5 Advantages and Disadvantages of Visual Basic | Limitations & Benefits of Visual Basic

Being developed by Microsoft, Visual Basic is a programming language which allows to create web applications with the help of Graphical User Interface (GUI). It accepts user instructions through English like commands. 

Visual Basic is known as an "event driven" language since each object in the program performs different functions. It is based on Object Oriented Programming (OOP) approach. At the time of its release, VB is acknowledged as the fastest growing language language in the world. 

Furthermore, the concept of Rapid Application Development (RAD) was first implemented in Visual Basic. Since then other advanced languages like C, C++, Java and Pascal have all started experimenting this idea. Al though Visual Basic is one of the widely used programming languages, it aren't flawless. Take into consideration all the pros and cons when evaluating Visual Basic.

In this article, I will be mentioning about 5 Advantages and Disadvantages of Visual Basic | Limitations & Benefits of Visual Basic. From this post, you will know the pros and cons of Visual Basic.

Let's get started,

Advantages of Visual Basic

1. Simplicity

The simplicity of Visual basic lies within its structure. Particularly, through means of executable code. A beginner who is new to programming can easily understand this structure. Even though Microsoft made some changes to advance the design still the complexity is less. 

2. Performance

Visual basic makes it easy to produce Graphical User Interface (GUI) with the use of Rapid Application Development (RAD) . One such example is the web interface. The effectiveness of RAD in Visual basic is much higher than other programming languages. This makes it recommended for GUI based applications. 

3. Learning Curve

Another benefit of Visual basic is its steep learning curve. As the name implies, it offers basic level of terminologies which is understandable even for an amateur programmer. The syntax is particularly less complicated. For people who struggle to catch up this language can make use of online forums, blog posts and tutorials.

4. Applicability

The .NET environment from which the Visual basic is created is a common platform for all Microsoft Visual languages. Hence, most functions that works in Visual basic will perform the same in other languages too. 

5. Versatility

The versatility of Visual basic makes it able to be used along with other programming languages, When there is a requirement of creating webpages, VB allows it to be combined with JavaScript or XML platforms. This kind of integration is what makes browsers load webpages quicker.

Disadvantages of Visual Basic

1. Memory Consumption

As mentioned earlier Visual basic is o based on GUI. The graphical components present in VB consumes large amount of space. As a result, a separate memory space needs to be allocated for installation. This essence means more memory and hard disk storage capacity.

2. Array Declaration

Declaration of Array is a major drawback of Visual basic. When the development of a program is in the declaration stage, there is no means to initialize an array structure. This is fairly a simple process in programming languages like C. 

3. Platform Support

Visual basic is an exclusive product of Microsoft. So the applications are guaranteed to work only on windows operating system. The support is very limited when it comes to other platforms.

4. Library Requirement

The codes of Visual basic are compiled into IL. If not the application cannot be interpreted. Each IL file consumes large amount of hard drive space and increasing the processing time. And also, finding these libraries isn't a hassle free process. Very limited number of sites supply these files.

5. Customization

Visual basic also imposes restrictions when it comes to customization. The programmers cannot customize their functions and variables once the development stage is over.