Visual Basic for Applications: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 17:38, 17 December 2024

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==Origins==

When personal computers were initially released in the 1970s and 1980s, they typically included a version of BASIC so that customers could write their own programs. Microsoft's first products were BASIC compilers and interpreters, and the company distributed versions of BASIC with MS-DOS (versions 1.0 through 6.0) and developed follow-on products that offered more features and capabilities (QuickBASIC and BASIC Professional Development System).

In 1989, Bill Gates sketched out Microsoft's plans to use BASIC as a universal language to embellish or alter the performance of a range of software applications on personal computersmicrocomputers.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gates |first1=Bill |last2=Halvorson |first2=Michael |last3=Rygmyr |first3=David |title=Learn BASIC Now |date=1989 |publisher=Microsoft Press |___location=Redmond, WA |pages=ix-x}}</ref> He also revealed that the installed base of active BASIC developersprogrammers was four million users, and that the languageBASIC was used three times more frequently than any other language on personal computersPCs.

When Visual Basic was released in 1991, it seemed logical to use Visual Basic as the universal programming language for applications. Until that time, each Microsoft application had its own macro language or automation technique, and theythe tools were largely incompatible. SeveralThe applications,first suchMicrosoft asapplication to debut VBA was Microsoft AccessExcel and5.0 in 1993, based on Microsoft WordVisual Basic 3.0. This spurred the development of numerous custom business applications, hadand the decision was made to release macroVBA languagesin deriveda fromrange structuredof BASICproducts.

The first Microsoft application to debut VBA was Microsoft Excel 5.0 in 1993.

==Design==