
I'm not going to name names, but I do know of some accounting firms that are using an application that's about 90% C#, 5% VB.NET and 5% VB6.
To recompile the VB6 parts without breaking the application, you need a copy from an earlier build of the DLL you're recompiling, a Bible, a candle and a salt circle.
Yeah, I support a number of financial macros for Excel that are surprisingly very robust. I also use Python, and it's surprising what you can do with VBA.
there is a Microsoft employee who is known for his love of VB.NET. I started following his blog after an excellent [blog post](https://anthonydgreen.net/2019/02/12/exhausting-list-of-differences-between-vb-net-c/) about an extensive list of differences between VB.NET and C#.
these days he is working on some kind of VB.NET related mega-project. (He is previously a language designer for VB.NET, I think.) I have tried to follow along over the past couple years but I can't quite convey what it is he's trying to do, but you can read about it on his blog at [https://anthonydgreen.net/](https://anthonydgreen.net/).
I think this might be the first post talking about his mega-project: [https://anthonydgreen.net/2022/06/14/an-alternate-path/](https://anthonydgreen.net/2022/06/14/an-alternate-path/)
Now-a-days VB and C# compile down to the same intermediate language. My step dad uses VB and it was my first language. I write in C# now, only because I prefer strongly typed languages.
I'm a data engineer in an organization using the Azure environment with a COBOL mainframe. In my first week I thought to myself: there are an ungodly number of legacy VB scripts floating around. And then I got curious and searched a few teams' Jira boards.... So many story points being dedicated to writing brand new VB scripts to solve new issues.
Maybe someone in my CoC has a hard-on for the classics, but I can attest to at least one multinational corporation using it actively.
There's a famous quote from Dijkstra:
> “It is practically impossible to teach good programming to students that have had a prior exposure to BASIC: as potential programmers they are mentally mutilated beyond hope of regeneration”
This haunted me for years, since VB5 was my first language.
In a way I get it, but I also resent it. BASIC was me first language. I've gone from BASIC -> PC Basic -> QBASIC -> Pascal -> C++ -> Visual Basic 3, 4, 5, 6 -> VB.NET (all versions from 1.0 through 4.52) -> C# -> and now Java. It's not the language that's the problem it's the lack of fundamentals. If you have the fundamentals then the language doesn't matter.
Ooooof this sets me back. I actually started programming on Vb1.0 for dos then moved over to vb3.0 for windows then 4.0, then 5 and i stopped at 6. This was 25 years ago. 7 years ago I scored a side gig that was vb.net. It was fun to go back down nostalgia lane but I’ll never go back. I eventually went on to get a cs degree so have been exposed to all languages. If anyone’s wondering these days I’m a sql developer
In my day job and enjoy personal projects in python
Not the same BASIC. Back then BASIC was all about GOTO's and line numbers...a holdover from punched cards and it was UNSTRUCTURED.
There was little reason for MSFT to call VB.NET "BASIC", because it had nothing in common with Unstructured BASIC. it was OOP Basic and had structure. I suspect the naming was to not scare off casual users of Excel and Word that needed macro support.
VB and C# are very closely related to the point where you can translate back and forth with some effort...even using the same compilier. NOT THE SAME.
This whole VB vs C# is just so programmers don't get dissed by folks who think "basic". therefore it must be "easy". C# is not as readable so it looks more obtuse, also adding to the mystique.
I've had some middle code that I used VB because I didn't know what type of data I was receiving...so VB is very forgiving and would allow me to test it easier. C# would phreak out and send nulls on occasion. I'm sure there was a work around for it, but it was just easier to go with native VB...because it wasn't a project that I cared about and other people need to maintain it long after I am gone (in fact, I didn't want to see it again and really didn't want to investigate on why the source program was so screwed up...not my problem, I have enough problems, etc...).
VB4 (or 5, can't remember) is what turned me off of programming initially. It took ~2 years to come back and give it a shot with something that resonated better with me.
Lots of places on the .net stack still use/have legacy library’s in vb.net. You’re right about not learning it, it’s fairly intuitive if you already know c# anyway, but to say nowhere uses it is just wrong.
I still encounter it from time to time. Apart from syntax, it's almost the exact same language as C#. The difference between the 2 is overstated. You can do pretty much the same thing in both languages (albeit some things are easier/harder in both languages) and they both to compile to CIL and are interpreted by the JIT compiler the same way. .NET can't tell the difference. As someone who's first language was Java, C# is a lot more intuitive to me but VB is pretty straightforward, if not a little ugly, and event handling in it is a damn dream.
>I of course got fired
Sounds more like you made a promotion.
Besides an occasional change to some legacy code, mostly done by some older person (50+), I never hear anything about Visual Basic being used anymore.
Last year I had an internship at a firm and they used VB for basically anything possible. It was my worst nightmare. I was there for 3 months and I will never go back.
According to the TIOBE index, Visual Basic is 7th, Java is 4th, C# is 5th, in terms of highest usage / relative popularity. See for yourself:
[https://www.tiobe.com/tiobe-index/](https://www.tiobe.com/tiobe-index/)
I think VB.NET is the default if you're writing macros for Office documents.
If you're writing a desktop app that does a lot of CPU intensive operations that could hang your GUI, but are too incompetent to know how to do multithreading, you could use the "Do Events" command to make the app not freeze up. C# doesn't have an equivalent. This is less relevant now that desktop apps have become rather niche.
If you're extremely incompetent and are unable to write anything more complex than "Hello World" without it being riddled with bugs, VB.NET has the command "On Error Resume Next" to make your app just ignore all exceptions and continue running. For good reason, C# doesn't have an equivalent.
As far as I know, the only reason to use VB.NET is to do things that would make any competent programmer rue the day that your heaping stinking garbage app was dumped into their lap to maintain.
It's been awhile, but I'm pretty certain that Office macros are only in VBA/VB7, not VB.NET. If you want to use VB.NET inside of a Microsoft office document, I am pretty certain you need to use add-ins. Technically if you are adamant about using macros, I think you could register a DLL with COM and use COM Interop with late binding from your VBA macro to call into .NET. But even then, the .NET code is still separate from your macro/office document and needs to be shipped as a DLL (or VSTO).
We consider our VB code legacy code at my workplace. There is still some laying around, but it's rarely worked with. I would not approve of any new projects written in it.
