Is there any way to write programs in Visual Basic without buying a
Visual Dev Studio or whatever it's called from Microsoft for over
$1000?  I am a retired programmer.  I just want to write one little
program for a friend of mine, but I don't want to pay more than $20 to
be able to do it!

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Request for Question Clarification by palitoy-ga on 05 Nov 2005 10:46 PST

I used to use SharpDevelop to write programs when Visual Basic would
suffice.  Is this an acceptable solution for your question?

http://www.icsharpcode.net/opensource/sd/

Another alternative would be to buy an older version of the software
from somewhere like eBay.  It is always possible to pick this up
cheaply from someone on their site.

palitoy-ga

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Clarification of Question by mrbandrews-ga on 06 Nov 2005 10:23 PST

Hi Palitoy,

It looks like SharpDevelop would definitely suffice.  However I am
lazy and it appears that to install it I need to install the .NET SDK,
and some "Redistibutable Package" from Microsoft too.  You are
correct, VB 6 Professional is available on eBay, but looks like it is
going for about $80-100.

However I think since my needs are so basic, I am going to wait until
MS releases "VB 2005 Express Edition" for $40 and get a convenient,
easy install and (hopefully) a really simple, bare bones IDE.  This is
set to release on Nov. 28.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/B000BHL1UA/qid%3D1131301327/sr%3D11-1/ref%3Dsr%5F11%5F1/103-1039854-3514207

Thanks!

You can download this now, for free, from Microsoft.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/vb/download/default.aspx

I assume this answers your question.

Try http://www.freebyte.com/programming/compilers/envelop.html