Since VB defines default attributes and actions for the components, a programmer can develop a simple program without writing much code. Programming in VB is a combination of visually arranging components or controls on a form, specifying attributes and actions for those components, and writing additional lines of code for more functionality. Programmers can create both simple and complex GUI applications. Like the BASIC programming language, Visual Basic was designed to have an easy learning curve. A dialect of Visual Basic, Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), is used as a macro or scripting language within several Microsoft and ISV applications, including Microsoft Office. Visual Basic 6.0 was selected as the most dreaded programming language by respondents of Stack Overflow's annual developer survey in 2016, 2017, and 2018. In 2016, Visual Basic 6.0 won the technical impact award at The 19th Annual D.I.C.E. In 2014 some developers lobbied for a new version of the VB6 programming environment. In 2014, some software developers still preferred Visual Basic 6.0 over its successor, Visual Basic. The Microsoft Visual Basic team still maintains compatibility for Visual Basic 6.0 applications through its 'It Just Works' program on supported Windows operating systems.

On April 8, 2008, Microsoft stopped supporting Visual Basic 6.0 IDE. The final release was version 6 in 1998 (now known simply as Visual Basic).

Programs written in Visual Basic can also make use of the Windows API, which requires external functions declarations. Over time the community of programmers developed third-party components. A programmer can create an application using the components provided by the Visual Basic program itself. Visual Basic was derived from BASIC and enables the rapid application development (RAD) of graphical user interface (GUI) applications, access to databases using Data Access Objects, Remote Data Objects, or ActiveX Data Objects, and creation of ActiveX controls and objects. Microsoft intended Visual Basic to be relatively easy to learn and use. User:RMCD bot/subject notice Visual Basic (also referred to as Classic Visual Basic) is a third-generation event-driven programming language from Microsoft known for its Component Object Model (COM) programming model first released in 1991 and declared legacy during 2008.

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