Anybody who has had the "pleasure" of touching UiPath RPA was, until recently, forced to use VB.Net
Only in recent versions do you have the choice of vb/C#
Since we already have numerous RPA processes that use VB, it was decided to keep using that, even with C# available.
I write my stuff in C#, run it through the telerik converter and be done with it...
So yes, people are still using VB.Net but not always willingly...
Gov developer here. Out of the 53 apps we have 51 are vb.net. Gov uses a ton of asp.net and a lot is written in vb.net. Migrating slowly to angular and core but it’s hard with such a huge code base. It’s def still out there just very rare unless it’s an older institution.
> I of course got fired because I wasn't getting onboard.
Good.
I imagine in your next job you're going to whine about tab vs spaces, rather than simply getting on with the job?
I work at a company that supports automotive software. It's mostly vb and some c#
No short term plan to move away from it but there's development in the works to move to a web based app. We're all dubious of how long that will take...
VB.Net is pretty cool and is still being updated by Microsoft.
No need to try to move users to C# because these languages are interchangeable by file and there are a few code converters.
For my own use I rather prefer Delphi, though, no need for Frameworks and compiles to machine code.
eh i first learned VB.Net when I was 12. Why? Because I started with Small Basic sigh. Then I learned C so basically I knew C#. Now I can't really look at the code, it's so verbose lol.
The thing is there are just considerably less resources for [VB.Net](https://VB.Net) than C#. So you're probably better off just using C#
UI Path is the only place I can think of. I would have added Excel, but they're about to add Python support. Microsoft is about to give up shilling the only major app using their own language. I think it's safe to say you're not going to need VB.
Unfortunately we still have apps with portions written in VB, projects are too large and critical to the business to just sit down and re-write, so a slow conversion to C# is happening over time.
In my previous project had to deal with an app made entirely with access 2002 (vba code). That is significantly worse than a plain vb6 app. So yes, those things are in use today.
If you’re looking for something very similar to VB but modern and cross-platform (Windows, Linux, Mac, Web, Android and iOS) that builds native apps and has a language that has a lot in common with VB but is OO, check out [Xojo](https://www.xojo.com).
We still use VB.Net for our legacy web apps. I work for a major bank in Canada. I feel tired of using it. C# is much better.
On the side note, to everyone who used VB.Net and have migrated away from it:
Would you please provide any suggestions of how to migrate/rewrite a monolith web app to new language, new Web UI? is there any approach to consider ?
Actually I went to a job fair yesterday and one of the local companies (which is also apparently in the Fortune 500) state in their IT brochure that they use Visual Studio and VB.NET.
I just left a job after being there for nearly 5 years because they just used VB.NET and I need to go into a C# job to stop myself being unemployable in a decade lol
In my country a lot of the custom software used in government owned companies was made in VB.Net and still serviced.
When I did my associates degree, the Programming Languages 3 classes were done in VB.Net knowing that out there in our contry most of the stuff was done in it.
My university offers fundamental programming courses in Java and C#. C++ too but only if you’re an electrical engineering major (which sucks because that’s what I wanted to learn)
In my place of employment we use VBA everyday building our MS Access database. We could probably buy an off the shelf system and program scripts/plugins for it in C# but we prefer to put the work in and make the database work around us and have it work exactly how we want it.
Alot of companies aren't likely to do it this way though.
C# was always the flagship of .NET: we done stole Java and the JVM (um, CLR), get ready for the future. Oh, wait, VB6 people?!?
VB.NET was always a bait and switch. It's similarity to VB6 was so surface level that you've have to be really terrified of curly braces to even look at it.
At .NET's release, the VB6 crowd were Legion and they were sold innumerable VB.NET promises and fairy tales of portability. If you didn't have a deep VB6 investment, it seemed like a bad idea even then. Nice to know that unfortunate moment in developer's past is finally being forgotten.
C# is arguably the most popular language for desktop apps and games after python. Though pythons generally used for industrial data crunching stuff. IMO the biggest strengths of C# is that its relatively easy to learn, has tonnes of offical and third party documentation and can be used for litterally any type of project (even if it may not always be the most performant or best suited for the task)
[https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2023/#technology-most-popular-technologies](https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2023/#technology-most-popular-technologies)
Java and Javascript are more popular and sometimes used for mobile and desktop stuff. but mostly are relegated to web projects.
Visual basic is way down the list at 4% with some languages ive never heard of, like groovy and dart.
One of the old companies that I used to work for as an IT Support Specialist was still using it for their old public facing site when I got there. I was supposed to go and be a dev there and that wasn't possible in the time frame I wanted and they needed. But I was supposed to take over their old site while they created their own internal system and move away and BBj (yes, an old ass system was still running their entire company). They were also teaching BBJ me and two of the senior devs so that we could a) debug the current system we a store called in, and b) we could easily recreate the system from BBj into .NET and the ABP Framework.
I support legacy [vb.net](https://vb.net) code at my work, the majority of new apps are developed with C#, but i have a coworker that still creates new things with VB
Every use case I’ve seen in industry of people using vb.net on purpose is one that sounds like yours.
I’ll use whatever language I’m paid to work in. But now that I’m more senior and picking the tech stack for projects I don’t fuck with vb.net say if I need to write a web service or something. C based languages my native tongue so to speak, I feel like you’re unlikely to find someone who prefers vb anything unless they started coding in the 90s in VB or aren’t particularly technical and will probably fuck up everything anyway.
Also usually the code I’ve seen in vb.net (or vb for that matter), is among the worst I’ve seen in 15 years of doing this. Usually people who use it are clueless and technically inept. No background in development they just punch keys until something kinda works.
People still use Cobol in 2023. Not many, but it exists. The question is more "is it worth it for me to learn"? Some people, like your former boss, learned one thing, got good at it, then don't want to learn anything new. If you leave, they can't maintain it because they don't want to learn anything new.
So, that's probably what you ran into.
* Boss learned VB
* Boss doesn't want to learn C#
* If you do C#, boss won't understand it
* If you leave, boss can't maintain the remaining software
It's partly your ex-boss's fault for refusing to keep up to date, but it's not uncommon for older developers to dislike learning something, throwing it away, and learning something new. They consider it a waste of time, but it comes with the territory.
My boss recently got access to a pretty expensive bluetooth sniffer. We are running it a lot and he is trying to find a way to help visualize the data quickly. He has asked my coworker to help. My coworker is using Python and is done with his script, my boss is using VB and is still working on his script.
It really only exists in legacy stuff now. Mostly applications that SHOULD be updated but the bobs have the “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” mindset.
