Chapter 2. Knowing the Basics
Visual Basic comes from a long line of Basics. In fact, BASIC was Microsoft’s first product. Bill Gates and Paul Allen developed a BASIC interpreter for use on the Altair personal computer in their Harvard dorm rooms many years ago.
Tip
Back at Microsoft, I got to play a small role in the evolution of computer languages. I was the guy who changed BASIC to Basic. Death to acronyms!
The Visual Basic language is distinct from the objects, properties, and methods that Excel provides. If you know Visual Basic, you can program Word or PowerPoint, or even Windows. I’ll teach you the fundamental elements of the language here.
Tip
Code used in this chapter and additional samples are available in ch02.xls.
Get Programming Excel with VBA and .NET now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
