Which Visual Basic version?

Please help me decide which version of Visual Basic I would most likely need. I have been programming since the late 1960s (finally retired 13 years ago). Languages include BASIC, BASICA, FORTRAN, COBOL, QBASIC, and a smattering of Univac Assembler in 1970. I've just completed a 30-day trial run of Visual Basic 2005 Express from "freewarefiles.com," and am very pleased with what I've seen. By the way, I tried a 30-day trial of Macromedia Flash MX 2004 from PCWorld, but was not pleased with the results. I am NOT looking for "top of the line" stuff for corporate work. I want mainly to entertain myself and possibly put some stuff on a local website for others to have a look at. Expected projects include a Roman numeral converter; the card game Concentration; other card games; a math quiz; a "disk stacker" game; and any other that I may think of. I did not see how to import images in VB2005, but I'm sure there must be a way. I'll need to import (into "Resources" ??) a deck of cards one at a time which I'll access via the appropriate arrays for whatever game. I have the following programs which I've written in QBASIC (or converted from previous BASIC): Lottery Tracker; Beat the Computer to 100; Gasoline Usage Tracker; "Let It Ride" Poker; Birthday Duplication Recognition in a Crowd; Word Search (which I first wrote in FORTRAN with punch card input 34 years ago). I think I also might like to convert some of my personal Excel workbooks to something "prettier" in VB. I DO NOT plan to do any "web" programming, so I'm thinking VisualBasic.Net (or whatever it's called) is NOT for me. Not sure about Visual Studio because I've not seen how it works or what it does. So, what do you think I should buy? - Note: when I previewed this post I saw that several words were underlined and changed to green, but I don't know how to undo that little feature.

 

You may want to go to the below link. M$ has made available what they call Express Editions of their Visual Studio software at no charge. These aren't just evaluation copies, but are fully functional.
A quote from my MSDN email.

P.S. The email was dated 11-4-2005
http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/default.aspx

 

Thanks MarkP. Finally found time to check the link you provided. It seems the only VB that might interest me at this time is VB2005 for which the Express edition is downloadable. Of course, I've already done that. So now I'll have to find out where I can buy the full version of VB2005. Was sort of hoping that SOMEONE out there could recommend a specific version that would allow me to write the applications I want to play with.

 

71sigma,

The express edition of Visual Basic is the 'stand alone' edition. (the express edition is not a 'demo' and is fairly powerful) If you need more features for VB the next step up is Visual Studio Standard. See it HERE. You can compare the different editions HERE.
A little more info... this is the .net version of Visual Basic (as well as the other languages included in Visual Studio). Download the express edition from Microsoft, it is not time-limited, you get a full license. HTH

B

 

I thank both of you for your input. Before I received Mr.B's reply I had already ordered Visual Studio Standard 2005 from Amazon.com; expecting delivery after Labor Day. Sure hope it comes with enough documentation to get me started (even if it is embedded). The comparison link was very informative, Mr.B.

 

71sigma,

There will be plenty of documentation that comes with VisualStudio. You can also find the most up to date documentation online through the MSDN Library. I don't know if Microsoft still offers a 'library' subscription separately anymore. They would send the updated help files (plus a ton of other information) on disk every month. I don't think they offer this anymore, but you can find all the information online at the MSDN website for *free*. There is also a very active MSDN forum where you can ask questions (or just 'lurk' and glean a wealth of information).
Enjoy.

B