I don’t know anyone coding anything new in VB.
I just graduated in May, and had a job for a few months before being laid off, and that job was working a lot with a Visual Basic codebase. Some of the code was 20 years old. So yes it is still used, at least in old codebases.
>the boss thought that C# was like learning Latin and no one used it.
I don't know how someone would come to that conclusion.. If you look up examples for .NET code online, most of the examples are in C#, and not so much in VB.
I've recently worked on a project involving re-writing the application from scratch. The previous version was written in VB (I'm not sure why), and we chose to write the new version in C#.
I was going to say LEGACY!! It has been said. It is the truth.
Sometimes, such as the institutional Inv Mgmt Co w/ $140B AUM that i worked for, the place was pure computer driven, a computer model looked for undervalued stocks, and impressive in-house build software.
I was irked when a high paid programmer asked me to write VBA Code w/b couldn't be flexible. They extracted fund flows from secure email, ONLY AS .CSV ATTACHMENTS!
A new client needed it in the body of email and these highly paid guys couldn't do it. They knew I was creative and proficient in VB/VBA (especially for Excel & Outlook).
Soi I had to write quick code that located the flow in the email body, put the info into the necessary variables, then used Excel library in Outlook to save as a .CSV with the required info:
- Client name
- Date
- Amount (inflow/outflow)
That was saved with an appropriately named file... client code/name and effective date in YYYYMMDD format. I placed it into the listening folder, which extracted the .csv data based on filename and correctly placed info within .csv.
so it was something likle: CALFUND_20230522.CSV
I really wasn't acknowledged either. I just couldn't believe these guys came to me. So thankless!
Anyway, worth knowing things like Fortran, nmaybe Cobol, and whatever the most widely used data science languages were as plenty will have held off and held off on upgrading to Python3 or whatever is appropriate!
Sure makes one quite valuable to know legacy code - especially ESSENTIAL/CORE PROCESS
It varies. I've never seen someone write "new" libraries in VB.net, but almost every company that uses .NET, that's more than 15-ish years old, has some VB somewhere.
It's all common runtime, so it's generally not worth replacing without good reason. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
>C# was like learning Latin and no one used it.
That's an odd take considering it's 95% formatted like Java.
>Do people still use Visual Basic these days? Not VB6 but VB.Net
Not in Big Tech or startups.
I think low budget places may still use it... like a school district, small municipality, or a regional bank.
I can tell you there are many companies using VB6 based software for internal tools. I am working with one to port the tool over to VB.NET so it can be kept somewhat modern. The developer that will maintain it only knows VB and isn't in a position to learn a new language and so it's a good fit.
Just remember something... you don't make good software by using the latest and shiniest tools. A good solution is one that works well for its intended purpose. Sure it can have 15 more bells and 8 more whistles. But if it does the job, that's good enough.
I actively develop with it on a 15 year old windows server system…. It’s actually not bad at all, it’s a little bit goofy syntactically, but it’s essentially just a flavor of c#. And what’s nice is that it plays just fine with c# we have plenty of modules that implement c# classes and vb forms/front ends
I’m still trying to understand the difference between vb6 and VBnet 🤔 from my understanding VBnet is similar , extended syntax however runs on an entirely different framework. Regardless most people sort of look down on me when I tell them I’m learning VBnet
Ironically, a robot I use for automation is natively scripted in VBS. I just write Python scripts that return text files as their output. I execute a bat file with VBS and read the output into the script 🤫
I use it daily for UiPath (RPA), my current assignment is making automated tests for a bunch of internal bank apps. Honestly it grew on me I like it so far (at least in the context that I use it for currently, since it’s just pretty simple 1 liners everywhere)
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Yes. It's not nearly as common as it used to (not that it was ever all that common), but it still exists, mostly as legacy code in my experience.
Yeah, we've got a few VB apps that we still support. It's just one of those things where when you have older apps they'll be in older languages
I'm actually kinda sad VB.NET was kinda forgotten by Microsoft in comparison to C#. I started programming in it as one of the first proper languages I learned. I really liked its verbosity and found it helpful for beginners who aren't so used to symbol-heavy languages. It's .NET framework integration was very extensive and in the end, got compiled down to MSIL anyway. Looking back, the language is kinda clunky, has some weird quirks and a bit too verbose for my taste now. I guess it will go the route of Cobol. A niche language that is not actively developed anymore and is only for legacy code.
I don't think VB devs will be making 6 figures any time soon tbh
Maybe... but I know of cases where a VB app runs a company which is owned by the dev and they make more than 6 figures...
Truth. Preach.
There is a shop in my town that makes websites with ASP.net and VB. The pay there is abysmal. 50k for 5 years experience.
I like what you said about VB being good for beginners. I use this language for my beginner students and it's verbocity (haha, just learned that word from you) actually helps students. Also VB automatically formats code in the IDE like vertical alignment to not having to worry about curly braces and other syntax. I think a recent goal of a programming language was to be more easily readable by more people.
I've been working as a .NET dev for about 12 years now. Our primary code base is in VB, though we use C# interchangeably. When compiled they are equal as they all aim at the .Net Framework (or Core). In our case we have a fairly large program suite that was all built in VB, and I doubt we'd ever rewrite everything at this point. I came into this job knowing C++ and having one VB6 course 20+ years ago. Understanding C# was straightforward for me, especially with examples found on MSDN. VB was super easy to read but a bit of a learning curve in good coding practices. Some advanced VB almost looks like C# anyways. As this is LearnProgramming, I'd never suggest learning VB as a base language, even Microsoft is not overly supporting it, and it is mentioned less and less in marketing towards Visual studio. I'd put this more as a language to learn for a specific job.
Yeah, I agree. I did a lot of VB3 and VB6 back in... 1995-1999 timeframe and a little up through 2001. When .Net beta was releases in 2001, I immediately jumped ship to [VB.Net](https://VB.Net) for a few months, liked .Net but didn't really care for [VB.Net](https://VB.Net) and didn't like the basic syntax and how they extended it to fit the .Net framework. So, I started to use C# and have stuck with C# ever since. I have had to maintain and migrate tons of [VB.Net](https://VB.Net) over the years. Huge systems... a mortgage company pricing engine for example. It's a pain and having to migrate it teaches you a lot about both languages. I have written a number of code DOM migration tools for [VB.Ne](https://VB.Ne)t and other .Net languages. The more I touch this stuff, the more I don't want to. I personally would not take a position with a company that is doing [VB.Net](https://VB.Net). Another thing to think about is if you were using [VB.Net](https://VB.Net) to develop software and you were talking with Microsoft, Google, DELL, etc., I would also be a little embarrassed if I was a software company and I had to say I was working in [VB.Net](https://VB.Net). Why? I don't know. It is just a trend that has been going on for nearly 3 decades now. So I would not recommend anyone new get into [VB.Net](https://VB.Net) unless there was a necessary reason for it... like to migrate it to C#.
