Hello everyone.  A while back I tried to join a community college class for Visual Basic.  I still have an interest for the drag and drop IDE and using the code too (I didn't finish the class.)  

What I'm wondering is threefold, at least.  

I am working on C++ and considering JavaScript or Java too.  I don't know how dead visual basic is but it does interest me to use it's IDE GUI and the basic commands.  However it is not portable.

So, what I am wondering is what are the hottest/best drag-and-drop languages that will stand the test of time?  Both internet and applications are of interest.

The original Visual Basic idea seems to still be useful to me.

Have a good day,

Josheir

15 hours ago, ChaosEngine said:

What do you mean "drag and drop languages"? Do you mean something like a Visual Programming Language? 

If so, VB is not that. 

Well what I mean is back in the day there was a programming language that was called Microsoft Visual Basic.  In the integrated develop environment you could drag a button onto a grid or create other dialogs with the Microsoft's Visual Studio program.  The code that was created was written with this Microsoft Visual Basic. 

So, what was Microsoft Visual Basic considered comparatively if you don't mind me asking? 

15 hours ago, ChaosEngine said:

connecting already existing components

And what are these, basically?  

Thank you; Appreciatively,

Josheir

54 minutes ago, Josheir said:

Well what I mean is back in the day there was a programming language that was called Microsoft Visual Basic.  In the integrated develop environment you could drag a button onto a grid or create other dialogs with the Microsoft's Visual Studio program.  The code that was created was written with this Microsoft Visual Basic. 

What you're talking about can be called a visual form designer, a form builder, a window builder or even WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) editor, generally integrated to an IDE. Another tool known for this is Delphi. It's a tool for creating user interfaces quickly, and adding behavior (events) to controls (buttons, text boxes, checkboxes, grids and so on). It's not visual programming, which is more akin to the Scratch programming language.

If you're looking for tools for systems and general programming, you can use Visual Studio, for example. Other languages also have tools for that, such as the Eclipse WindowBuilder and Netbeans for Java, and Qt Creator for C++ .

For games, big engines like Unreal and Unity kind of work like that. You add elements to a scene, combine and change its properties and adds functionality by code. Unreal offers the Blueprints system, which is a kind of visual programming, but you can also use C++ directly.

1 hour ago, TerraSkilll said:

For games, big engines like Unreal and Unity kind of work like that.

Thank you TerraSkilll.  How important is it, knowing these big engines?

Sincerely,

Josheir

On 09/01/2018 at 8:04 PM, Josheir said:

Thank you TerraSkilll.  How important is it, knowing these big engines?

They're good tools and save a lot of time in game development, so it's a good shortcut to create games. You don't need to use these if you don't want, but they are excelent tools in general, and if you're looking for a job in the industry, knowing what the industry uses surely helps. Creating an engine is a lot of work, and many times, not worth the effort, as you just want to do a game, not an entire engine.

And, of course, there are many other options, like Godot, CryEngine, HaxeFlixel, libGDX, Cocos2D, GameMaker, etc. Each with its strengths and weaknesses. Try some and see which ones you like.

Thank you for the list  

Josheir