Visual Basic is a third generation event-driven programming language. The Microsoft Corporation released Visual Basic in 1987. It was indeed the first visual development tool from Microsoft. Visual Basic was derived from BASIC and enables rapid application development of graphical user interface applications, access to databases using DAO, RDO, or ADO, and creation of ActiveX controls and objects. The language not only allows Visual Basic programmers to create simple GUI applications, but also helps them develop quite complex applications. Visual Basic allows developers to target Windows, Web, and mobile devices.

Programming in Visual Basic is a combination of visually arranging components on a form, specifying attributes and actions of those components. Since the default attributes and actions ought to be defined for the components, it is very simple to write a program without the help of a Visual Basic programmer. Forms can be created using drag and drop techniques. Visual Basic provides many interesting sets of tools to help you in building exciting and entertaining applications. It provides these tools to make your life easier, since the entire coding is already written for you. Moreover, it is a user friendly language which is very effective and efficient. A tool is used to place controls such as text boxes, buttons, etc on the form window. Default values will be provided when a control is created, but it can be changed by the Visual Basic programmer.

Visual Basic is not only a programming language, but it also has a complete graphical development environment. Visual Basic has the ability to develop programs that can be used as a front end application to a database system, and serving as the user interface which collects input from the user and displays formatted output in an attractive format. As the Visual Basic programmer works in the graphical environment, much of the program code is automatically generated by the Visual Basic program. The main object in Visual Basic is called a form. Once you create forms, you can change the properties using properties window. Finally, you can add events to your controls. Events are responses to actions performed on controls.

Using Visual Basic's tools, you can quickly translate an abstract idea into a program design which you can actually see on the screen. VB encourages you to experiment, revise, correct, and network your design until the project meets your requirements. Visual Basic Programmer use the language in different areas such as Education, Business, Accounting, Marketing and Sales. Visual Basic supports a number of common programming constructs and language elements. Once you understand the basics of the language, you can create powerful applications using Visual Basic.

Visual Basic can create executables i.e. EXE files, ActiveX controls, but it is primarily used to develop Windows applications. It is also used to interface web database systems. This generation of Visual Basic continues the tradition of giving you a faster and easier way to create .NET framework-based applications. Visual Basic also fully integrates the .NET framework and the common language runtime, which provide language interoperability, garbage collection, enhanced security, and versioning support.