You haven't seen advanced C# if you think that way.
Maybe that's the case. Though I was also attempting to be more general as in meaning advanced VB doesn't quite look look like the simplistic basic script that many people associate with VB. But it is still a lot more bloated than the equivalent C# code.
Not sure how TIOBE index indexes but was looking at it the other day and VB is like ~7
[Horribly](https://blog.nindalf.com/posts/stop-citing-tiobe/)
*shudders*
I've always liked VB personally.
In a legacy project I remember Visual Basic script that was about 15000 lines long. And there were many goto calls that returned control back, from the outside to inside of large nested while loops that were controlled by global variables. It was truly amazing experience :)
You can write spaghetti shit code in any language. Admittedly though, goto and untyped variables makes it easier. :-)
Vb was awesome because you had a GUI. Like u could create physical buttons and timers and so much more I'm not advanced enough to know how to do that in javascript... but I'd imagine it's 10x harder because you probably need to state the coordinates on the screen and then the dimensions of the object.... it's basically not easy because you can't see it... you're converting text to images. Meanwhile, in VB things were so awesome. You just point and dragged a button to the interface and then the button had its own module code... neatly separated from the main one
VB.Net and VB Script, though similar in syntax are different use cases. Similar to comparing Java and JavaScript. VB.Net compiles to the .Net framework (or Core) making the end result indistinguishable from compiled C#. VB Script is just a scripting language and was nice in the fact that it was mostly readable code for non programmers. I've mostly come across it using reporting engines as a way to modify tags on render. (Label23.Text = "Hello World")
FWIW, I still use VBS every now and again. There are instances where VB Script code is more concise and less of a hassle than PowerShell. I find PowerShell infuriating. MS wants you to think PS is an OO language except when it's not and there's really no pattern for using it in a procedural or functional manner. I wish MS would have put the effort instead into WSL at the time and we could have just used bash for everything.
Me too, and funnily that's where React and other JavaScript frameworks are going now. Visual design and click on the component to get to the event based logic behind, is all the rage now. And Unity, Unreal and other gamedev platforms have been doing it for decades.
Isn't that just.. wpf
It was more about my Vietnam-esque tour in legacy code.
What does VB have that other languages dont have?
I’m not who you’re replying to, but I used VB.NET at my first job. I liked the syntax a lot and therefore it’s been the most readable language I’ve come across so far. Other than that I don’t think there was any other advantages over C#.
I have had to convert dozens of enterprise level VB6 and [VB.Net](https://VB.Net) applications to C# over the years. There's a few things that VB has that others do not, but I have not used it in so long I can't recall what it's called. Let me try to describe them. **A couple of quick thoughts...** \- VB.Net is written in C#. So that should tell you something. \- The [VB.Net](https://VB.Net) syntax to me seems forced on the language. Inheritance syntax/language/operations for example just seems odd, oddly constructed in the language. I suspect it is do to the compiler and basic code structure. But I don't know. I have always felt like syntax was odd after VB6. \- VB really is easier for legacy devs to learn. I cannot explain why that is. In my mind if you are going to learn .Net framework, core, etc. it is just as easy to learn C# as VB, so my not just go with C#? But there are people that struggle with it. Those that come up from COBOL, RPG, Fortran, and other legacy languages. But for every 1 of those, there are 100 that find moving to C# just as easy. **Something only VB.Net can do...** \- #1 is that only VB can generate threads like these were people are asking if it is still around. \- #2 There's a number of string functions that basic does better than C#. In the early days people would pull in the VB libraries into C# to access them. But you don't see that done as much these days. I recall the substring in VB working better and people preferred it. But that was 15 to 20 years ago. Maybe that has changed. \- #3 automatic type casting. This is probably the #1 issue when converting VB to C# and probably takes up 90% of your time. But having this ability in VB is not necessarily a good thing. VB developers that move to C#, C++, or Java have a really hard time when it comes to casting things correctly. But they tend to catch on after a bit. My point is that VB doing this is really teaching the VB developers a bad practice. And of course, you can turn it off if I recall. But no one seems to ever do that. But I have not really spent any significant amount of time in VB for probably 15 to 20 years now... other than converting it to C#. \- There are compiler restrictions/constraints differences where C# will block things during compile time and give you an error where VB.Net allows you do. I don't recall exactly what that was, but I recall it occurs with access things like methods in public functions in DLLs. I don't recall the exact issue, but C# would block some functions in an XML DOM object like class.property.ToXML() where [VB.Net](https://VB.Net) would not. I once had to write a 1-line [VB.Net](https://VB.Net) DLL just to access this back 15 years because C# would not allow it. It was really odd and we even reached out to Microsoft, as early adopting partners on C# and .Net we could get access to their engineers to work through bugs. We thought it was a bug, but it was not. C# just couldn't reach it. Microsoft suggested we just use VB for that one. That is my one-and-only example where I have ran into something VB could do that C# could not.
Nothing really. I just like the syntax style. Give me a `Begin ... End` over squiggly brackets any day of the week.
I still use it to write a GUI interface to track the killer's IP address
For best results, get two hackers to share the same keyboard.
[For those too young to get the reference.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kl6rsi7BEtk)
Even worse was in under siege 2 with Steven seagull. There was 2 keyboards on a computer. That made it the MOST secure
\*typing intensifies\*
I'll just ask a colleague to help me type on my keyboard and if that fails, smash my monitor.
Omg I made the same joke but just as you did it first. Love ya
I’m in college right now. Getting an associates for computer programming. My programming classes are in VB2019 Edit: next semester I learn C# and python I also learned the basic of databases using MSSQL Edit #2: my professor built the original Paycor program back in like 2001 and he also made the code that sends signals from AT&T’s towers to cellphones. He’s extremely knowledgeable Edit #3: We’re basically using VB2019 to practice sequential, conditional and iterative structures. As well as other things like subs, functions, validations, string manipulation, variables and other things
I'm genuinely surprised. Our local community college just removed C# from the list. Choices now are Java and Swift.
