1.

1 The concept of computer programming

Before we begin Visual Basic 6 programming, let us understand some basic concepts of
programming. According to Webopedia, a computer program is an organized list of instructions
that, when executed, causes the computer to behave in a predetermined manner. Without
programs, computers are useless. Therefore, programming means designing or creating a set of
instructions to as the computer to carr! out certain "obs which normall! are ver! much faster
than human beings can do.
A lot of people thin that computer #$% is a ver! intelligent thing, which in actual fact it is a
dumb and inanimate ob"ect that can do nothing without human assistance. The microchips of a
#$% can onl! understand two distinct electrical states, namel!, the on and off states, or & and '
codes in the binar! s!stem. (o, the #$% onl! understands a combinations of & and ' codes, a
language which we called machine language. )achine language is extremel! difficult to learn
and it is not for us to master it easil!. *ortunatel!, we have man! smart programmers who
wrote interpreters and compilers that can translate human language+lie programs such as
BA(,# into machine language so that the computer can carr! out the instructions entered b!
the users. )achine language is nown as the primitive language while ,nterpreters and
compilers lie Visual Basic are called high+level language. (ome of the high level computer
languages beside Visual Basic are *ortran, #obol, -ava, #, #.., Turbo $ascal, and etc .
1.2 What is Visual Basic?
VISUAL BASIC is a high level programming language that helps one to develop sophisticated,
graphical applications that can be run on )icrosoft Windows environment. Visual Basic is
actuall! BA(,# language, which is usual in its nature. ,n general, Visual is a method used to
create /%, 0/raphical %ser ,nterface1 applications rather than writing numerous lines of code to
describe the appearance, functioning etc. of the application2s interface.
which evolved from the earlier 34( version called BA(,#. BASIC means Beginners5 All+
purpose S!mbolic Instruction Code. ,t is a ver! eas! programming language to learn. The code
loos a lot lie 6nglish 7anguage. 3ifferent software companies produced different versions of
BA(,#, such as )icrosoft 8BA(,#, 8%,#9BA(,#, /WBA(,#, ,B) BA(,#A and so on. :owever,
people prefer to use )icrosoft Visual Basic toda!, as it is a well developed programming
language and supporting resources are available ever!where. ;ow, there are man! versions of
VB exist in the maret, the most popular one and still widel! used b! man! VB programmers is
none other than Visual Basic 6. We also have VB.net, VB<&&=, VB<&&> and the latest VB<&'&.
Both Vb<&&> and VB<&'& are full! ob"ect oriented programming 044$1 language.
V,(%A7 BA(,# is a V,(%A7 and event driven $rogramming 7anguage. These are the main
divergence from the old BA(,#. ,n BA(,#, programming is done in a text+onl! environment and
the program is executed se?uentiall!. ,n VB, programming is done in a graphical environment.
,n the old BA(,#, !ou have to write program code for each graphical ob"ect !ou wish to displa!
it on screen, including its position and its color. :owever, ,n VB , !ou "ust need to drag and drop
an! graphical ob"ect an!where on the form, and !ou can change its color an! time using the
properties windows.
4n the other hand, because the user ma! clic on a certain ob"ect randoml!, so each ob"ect
has to be programmed independentl! to be able to response to those actions 0events1.
Therefore, a VB $rogram is made up of man! subprograms, each has its own program code,
and each can be executed independentl! and at the same time each can be lined together in
one wa! or another