Learn to write code (Free MS Visual Studio Express)

[kiwi_2005]

Well theirs plenty of free ones out there for Linux etc but just a thought that Microsoft have put out the Express version of Visual Studio 2010 for free, no strings, no pay later. After you install you'll see the 30 day trial just register and your got this software forever.

Ive never gone further than creating a simple Hello World/shopping list windows or the odd silly click on 'Ok' and watch my window tell a joke or something with VB 6. VB is one of the easiest to learn so now with this Express updated for .net framework 4.0 there is no excuse. Get coding!

Limited in some ways but good enough for us newbies/students to play around with. Choose the All offline install ISO image option (680mb).

http://www.microsoft.com/express/Downloads/

How it all Started

Visual Basic was invented by Microsoft, but it's based on an early language called BASIC invented by Dartmouth College professors John G. Kemeny and Thomas E. Kurtz in 1964. Since C was invented almost ten years later, BASIC is one of the earliest computer languages. Every version of BASIC has been a revolutionary event in programming from the very beginning. In fact, the version of BASIC created by Microsoft founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen in February 1975 has an excellent claim to being the very first personal computer language. The first version was written in the native machine language of a machine that many consider to be the very first PC, the MITS Altair 8800. Since the first PC version was written directly in machine language, nothing else came before it, not even an assembler language.

The first version of Visual Basic came out in May of 1991. It was revolutionary because everyone could create Windows programs easily and quickly for the first time. Before Visual Basic, Windows programs were usually written using the complicated syntax of C++ and the even more complicated requirements of Windows. It was a tricky job for even the most experienced programmers. But Visual Basic opened Windows programming for everyone. That made it a key part of the amazing early success of Windows. People who didn't live through this era often don't understand that IBM and OS/2 had nearly all the money, most of the customers, and they made the computers. They had it all! Microsoft was a tiny, insignificant upstart by comparison. The programming universe was literally turned upside down when Windows and Visual Basic became the most successful software system in the world up to that time.

I did live through it and as I write these words, it's even hard for me to believe just how amazing that time was.

But Microsoft has never been a company that let history happen to them. They have always made their own history. In February 2002, Microsoft made a 300 billion dollar bet on a totally new technology base for their entire company. They called it .NET. Bill Gates, who usually says what he means, called .NET a "bet the company" move. If .NET had flopped, it probably would have been all over for Microsoft.

Some VB sites
http://www.vb6.us/
http://visualbasic.about.com/od/lear.../a/LVBE_L1.htm
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/cc136611.aspx
http://www.vbcode.com/