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Visual Basic was so good. Growing up all I knew was Windows, so being able to create fairly reasonable looking GUI apps at the time seemed like magic. I rememb

Visual Basic was so good. Growing up all I knew was Windows, so being able to create fairly reasonable looking GUI apps at the time seemed like magic. I remember building a "web browser" in VB, I put that in quotes because it was really just an IE webview/control wrapped in my own custom UI with features like not recording browser history. I remember making a "virus" and sending it to a mate, and when he opened it, you could send messages to him and open the CD drive on his computer. I remember making a lottery number generator program and sending it to my Dad. I even remember doing work experience in a computer repairs shop, the guy that ran it used to sell PCs with not so legit software on it and he got me a copy of Visual Basic 6.0, which was amazing at the time. Definitely attribute my interest in programming, computers and everything to VB, no matter how much its look down upon!

orthoxerox 4y ago
> I remember building a "web browser" in VB, I put that in quotes because it was really just an IE webview/control wrapped in my own custom UI with features like not recording browser history. Haha, I built one as well. Couldn't have the parents accidentally discover what sites their horny teenager visited when they were at work, even if all I could rely on with 21600bps was written smut.
heap_perms 4y ago
I did those things as well as a teenager. I wrote a tcpi/ip chat program and we used it in school to chat with each other. It all seemed like magic to me. I did the thing with opening the CD drive continuously in a loop, and sending this to friends. It was hilarious. Altough I'd never use it today, it still acted as a catalyser for my interest in programming and computers.
pcdoodle 4y ago
Remember being able to pause execution, check variables by hovering, changing the dang code and resuming like nothing happended? "Do you ever wish a = 2 and not 3? introducing, pause button, let's you add anything at anytime and we don't ask no questions!"
lappet 4y ago
whoa, I made a fake virus too! Mine would freeze the user's screen, and display a progress bar that their hard disk was being deleted. I shared it on download.com and got a few thousand downloads. VB6 was so much fun as a teenager. If you all know anything that is close to it please let me know!
sigmonsays 4y ago
i recall around the time windows released transparent windows API calls. I promptly wired them up into a VB6 app and could make any window I wanted transparent. VB6 Rocked.
sussmannbaka 4y ago
> I remember building a "web browser" in VB, I put that in quotes because it was really just an IE webview/control wrapped in my own custom UI with features like not recording browser history. Don’t sell yourself short, that’s how everyone seems to build browsers nowadays.

orthoxerox 4y ago

> I remember building a "web browser" in VB, I put that in quotes because it was really just an IE webview/control wrapped in my own custom UI with features like not recording browser history. Haha, I built one as well. Couldn't have the parents accidentally discover what sites their horny teenager visited when they were at work, even if all I could rely on with 21600bps was written smut.

heap_perms 4y ago

I did those things as well as a teenager. I wrote a tcpi/ip chat program and we used it in school to chat with each other. It all seemed like magic to me. I did the thing with opening the CD drive continuously in a loop, and sending this to friends. It was hilarious. Altough I'd never use it today, it still acted as a catalyser for my interest in programming and computers.

pcdoodle 4y ago

Remember being able to pause execution, check variables by hovering, changing the dang code and resuming like nothing happended? "Do you ever wish a = 2 and not 3? introducing, pause button, let's you add anything at anytime and we don't ask no questions!"

lappet 4y ago

whoa, I made a fake virus too! Mine would freeze the user's screen, and display a progress bar that their hard disk was being deleted. I shared it on download.com and got a few thousand downloads. VB6 was so much fun as a teenager. If you all know anything that is close to it please let me know!

sigmonsays 4y ago

i recall around the time windows released transparent windows API calls. I promptly wired them up into a VB6 app and could make any window I wanted transparent. VB6 Rocked.

sussmannbaka 4y ago

> I remember building a "web browser" in VB, I put that in quotes because it was really just an IE webview/control wrapped in my own custom UI with features like not recording browser history. Don’t sell yourself short, that’s how everyone seems to build browsers nowadays.