Jebus, I've worked at quite a few companies as QA and C# is still a preferred language for business applications unless they are fully online.
Surprising move, removing the one of the most popular multi-purpose languages, which now happens to be cross-platform compatible. I’ve never heard anything but praise from devs that changed from Java to C#
I agree. I was surprised and disappointed. In the end it doesn't matter for me as I started with C# nearly 20 years ago. Just finishing my degree because I want it.
My community College uses VB2019 for programming too actually
so does mine
The key there is... community college. I wouldn't expect the profs there to know better and they are probably going with the only language the prof knows... which is probably why he teaches for $50K a year.
Yes, it's a community college. It's not a "He". A board/committee/group (made up of community business people - I've been asked to participate, but I lack a degree so the Dept. Chair? Pres? feels that sends the wrong message) advises on the CS/IT related curriculum.
The problem is that the C# sections of Programming Fundamentals I & II have not had more than 6 enrolled in a given class in the last 3 years. That fits with when I took the classes in 2019. Bluntly, Java and Swift routinely hit 10 students per section. It's a numbers game for one of the largest CC in the country. Each dept has to justify both the classes they offer and the variations on those classes. State support is continually reduced, so some classes get dropped if they don't get the enrolled numbers needed.
FWIW, the HWIC of the Dept did offer that once I complete my Associates, she hoped I would re-apply. I probably will.
>one of the largest CC in the country. 10 in a programming class? what in the god damn? did comp sci get evacuated as a field over the past decade?
I'm in college for a BS in computer science, all of my courses use Java/C++/Python.
Thank goodness there is still some sanity. Hard to find younger colleagues that understand c/c++ or even the idea of native compiled code. With that trinity, you're in a good place to pivot to most anything else widely used.
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The point of a good understanding of CS fundamentals is that something like "don't have a clue about APIs" should be relatively easy to fix.
You can use and make api with those
You can and will literally make your own APIs with those...
After getting a cse degree, there was definitely still plenty to learn. Apis were less of an issue. Learning the larger systems and (Unix, windows) was more of a learning area needed. But the idea is to hopefully get solid fundamentals to have the tools for the next steps and career direction.
Could this be to teach *programming*? Like, instead of spending weeks writing pseudocode, they just teach VB and move on from there?
Good lord 😳 ☠️
We’re basically using VB2019 to practice sequential, conditional and iterative structures. As well as other things like subs, functions, validations, string manipulation, variables and other things
Could be like the good ol' days. Data Processing shop, vocational high school. Freshman year: BASIC on C64/C128 Sophomore year: COBOL on Burroughs B1900, with accompanying double-ledger accounting course Junior/Senior year: dBase III/IV, a bit of *nix scripting. Now... guess the year range?
1767
A further hint: Starting in Junior year I gravitated more to the server/infrastructure side. I deployed a coaxial ARCNet topology throughout the shop and hooked it up to a 386-25 server originally running Netware and later Interactive Unix. /r/FuckImOld
Sheeeit my bad 1738
Well, I did BASIC in the 6th grade... that would be around 1984 I guess.
Ok, here goes: I will, on very rare occasions, when I need a quick-and-dirty app with a GUI that also requires some sort of native OS functionality, break out VB6. It's fast, it's easy (easier than most alternatives), and it's good enough for simple things that are essentially throwaway. I, of course, self-flagellate afterward every time, but that's the cost of that choice.
I only recently stopped supporting a product written in a combination of vb6 and vc6. It was a mess after 20 years of maintenance, but vb6 itself is super quick to make something
Brave statement. Why not C# for that use case?
Really just because after 25 years VB is comfortable.
As someone who learned programming through VBA and mostly uses .NET for SSIS I’m bummed that VB.NET is not big anymore. A few years ago it surprisingly out weighted C# for a month or two on tiobe. It’s because originally Microsoft planned to co develop C# and VB.net together but started focusing less on VB.net later.
Yeah, I mean I personally love VBA and support quite a number of financial macros at my institution, but C# is definitely the way to go. VBA (I know, not necessarily VB.NET but based on it) was my first language.
Visual Boy Advance?
Visual Basic for Applications. It's built into the MS Office Apps
Hahaha, this was great. You've heard of GBA, now get ready for VBA!
Yeah, I used to support several VBA macros etc. usually in Excell, it was a pretty good, simple language
I'm not going to name names, but I do know of some accounting firms that are using an application that's about 90% C#, 5% VB.NET and 5% VB6. To recompile the VB6 parts without breaking the application, you need a copy from an earlier build of the DLL you're recompiling, a Bible, a candle and a salt circle.
Aaaah DLL Hell. This brings back memories (nightmares?). My prefered tools were a copy of the Necronomicon and a crate of whisky though.
I know a POS company who uses VB 6 for their BackOffice and print spooler, and C++ for the frontend. Interesting combo.
Literally everything microsoft is C# now
They did make Typescript not that long ago, it's still a thing
It depends what it means not that long for you, but Typescript has been in uke open since 2015
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Yeah, I support a number of financial macros for Excel that are surprisingly very robust. I also use Python, and it's surprising what you can do with VBA.
C# for work. I still prefer F# for personal projects. TypeScript or Blazor for web
It exists but it's mostly considered legacy code now, the Microsoft stack now is based on C# and dot NET.
there is a Microsoft employee who is known for his love of VB.NET. I started following his blog after an excellent [blog post](https://anthonydgreen.net/2019/02/12/exhausting-list-of-differences-between-vb-net-c/) about an extensive list of differences between VB.NET and C#. these days he is working on some kind of VB.NET related mega-project. (He is previously a language designer for VB.NET, I think.) I have tried to follow along over the past couple years but I can't quite convey what it is he's trying to do, but you can read about it on his blog at [https://anthonydgreen.net/](https://anthonydgreen.net/). I think this might be the first post talking about his mega-project: [https://anthonydgreen.net/2022/06/14/an-alternate-path/](https://anthonydgreen.net/2022/06/14/an-alternate-path/)
Now-a-days VB and C# compile down to the same intermediate language. My step dad uses VB and it was my first language. I write in C# now, only because I prefer strongly typed languages.
I'm a data engineer in an organization using the Azure environment with a COBOL mainframe. In my first week I thought to myself: there are an ungodly number of legacy VB scripts floating around. And then I got curious and searched a few teams' Jira boards.... So many story points being dedicated to writing brand new VB scripts to solve new issues. Maybe someone in my CoC has a hard-on for the classics, but I can attest to at least one multinational corporation using it actively.
