Sr Visual Basic Developer

Role & responsibilities

1998

Timeline of VB6 and Its Evolution

VB6 Era (19982008)

• 1998

  : VB6 launched with powerful RAD (Rapid Application Development) capabilities, making it easy to build Windows applications with a drag-and-drop interface.

• 2008

  : Microsoft officially ended support for the VB6 IDE, although runtime support continued for legacy applications.

Transition to .NET

• Early 2000s

  : Microsoft introduced

  Visual Basic .NET (VB.NET)

  as part of the .NET Framework.
• VB.NET was a

  complete overhaul

  , introducing:
• Full

  object-oriented programming

  support

• Robust error handling

• Web development

  capabilities via ASP.NET

• Interoperability

  with other .NET languages like C#

VB6 vs VB.NET: Key Differences

Feature

VB6

VB.NET

Release Year

1998

2002

Platform

COM-based, Windows only

.NET Framework, cross-platform

Object-Oriented Support

Partial

Full

Error Handling

Basic (On Error)

Structured (Try...Catch)

Web Development

Limited

ASP.NET integration

Modern OS Compatibility

Poor

Excellent

Support Status

Discontinued (IDE)

Actively supported

Preferred candidate profile

Why VB6 Still Matters (to Some)

Despite its age, VB6 is still used in legacy systems across industries like healthcare, finance, and manufacturing. Reasons include:

• Stability and reliability of existing applications
• High cost and complexity of migration
• Familiarity for long-time developers

Migration Challenges and Modernization

Migrating from VB6 to VB.NET or other platforms involves:

• Code rewrites

  due to syntax and architecture differences

• Training

  developers on new paradigms

• Compatibility fixes

  for modern OS and hardware

Many businesses now opt for:

• VB.NET for smoother transition
• C# for broader ecosystem
• ASP.NET Core or .NET MAUI for web and cross-platform apps