The demand for programmers continues to rise, and is projected to continue to rise by 30% by 2020.  It makes sense when both business and consumer has a relentless thirst for new technology, its inevitably programmers who are satisfying this thirst.   After 20 years as a programmer, I’d hoped that by now the teaching tools would help satisfy this burgeoning demand.  If anything the situation is getting worse and we programmers continue to make programming as inaccessible as we can.  Everyone can program!  It is not hard, it just needs explaining in the right context.   Programming has gone on a journey from the first programming languages, and this journey needs to be explained for a programmer to fully understand what they are doing and why they are doing it.   I’ll never forget the lightbulb moment when I “got” programming and what possessed me to write this tutorial was the lack of materials out there to really speed up that lightbulb moment.  You might have the next billion dollar idea but don’t know how to develop the solution.  You may be hoping for a career change and wish to take advantage of the boom in demand for skilled programmers.  You may already be a developer but want to learn Visual basic.  Or, you may just be interested to know what the heck programming is.  If any of the above applies to you then this Visual Basic tutorial is for you.

Since I developed this tutorial I’ve been asked why I chose Visual Basic.  There are far newer languages in fashion right now which everyone seems to be talking about.   First I chose Visual Basic as it is so simple to learn.  It’s almost English so it serves as a great introduction to the world of programming.  Secondly, Visual Basic has been one of the top 10 programming languages for over 20 years now.  However, as its not fashionable these days, it’s in a state of neglect for the new guys and the demand is still there.

That’s why I decided to write this tutorial in Visual Basic.  The demand is there but the materials, especially for the new developer, are so severely lacking.

Enjoy.