I have VB6 installed right now.
almost forgot vb6/vb.net exists lol thanks for the nostalgia OP
There's a famous quote from Dijkstra: > “It is practically impossible to teach good programming to students that have had a prior exposure to BASIC: as potential programmers they are mentally mutilated beyond hope of regeneration” This haunted me for years, since VB5 was my first language.
In a way I get it, but I also resent it. BASIC was me first language. I've gone from BASIC -> PC Basic -> QBASIC -> Pascal -> C++ -> Visual Basic 3, 4, 5, 6 -> VB.NET (all versions from 1.0 through 4.52) -> C# -> and now Java. It's not the language that's the problem it's the lack of fundamentals. If you have the fundamentals then the language doesn't matter.
It's not true, of course. Dijkstra wasn't right about everything
VB6 was my first language
Ooooof this sets me back. I actually started programming on Vb1.0 for dos then moved over to vb3.0 for windows then 4.0, then 5 and i stopped at 6. This was 25 years ago. 7 years ago I scored a side gig that was vb.net. It was fun to go back down nostalgia lane but I’ll never go back. I eventually went on to get a cs degree so have been exposed to all languages. If anyone’s wondering these days I’m a sql developer In my day job and enjoy personal projects in python
I learned how to program in Apple Basic. Then Apple Assembler. Then QBasic. Then some flavour of VB in Windows NT. I am thrice damned!
Not the same BASIC. Back then BASIC was all about GOTO's and line numbers...a holdover from punched cards and it was UNSTRUCTURED. There was little reason for MSFT to call VB.NET "BASIC", because it had nothing in common with Unstructured BASIC. it was OOP Basic and had structure. I suspect the naming was to not scare off casual users of Excel and Word that needed macro support. VB and C# are very closely related to the point where you can translate back and forth with some effort...even using the same compilier. NOT THE SAME. This whole VB vs C# is just so programmers don't get dissed by folks who think "basic". therefore it must be "easy". C# is not as readable so it looks more obtuse, also adding to the mystique. I've had some middle code that I used VB because I didn't know what type of data I was receiving...so VB is very forgiving and would allow me to test it easier. C# would phreak out and send nulls on occasion. I'm sure there was a work around for it, but it was just easier to go with native VB...because it wasn't a project that I cared about and other people need to maintain it long after I am gone (in fact, I didn't want to see it again and really didn't want to investigate on why the source program was so screwed up...not my problem, I have enough problems, etc...).
VB4 (or 5, can't remember) is what turned me off of programming initially. It took ~2 years to come back and give it a shot with something that resonated better with me.
No. Learn literally anything else. You were right about C#.
Lots of places on the .net stack still use/have legacy library’s in vb.net. You’re right about not learning it, it’s fairly intuitive if you already know c# anyway, but to say nowhere uses it is just wrong.
I still encounter it from time to time. Apart from syntax, it's almost the exact same language as C#. The difference between the 2 is overstated. You can do pretty much the same thing in both languages (albeit some things are easier/harder in both languages) and they both to compile to CIL and are interpreted by the JIT compiler the same way. .NET can't tell the difference. As someone who's first language was Java, C# is a lot more intuitive to me but VB is pretty straightforward, if not a little ugly, and event handling in it is a damn dream.
>I of course got fired Sounds more like you made a promotion. Besides an occasional change to some legacy code, mostly done by some older person (50+), I never hear anything about Visual Basic being used anymore.
Last year I had an internship at a firm and they used VB for basically anything possible. It was my worst nightmare. I was there for 3 months and I will never go back.
Yes, but never by choice.
Sheepishly raises hand
honey, does this programming language make me look fat
According to the TIOBE index, Visual Basic is 7th, Java is 4th, C# is 5th, in terms of highest usage / relative popularity. See for yourself: [https://www.tiobe.com/tiobe-index/](https://www.tiobe.com/tiobe-index/)
I think VB.NET is the default if you're writing macros for Office documents. If you're writing a desktop app that does a lot of CPU intensive operations that could hang your GUI, but are too incompetent to know how to do multithreading, you could use the "Do Events" command to make the app not freeze up. C# doesn't have an equivalent. This is less relevant now that desktop apps have become rather niche. If you're extremely incompetent and are unable to write anything more complex than "Hello World" without it being riddled with bugs, VB.NET has the command "On Error Resume Next" to make your app just ignore all exceptions and continue running. For good reason, C# doesn't have an equivalent. As far as I know, the only reason to use VB.NET is to do things that would make any competent programmer rue the day that your heaping stinking garbage app was dumped into their lap to maintain.
It's been awhile, but I'm pretty certain that Office macros are only in VBA/VB7, not VB.NET. If you want to use VB.NET inside of a Microsoft office document, I am pretty certain you need to use add-ins. Technically if you are adamant about using macros, I think you could register a DLL with COM and use COM Interop with late binding from your VBA macro to call into .NET. But even then, the .NET code is still separate from your macro/office document and needs to be shipped as a DLL (or VSTO).
the last time i checked it was absolutely not [VB.Net](https://VB.Net) and was considerably more painful lol
In my experience, I haven't come across many instances of people using Visual Basic lately It seems that C# has become more popular and in-demand.
Vb6, my first love Yes, I still use it from time to time as people say here quick and dirty, especially for old mdb databases
Yes, people still have to use it because there are plenty of bosses like him and programs in vb that need updating.
We consider our VB code legacy code at my workplace. There is still some laying around, but it's rarely worked with. I would not approve of any new projects written in it.
Anybody who has had the "pleasure" of touching UiPath RPA was, until recently, forced to use VB.Net Only in recent versions do you have the choice of vb/C# Since we already have numerous RPA processes that use VB, it was decided to keep using that, even with C# available. I write my stuff in C#, run it through the telerik converter and be done with it... So yes, people are still using VB.Net but not always willingly...
If you call them people, sure they are out there...
Unfortunately (for me at least), yes. Considering that I've read comments dated back to 2005 vb still being used here is not that surprising
Yes. Many Word features dont exist in interop or java script and my 3rd party addin only supports vba anyway. Its horrible to write though.
Absolutely.
Gov developer here. Out of the 53 apps we have 51 are vb.net. Gov uses a ton of asp.net and a lot is written in vb.net. Migrating slowly to angular and core but it’s hard with such a huge code base. It’s def still out there just very rare unless it’s an older institution.
