# How to get the older visual basic



## DrPepper (Sep 22, 2008)

Ok I started doing coding in school and we use visual basic and its the kinda older version which I'm really used to, so I downloaded visual basic express or whatever it is and its really annoying for me since the tool bars etc have all been moved about. Is there anywhere I can get the older version.


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## Wozzer (Sep 23, 2008)

There probably is some way but why not have the latest ?

Yeah, sure the toolbars have moved about a bit - but they've moved to be improved ?


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## Lillebror (Sep 23, 2008)

You proberly use vb6, while visual basic express is vb.net  maybe you can get the version from your school?


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## Kreij (Sep 23, 2008)

If I am not mistaken the first free version that Microsoft made available was Visual Basic Express 2005. I do not think there was a free version of VB6.

They have made so many improvements in the IDE (Visual Studio) that I would also recommend using VS2008 and getting comfortable with it. It is worth the effort.

Just my 2 cents.


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## DrPepper (Sep 23, 2008)

it was vb5 I had used in school. The reason I don't want to use the new version is because my exam will be done in vb five.


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## Kreij (Sep 23, 2008)

I think Lillebror is right. You will probably have to get a copy from the school (if they have them available for home use).


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## DrPepper (Sep 23, 2008)

Kreij said:


> I think Lillebror is right. You will probably have to get a copy from the school (if they have them available for home use).



My teacher told me that I could get it from the website so, I'l try there  One more question but is there any good easy programs I could make for practice you know like a calculator.


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## Kreij (Sep 23, 2008)

DrPepper said:


> My teacher told me that I could get it from the website so, I'l try there  One more question but is there any good easy programs I could make for practice you know like a calculator.



There is also a free download of VB5 : Control Creation Edition. It is not100% compatible with the full version of VB5 (see link for some details).

What level of programming are you expected to do? Just console output type stuff, or GUI stuff also?  A calculator is always good practice, but a bit tedious IMO.


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## DrPepper (Sep 23, 2008)

Kreij said:


> There is also a free download of VB5 : Control Creation Edition. It is not100% compatible with the full version of VB5 (see link for some details).
> 
> What level of programming are you expected to do? Just console output type stuff, or GUI stuff also?  A calculator is always good practice, but a bit tedious IMO.



I've already done a calculator  Just loooking for something to do about that level. 

Edit: Excellent find kriej  that's exactly what I'm used to.


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## iStink (Sep 23, 2008)

Why is your school teaching you VB5? Tell those people to move on to VB.net 2008 and teach you LINQ.


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## Kreij (Sep 23, 2008)

How about a dice rolling program? That is a little more fun and incorporates the additional aspect of random number generation and you can present the statistical odds of a given roll based on the number of dice used (if you want).


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## DrPepper (Sep 23, 2008)

iStink said:


> Why is your school teaching you VB5? Tell those people to move on to VB.net 2008 and teach you LINQ.



Teacher said that they would have to rewrite the whole course notes to adjust to VB 2008 and that they found it annoying and not worth upgrading to.



Kreij said:


> How about a dice rolling program? That is a little more fun and incorporates the additional aspect of random number generation and you can present the statistical odds of a given roll based on the number of dice used (if you want).



Hmm interesting  I might try that.


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## Kreij (Sep 23, 2008)

DrPepper said:


> Teacher said that they would have to rewrite the whole course notes to adjust to VB 2008 and that they found it annoying and not worth upgrading to.



Read: "We don''t know how to use it ourselves and are too lazy to learn it." :shadedshu


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## Oliver_FF (Sep 23, 2008)

Back in the day i wrote some programs to solve quadratic equations and simultaneous equations 

Then did some text encryption stuffs, that went a lot further and i hit the limit of what you can do in VB, moved to C++


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## Lillebror (Sep 23, 2008)

Thats.. a lame school? Teaching you stuff, thats not even useable in a modern world


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## Kreij (Sep 23, 2008)

The concepts of VB5 are still relevant today, it just doesn't make any sense to be teaching students on software that is 5 generations back.


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## DrPepper (Sep 23, 2008)

Kreij said:


> The concepts of VB5 are still relevant today, it just doesn't make any sense to be teaching students on software that is 5 generations back.



They won't upgrade because we are moving to a new school and the computers will be thrown out so upgrading is pointless atm.


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## Kreij (Sep 23, 2008)

DrPepper said:


> They won't upgrade because we are moving to a new school and the computers will be thrown out so upgrading is pointless atm.



Yes, but their software became obsolete in September of 1998 when VB6 was released.
Has that been their excuse for the last 10 years? 

I am not just beating up on your school. Any educational institution that teaches programming that is not at least on the previous version (in this case VS2005) deserves a 

Microsoft makes the acedemic versions dirt cheap and if they have no budget at all they can use the express versions. There are really no good excuses, IMO.


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## DrPepper (Sep 23, 2008)

Good point  I'm not too proud of my school anyway  I insisted I sat computing at intermediate two instead of one ( two being better than one ) and they claimed I would not be able to keep up with it since I failed higher english, several weeks in and straight A's in all my tests and I have the highest mark of all the classes


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## Jacko28 (Sep 24, 2008)

If your still looking to download it you can get it for free from the Microsoft page, however you'll have to do abit more searching due to 2008 being the first thing to come up nowadays  

You can use it for 30 days after then you shall have to register, it's all free so not much of a problem.


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## Moose (Sep 24, 2008)

You could probably also get it from less "legitimate" corners of the internet.


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## DrPepper (Sep 24, 2008)

I thought visual basic was free anyway.


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## Lillebror (Sep 24, 2008)

It is, but there are "pro" versions of everything nowadays


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## DrPepper (Sep 24, 2008)

I don't need pro  because im a noob.


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## Kreij (Sep 25, 2008)

DrPepper said:


> I don't need pro  because im a noob.



LOL ... That has nothing to do with it, DP, the Pro versions have better debugging tools and those are something you should learn to use right from the start. Learning good debugging techniques will save you lots of headaches in the future.


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## DrPepper (Sep 25, 2008)

i thought the only difference was the pro version had a compiler


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## Kreij (Sep 25, 2008)

VB5 : Control Creation Edition has no compiler.

The other versions differ as such ...


> Visual Basic 5 comes in three flavours: the Standard or Learning edition, the Professional edition and the Enterprise edition. The Professional edition contains everything in the Learning edition plus additional ActiveX controls including Internet controls and Crystal Report Writer. The Enterprise edition contains everything in the Professional edition plus the Automation Manager, the Component Manager, database management tools and Microsoft Visual SourceSafe project orientated version control system. It should be noted that Visual Basic 5 is a 32-bit only program and will not run in Windows 3.1. It will only run in Windows 95 and Windows NT or greater.



It appears that the debugging stuff is the same throughout. My mistake.
Even in VS2008 the Standard and Pro versions are almost identical as far as I can tell.


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## iStink (Sep 25, 2008)

I remember when I was in 6th grade you could find free copies of VB3pro all over the place.  16bit apps.  those were the days.


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## Moose (Sep 27, 2008)

*says iStink waving his walking stick* lol


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