This article is about the Visual Basic language shipping with Microsoft Visual Studio 6.0 or earlier. For the Visual Basic language shipping with Microsoft Visual Studio .NET or later, see Visual Basic .NET . Visual Basic Paradigm Object-based and Event-driven Appeared in 1991 ( 1991 ) Developer Microsoft Stable release VB6 (1998) Typing discipline Static , strong Influenced by QuickBASIC Influenced Visual Basic .NET , Gambas , REALbasic , Basic4ppc OS Microsoft Windows , MS-DOS Website msdn.microsoft.com Visual Basic ( VB ) is the third-generation event-driven programming language and integrated development environment (IDE) from Microsoft for its COM programming model. VB is also considered a relatively easy to learn and use programming language, because of its graphical development features and BASIC heritage. [ 1 ] Visual Basic was derived from BASIC and enables the rapid application development (RAD) of graphical user i...