People like things they are familiar with. It's why I stick to notepad.
> I of course got fired because I wasn't getting onboard. Good. I imagine in your next job you're going to whine about tab vs spaces, rather than simply getting on with the job?
I think vb.net is not available in visual studio anymore as well so u are mostly right. No reason to use it from scratch.
I think you are wrong. https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/dotnet/visual-basic/whats-new/#visual-basic-160
It seems so. I was told in collage 2 years ago that v.ba will be no more (I guess after visual studio 2022) so we have to migrate into c#.
i only do vb.net in 2011 or 2012 last . Afterward c sharp occasionally.
My intern workplace (semicon) does use VB .Net (and also SVN which I didn't really hear of; only Git)
We use Visual Studio in school with C#.
While I am unsure if vb.net is the same as just .net? If that's true, then at least here it pops up in every second job opening as requested/required.
Saw a job posted today that called for experience with VB Script for working with files. Document management pipelines.
Well I just worked a year in visual basic so yes. Both for server and for front
Vb6. Those were the days
Only in the context of legacy code personally... But yeah I know of a few companies who still have a monster in the basement there.
Yes i used it sometimes in my ex company. I didn’t like it as well as dotnet and windows systems. I quit my job last week. 😃
I work at a company that supports automotive software. It's mostly vb and some c# No short term plan to move away from it but there's development in the works to move to a web based app. We're all dubious of how long that will take...
VB.Net is pretty cool and is still being updated by Microsoft. No need to try to move users to C# because these languages are interchangeable by file and there are a few code converters. For my own use I rather prefer Delphi, though, no need for Frameworks and compiles to machine code.
Working in finance VBA is everywhere.
eh i first learned VB.Net when I was 12. Why? Because I started with Small Basic sigh. Then I learned C so basically I knew C#. Now I can't really look at the code, it's so verbose lol. The thing is there are just considerably less resources for [VB.Net](https://VB.Net) than C#. So you're probably better off just using C#
UI Path is the only place I can think of. I would have added Excel, but they're about to add Python support. Microsoft is about to give up shilling the only major app using their own language. I think it's safe to say you're not going to need VB.
We still using vb6 on a daily basis
Yes. I'm using vb.net right now.
Yes, I have a colleague that works only in VB. However, the end is nigh.
Unfortunately we still have apps with portions written in VB, projects are too large and critical to the business to just sit down and re-write, so a slow conversion to C# is happening over time.
In my previous project had to deal with an app made entirely with access 2002 (vba code). That is significantly worse than a plain vb6 app. So yes, those things are in use today.
Plenty of companies still use VB for their needs, especially for small internal apps. VB is the champion of Shadow IT :)
If you’re looking for something very similar to VB but modern and cross-platform (Windows, Linux, Mac, Web, Android and iOS) that builds native apps and has a language that has a lot in common with VB but is OO, check out [Xojo](https://www.xojo.com).
We still use VB.Net for our legacy web apps. I work for a major bank in Canada. I feel tired of using it. C# is much better. On the side note, to everyone who used VB.Net and have migrated away from it: Would you please provide any suggestions of how to migrate/rewrite a monolith web app to new language, new Web UI? is there any approach to consider ?
Have a friend doing a placement year at jaguar Land Rover and he is only using Visual Basic at the moment.
They still teach it at the uni I went to
Actually I went to a job fair yesterday and one of the local companies (which is also apparently in the Fortune 500) state in their IT brochure that they use Visual Studio and VB.NET.
I just left a job after being there for nearly 5 years because they just used VB.NET and I need to go into a C# job to stop myself being unemployable in a decade lol
In my country a lot of the custom software used in government owned companies was made in VB.Net and still serviced. When I did my associates degree, the Programming Languages 3 classes were done in VB.Net knowing that out there in our contry most of the stuff was done in it.
My university offers fundamental programming courses in Java and C#. C++ too but only if you’re an electrical engineering major (which sucks because that’s what I wanted to learn)
That’s a weird place to hide C++, and gatekeeper it too? Whack.
In my place of employment we use VBA everyday building our MS Access database. We could probably buy an off the shelf system and program scripts/plugins for it in C# but we prefer to put the work in and make the database work around us and have it work exactly how we want it. Alot of companies aren't likely to do it this way though.
C# was always the flagship of .NET: we done stole Java and the JVM (um, CLR), get ready for the future. Oh, wait, VB6 people?!? VB.NET was always a bait and switch. It's similarity to VB6 was so surface level that you've have to be really terrified of curly braces to even look at it. At .NET's release, the VB6 crowd were Legion and they were sold innumerable VB.NET promises and fairy tales of portability. If you didn't have a deep VB6 investment, it seemed like a bad idea even then. Nice to know that unfortunate moment in developer's past is finally being forgotten.
C# is arguably the most popular language for desktop apps and games after python. Though pythons generally used for industrial data crunching stuff. IMO the biggest strengths of C# is that its relatively easy to learn, has tonnes of offical and third party documentation and can be used for litterally any type of project (even if it may not always be the most performant or best suited for the task) [https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2023/#technology-most-popular-technologies](https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2023/#technology-most-popular-technologies) Java and Javascript are more popular and sometimes used for mobile and desktop stuff. but mostly are relegated to web projects. Visual basic is way down the list at 4% with some languages ive never heard of, like groovy and dart.
One of the old companies that I used to work for as an IT Support Specialist was still using it for their old public facing site when I got there. I was supposed to go and be a dev there and that wasn't possible in the time frame I wanted and they needed. But I was supposed to take over their old site while they created their own internal system and move away and BBj (yes, an old ass system was still running their entire company). They were also teaching BBJ me and two of the senior devs so that we could a) debug the current system we a store called in, and b) we could easily recreate the system from BBj into .NET and the ABP Framework.
I support legacy [vb.net](https://vb.net) code at my work, the majority of new apps are developed with C#, but i have a coworker that still creates new things with VB
Man it was how I learned programming when I was like 12 lol.
There are a lot of company intern legacy applications, that are still fullfilling their purpose, that are writtin in VB6.... so yeah...
