Accurate frame timing in Visual Basic
How to improve the accuracy of timed events under Windows. The code snippet is in Visual Basic, but the principles apply to all Windows programming languages
Complete Beginners Tutorial
Completely new to Visual Basic? Overwhelmed with the confusing instructions? Read this tutorial and get a head start - learn what VB is, what you can do with it, how much it costs, and how to get star
Counting the statements
Did you ever need to count the lines in a program? To measure the size of an application and to evaluate the work done, count the statements, not the lines.
Dead code detection and removal
Dead code means unnecessary, inoperative code that can be and
should be removed. The opposite of dead code is live,
operational code. You can significantly improve a program's
quality by removing dead code. While the functionality won't
change, it will improve the internal quality the quality of
the source code. This will help in maintenance by decreasing
the maintained code size, making it easier to understand the
program and preventing bugs from being introduced.
Gambas: Gambas Almost Means BASic
Gambas is the visual basic tool in Linux. It is a RAD that allows you to connect to a database in 10 min and design a movie player in 2 minutes.It is not a clone of visual basic and it is far interesting than visual basic. Just found it interesting!!!! So try out...
Good Programming Techniques
We all want to build correct, robust, expandable and reusable
software. We should be conscious that the best road to achieve
it, is in fact in making a quality programming. The objective
of the present article is to present in a simple, informal and
not too much ordinate way, some particular techniques, as well
as other general ones, for the exercise of a good codification.
Legacy code analysis
Aargh! I just inherited a mess of projects from a team who left the company 3 years ago. I can't even touch that code without breaking anything. What do I do know? Cross-references, call trees, called-by lists, flowcharts and metrics are useful techniques for understanding existing legacy applications.
Microsoft's VB Virtual Machine Implementation
This article describes Microsoft’s Virtual Machine for the Visual Basic language's x86 p-code implementation as it is used in Visual Basic.
Performance Testing Considerations
Performance is a 'must have' feature. No matter how rich your product is functionally, if it fails to meet the performance expectations of your customer the product will be branded a failure. Learn about the important things to consider when planning and executing performance testing.
Regular expressions - An introduction
Regular expressions are a pattern matching standard for string parsing and replacement. They are used on a wide range of platforms and programming environments. This article shows how to use the basic expressions.
Simulating User Actions
How to simulate user actions by sending keys, moving the mouse, clicking a button etc. Veryuseful for providing interactive program tutorials.
Stupid Keyboard Tricks
Many people don't realize that using the keyboard will make you a ton more productive than using a mouse to achieve the same goals. This is particularly true for the Visual Basic IDE. And even though most of the keyboard shortcuts are described in the help file, I see programmer after programmer using the mouse to do the keyboard's job. All these shortcuts apply to VB6. However, most of them will also work with VB5 and some will go even lower. So without further delay, here is your guide to being more productive. Later, check out the section on how to discover your own shortcuts.
Visual Basic 6 Naminig Conventions
This article covers naming conventions in detail. The choice of
names for code members can have a considerable influence on the
ease of understanding and maintenance costs for your Visual
Basic source code. Find out some of the techniques used by many
professional Visual Basic programmers to create code which is
easier to read, understand and maintain.
Visual Basic Cyclomatic Complexity
Research has shown that minimising complexity is a key to
writing high quality code. Find out the uses that cyclomatic
complexity can play in your development. Tips include: -
Identification of complex code. - Assessment of ease of
understanding. - Assessment of modification risk. - Assessment
of unit testing effort. - How to simplify complex code.
Writing a System Wide Macro Launcher
This article discusses how to create system wide hot keys to launch macros using the SpyWorks Windows hook control.
Writing comments in Visual Basic code
Comments are an ideal way to document source code. We present a lightweight comment format that is easy to learn, clear to read and powerful in describing procedures and modules. It also allows automatic document generation by a source code analyzer.
Writing self-documenting Visual Basic 6 code.
How to make your Visual Basic source code self-documenting and thereby make it easier to read, understand and maintain. Learn about how careful use of indentation and whitespace can improve code layout to make its logical structure more obvious. Learn how to write better comments and the importance of good naming conventions.
Yes, Virginia, Visual Basic is a Real Language
Once upon a time, there was a simple, interpreted language used for teaching new programmers called BASIC - the Beginner's All Purpose Symbolic
Instruction Code. Compared to modern standards, this was a very simplistic
language, with no compiler, no run times, no linking, and no GUI...
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