How VB. NET was resurrected and why it’s more important than you think.

Written by Witold Nejman, Intelligent Automation Consultant

Let’s start with my inspiration to write this article. During one of the automation projects for my client, I was asked if we can automate some smaller processes without using RPA as all robots were working full capacity at this point. My answer was short. I can make an app using VBA or VB.NET. The letter immediately made one of the managers with a strong technical background laugh.

“VB.NET? Is this language even still in use, or are you planning to become a necromancer* ?”

Necromancer* — a popular term for developers maintaining old software written in languages like COBOL

It’s not surprising as VB popularity in 2011 was 0.259% according to the TIOBE Index. To give you some comparison C#, another language created by Microsoft used to develop .NET apps was over 8.2%. At this time “VB.NET Developer” was used as a joke, as due to easy to read (for non-IT people) syntax (more about it later) give birth to a wave of beginners with… questionable programming skills.

But then something unexpected happened. Since 2012 we could observe a steady rise in popularity to the point wherein 2018 it surpassed C# scoring 7.12% (C# 3.45%).