Visual Basic

All data within our computers is represented by microscopic electronic switches, which can be either on or off. 0 represents off switch while 1 represents on switch. The first programmers used to write programs using combinations of this 0s and 1s simply because a computer understands nothing but only these codes. Such instructions written in 0s and 1s are called machine language or machine code. Using this language is the only way to communicate with the computer directly. A slightly more advanced programming language uses mnemonic codes (mnemonics are memory aids). This language is called assembly language. An assembler is required to convert assembly instructions into machine code, which the computer can only understand. The next level languages, called high-level, allow the programmers to use codes that are more closely resemble to our universal language, the English language. These languages convert English-like instructions into machine codes by using either an interpreter or a compiler. In an interpreter, highlevel instructions are translated line by line as the program is running. On the other hand, compiler translates the entire program into machine codes before running it. Most of the high-level languages are procedure-oriented. How to accomplish a task is the emphasis of a program in a procedure oriented high-level language. Proper procedure is very important wherein the programmer must instruct the computer every step of the way, from the start of the task to its completion. The programmer takes control of the order in which the computer should process the instructions. Common Business Oriented Language (COBOL), Beginner's All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code (BASIC), Pascal and C languages are some of the popular procedure-oriented languages. Windows provides an easy-to-use GUI or graphical user interface in which a user can interact. This interface is common to all applications written for Windows environment. OOP or object-oriented programming simplified the task of programming applications for Windows. In object-oriented languages, the emphasis of the program is on the objects included in the user interface (such as buttons, textboxes, scroll bars) and the events (such as clicking, scrolling) that occur when those objects are used, that are why these languages are sometimes called event-driven languages. Visual BASIC and Visual FoxPro are just some of the popular object-oriented languages.

OBJECT-ORIENTED TERMINOLOGIES

OOP is an acronym for object-oriented programming which simply means that you are using an object-oriented language to create a program that contains one or more objects. On the other hand, OOD or object-oriented design is a design methodology used to plan object-oriented programs. OOD divides a problem into one or more objects. Anything than can be seen or touch is referred to as object.