difference between VBA and Visual Basic

[saravanan1981]

Hi,

Can anyone tell men the difference between VBA and VB?

Are they totally different?.

If totally different which one is advanced?

If I learn VB, will i be able to write code for excel VBA?

What is the basic requirement to lear VB/VBA? is it necessary to be a programmer?

How to learn VB/VBA step by step?

[Neil_]

VB has now been replaced by .NET framework. You need Visual Studio Express to create .NET projects. .NET projects are stand alone applications and whilst the editor and Syntax are similar to VBA, you have to code everything in a project yourself. Whilst you will learn to program, you won't learn anything about Excel's object model by learning .NET

VBA for applications uses the VB base language for automating the applications in Microsoft Office. Learning VBA will teach you all about the Office application's object models. You will earn how to integrate Excel with Emails, Access record sets with Excel spreadsheets and everything in between. Learning VBA won't teach you anything about creating stand alone applications in .NET.

Learning any language, .NET, C#, Java, Python, Fortran, VBA will make it easier to learn another. As syntax is similar between .NET and VBA, transitioning between the two would be less painful.

[Kyle123]

The biggest issue you'll have transitioning is that vba isn't really object orientated, vb is

[Neil_]

I can see this thread quickly turning into the merits of OOP, C vs C# et al. The OP probably won't have a clue what OOP is. VBA can be completely object oriented if you want to make it that way, class modules are available if you want to create them, Excel's entire object model from Application to Cell.ColorIndex is object oriented, it's just that people learn initially from recorded macros which are inevitably script style and continue to program in that vein. Also, as VBA routines are generally small, there is little incentive to code with your OOP hat on.

[Kyle123]

I can see this thread quickly turning into the merits of OOP, C vs C# et al. The OP probably won't have a clue what OOP is. VBA can be completely object oriented if you want to make it that way, class modules are available if you want to create them, Excel's entire object model from Application to Cell.ColorIndex is object oriented, it's just that people learn initially from recorded macros which are inevitably script style and continue to program in that vein. Also, as VBA routines are generally small, there is little incentive to code with your OOP hat on.

How does one perform inheritance in VBA (discounting interface inheritance)? That's a core requirement for something to be "completely" object orientated. To be explicit, I'm not VBA bashing/spouting the merits of OOP, VBA is simple and useful for automation as you describe, but getting one's head around OOP coming from a VBA background is significantly harder than learning loops, the danger with VB.Net is that it sort of looks like VBA/VB6 but doesn't behave like it leading to frustration. I know developers who jumped to C# from VB6 simply because of this.

If I didn't like VBA, I wouldn't hang round here and I agree with 99% of what you said

[Doc.AElstein]

Hi saravanan1981,
Adding a Layman’s input / answers to some of your questions:
( _...._... I started as a complete computer idiot a couple of years ago ....
I learnt some basic computing 25 years ago, Pascal, Fortran, Basic etc..
I hit “OOP” ( Object Orientated Programming ) for the first time a couple of years ago..
The only course available to me was a short Night School Course titled "VB/ Programming/ OOP". It was a basic introduction to programming. It used Visual Basic 2010.
I found OOP weird, but got used to it....._....)

Can anyone tell me the difference between VBA and VB?
Are they totally different?.
If totally different which one is advanced?.......

My first PC had Office including VBA. Naively I thought it was the same as VB. From the laymen’s viewpoint, I found the Forms Side of VB ( which I think is what you usually learn first in VB ) very similar to the UserForms in VBA.
_..................................

..
Are they totally different?.
...If I learn VB, will i be able to write code for excel VBA?....?

The actual coding I found, as a Beginner, very similar. The Basic OOP Programming course in VB that I took part in got me started in VBA ( I note that technically VBA is not a OOP language, ( many experts have told me this, as discussed in this Thread ) but for a Beginner, for all intents and purposes, it appears so )

_...................................

....What is the basic requirement to lear VB/VBA? is it necessary to be a programmer?...

You will find that the Experts in this Forum range from very experienced professional programmers to people with no formal education in programming or in some case much education at all. It appears anyone can VBA !!

_...........................

....
How to learn VB/VBA step by step?

Most people will tell you that practice and participations in Excel Forums is the best way. But also some you Tube Videos can be helpful:
http://www.excelforum.com/showthread...00#post4272300

If you attend any introduction course on programming that explains OOP and demonstrates basic coding techniques, such as looping, then that will get you started for both VBA or VB.
But I would keep in mind the important comments from the experts here, regarding the differences should you be considering a long term career in computing. Up until now, only very occasionally have things like VBA not being a true OOP language caused me a problem and frustrations. Mostly that was when delved a bit too deep for my abilities.
Thankfully , experts here were able to save me from drowning.

Alan

[Neil_]

As an aside, I think this must be one of the most common general questions asked when people start to get interested in programming through learning VBA. The biggest thing to consider is, whilst hacking a little code together in VBA to make you more productive at work is one thing, learning a programming language from scratch is another. If you are serious, you must understand that to do it properly, you will be committing months / years of your life to it, so make a decision based on how it will benefit you in the long run, and what you want to achieve in your career before committing. There are countless discussions on the internet about this, so do your research first. Many dis .NET as a kid's language, even though it compiles to to exactly the same code as C#. Others will dis C# as they say it is not portable and that you should learn C++. This may be the case, but there are plenty of job opportunities out there for C# [programmers] as this is the native language for Windows.

[Kyle123]

.net isn't a language, it's a framework. C# and VB both use .net and both compile to the same code so it's purely personal preference. I don't think there is such a thing as portable code (unless you are talking about truly trivial applications) the closest you'll get is something that runs in a vm so something like Java or JavaScript, but even then there are issues with it being portable.

[Neil_]

C++ is considered portable as the code you write will run on many platforms. It will run on Windows if you include the necessary libraries before compilation. C# uses libraries only compatible with Windows so is not considered portable.

I can see this thread quickly turning into the merits of OOP, C vs C# et al

I think it's time for me to duck out of this thread as I don't think I can contribute anything else meaningful to the OP's question.

[Kyle123]

That's not strictly true, have a look at https://www.microsoft.com/net/core

[jaheen100]

It wouldn't surprise me if MS didn't know either yet. I doubt they'll do anything as drastic as the change from XLM to VBA though. VB and VBA have become very useful since their inception. Probably the only thing to halt VB or VBA would be if everyone switched Operating Systems.