Start Programming For Free with Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition

In the old days, personal computers always came with a free programming language, usually BASIC. You could type in your own programs and make your computer do anything you wanted. Then Windows came along. Microsoft didn't include a free way of programming Windows. They created a simple update of the old BASIC language for beginners, called Visual Basic. It would let you create programs for Windows, including buttons to click on, boxes to display text in and dialogs that pop up and tell the user something. There was a catch. Visual Basic cost money.

Now things have changed for the better. Microsoft have created a new, improved version of Visual Basic called Visual Basic 2005, and released a simplified version for beginners and hobbyists called Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition. This version is available as a free download. You can use it to write your own Windows programs, and even sell them to other people, without paying Microsoft a single penny!

Visual Basic 2005 Express is a good choice if you want to start programming Windows. Not only is it free, but it is widely used, so there are a huge number of websites and forums where you can find free tutorials and advice. There are also a lot of cheap books aimed at beginners. Many large companies write their own software using the professional version of Visual Basic, so you could even make money with your new programming skills.

To save on typing, from now on I'll abbreviate Visual Basic 2005 to VB2005.

You program VB2005 through the Visual Studio Integrated Development Environment (IDE). This helps you create your programs. First, design the look of your program's main window by simply dragging and dropping controls such as text boxes and buttons for the user to click. Then write the "code", that is the program itself. To set what happens when a user clicks a button, you simply double-click on that button and you are automatically taken to the code editor. Here, you type in the instructions to tell Windows what to do.

The Visual Studio IDE is there to help you. It will underline mistakes in the same way as your spell-checker does, and it will suggest options to help you decide what to type. This hand holding process will be a great help to you as a beginner.

What kind of program can you write with VB2005? Just about anything you want! You can look up databases, or play sound files, or even upload and download files to and from the internet. VB2005 uses Microsoft's .NET framework, which gives you a large number of ready to use functions that you can add to your program. These mean that most of the really difficult programming is already done for you.

Programming requires concentration and a positive attitude, but it is logical. If you can think things through logically, you can write a computer program. You're never too old to start learning. If you took computer programming classes at high school, you're already half way there.

Obviously, programming a computer isn't for everyone, but with Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition, it is a lot simpler than you think. It won't cost you a penny, so why not give it a try?