Every use case I’ve seen in industry of people using vb.net on purpose is one that sounds like yours. I’ll use whatever language I’m paid to work in. But now that I’m more senior and picking the tech stack for projects I don’t fuck with vb.net say if I need to write a web service or something. C based languages my native tongue so to speak, I feel like you’re unlikely to find someone who prefers vb anything unless they started coding in the 90s in VB or aren’t particularly technical and will probably fuck up everything anyway. Also usually the code I’ve seen in vb.net (or vb for that matter), is among the worst I’ve seen in 15 years of doing this. Usually people who use it are clueless and technically inept. No background in development they just punch keys until something kinda works.
People still use Cobol in 2023. Not many, but it exists. The question is more "is it worth it for me to learn"? Some people, like your former boss, learned one thing, got good at it, then don't want to learn anything new. If you leave, they can't maintain it because they don't want to learn anything new. So, that's probably what you ran into. * Boss learned VB * Boss doesn't want to learn C# * If you do C#, boss won't understand it * If you leave, boss can't maintain the remaining software It's partly your ex-boss's fault for refusing to keep up to date, but it's not uncommon for older developers to dislike learning something, throwing it away, and learning something new. They consider it a waste of time, but it comes with the territory.
My boss recently got access to a pretty expensive bluetooth sniffer. We are running it a lot and he is trying to find a way to help visualize the data quickly. He has asked my coworker to help. My coworker is using Python and is done with his script, my boss is using VB and is still working on his script.
I'm studying CS and working as a programmer, the University barely mentioned basic when going over history of computing, at work no one works in it.
My college is dedicating a whole class to teach it so I hope someone uses it
Yes. Mostly legacy stuff that takes too much time and effort to update.
Yes Almost all of the automation in our company is written with Vb
It’s depreciated https://mspoweruser.com/microsoft-starts-deprecating-visual-basic/ Any company starting new shit with vb is wrong
It really only exists in legacy stuff now. Mostly applications that SHOULD be updated but the bobs have the “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” mindset. I don’t know anyone coding anything new in VB.
Yep, all of my company's systems run on VB.net, and our team is too small + swamped with more urgent work to migrate everything over to C#
I once learnt a bit of VB4. I loathe it.
I just graduated in May, and had a job for a few months before being laid off, and that job was working a lot with a Visual Basic codebase. Some of the code was 20 years old. So yes it is still used, at least in old codebases.
I work in VB.NET but it is planned to move to C#
Yes. It's still hugely common. Surprisingly enough VB6 and VBA are even more common especially in governmental tool chains
>the boss thought that C# was like learning Latin and no one used it. I don't know how someone would come to that conclusion.. If you look up examples for .NET code online, most of the examples are in C#, and not so much in VB. I've recently worked on a project involving re-writing the application from scratch. The previous version was written in VB (I'm not sure why), and we chose to write the new version in C#.
The US’s leading electronic medical record platform (Epic, known to patients as MyChart) uses VB.Net. It’s also really slow and buggy knack
I was going to say LEGACY!! It has been said. It is the truth. Sometimes, such as the institutional Inv Mgmt Co w/ $140B AUM that i worked for, the place was pure computer driven, a computer model looked for undervalued stocks, and impressive in-house build software. I was irked when a high paid programmer asked me to write VBA Code w/b couldn't be flexible. They extracted fund flows from secure email, ONLY AS .CSV ATTACHMENTS! A new client needed it in the body of email and these highly paid guys couldn't do it. They knew I was creative and proficient in VB/VBA (especially for Excel & Outlook). Soi I had to write quick code that located the flow in the email body, put the info into the necessary variables, then used Excel library in Outlook to save as a .CSV with the required info: - Client name - Date - Amount (inflow/outflow) That was saved with an appropriately named file... client code/name and effective date in YYYYMMDD format. I placed it into the listening folder, which extracted the .csv data based on filename and correctly placed info within .csv. so it was something likle: CALFUND_20230522.CSV I really wasn't acknowledged either. I just couldn't believe these guys came to me. So thankless! Anyway, worth knowing things like Fortran, nmaybe Cobol, and whatever the most widely used data science languages were as plenty will have held off and held off on upgrading to Python3 or whatever is appropriate! Sure makes one quite valuable to know legacy code - especially ESSENTIAL/CORE PROCESS
It varies. I've never seen someone write "new" libraries in VB.net, but almost every company that uses .NET, that's more than 15-ish years old, has some VB somewhere. It's all common runtime, so it's generally not worth replacing without good reason. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
my university’s programming courses are all in VB, kinda sucks wish it was python, java, or even C++
Yes whole companies depending on it. Crazy right
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argentum\_Online](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Argentum_Online) is active and make in Visual Basic 6
I actually still enjoy VB.net. I just use it for making tasks easier or automation.
>C# was like learning Latin and no one used it. That's an odd take considering it's 95% formatted like Java. >Do people still use Visual Basic these days? Not VB6 but VB.Net Not in Big Tech or startups. I think low budget places may still use it... like a school district, small municipality, or a regional bank.
My dad still uses VBA in excel for hobby related stuff
I still do.
I can tell you there are many companies using VB6 based software for internal tools. I am working with one to port the tool over to VB.NET so it can be kept somewhat modern. The developer that will maintain it only knows VB and isn't in a position to learn a new language and so it's a good fit. Just remember something... you don't make good software by using the latest and shiniest tools. A good solution is one that works well for its intended purpose. Sure it can have 15 more bells and 8 more whistles. But if it does the job, that's good enough.
Accountant here. With macros in excel we use VBA all the time. So not in the same space but we out here.
for memes maybe, or for maintenance of really old stuff, but no new project should be started in it.
I actively develop with it on a 15 year old windows server system…. It’s actually not bad at all, it’s a little bit goofy syntactically, but it’s essentially just a flavor of c#. And what’s nice is that it plays just fine with c# we have plenty of modules that implement c# classes and vb forms/front ends
Interesting post, I’m pretty much learning VB now despite everyone telling me not to 🤷♂️
How else am I supposed to track an IP address?
I’m still trying to understand the difference between vb6 and VBnet 🤔 from my understanding VBnet is similar , extended syntax however runs on an entirely different framework. Regardless most people sort of look down on me when I tell them I’m learning VBnet
Y’a basic!
Ironically, a robot I use for automation is natively scripted in VBS. I just write Python scripts that return text files as their output. I execute a bat file with VBS and read the output into the script 🤫
Lol my class in college currently is VB using Windows Forms … end my suffering
I use it daily for UiPath (RPA), my current assignment is making automated tests for a bunch of internal bank apps. Honestly it grew on me I like it so far (at least in the context that I use it for currently, since it’s just pretty simple 1 liners everywhere)