1. Microsoft® Small Basic Graduating to Visual Basic Estimated time to complete this lesson: 1 hour

2. Graduating to Visual Basic In this lesson, you will learn about: Introduction to Visual Basic Exporting Small Basic programs to Visual Basic Running your programs from Visual Basic

3. Introduction to Visual Basic So now that you’re a master of Small Basic, let’s see what else is out there for you to continue your fun with programming. This lesson introduces you to a new and more powerful programming environment, called Microsoft® Visual Basic.

4. Downloading and Installing Visual Basic Just like Microsoft Small Basic, you can get Microsoft® Visual Basic Express Edition for free. You can get the latest version of the free Visual Basic Expression edition at: http://www.microsoft.com/express/Windows The installation should take about 10-15 minutes.

5. Exporting programs from Small Basic Once you have written a program in Small Basic, you can easily export it to run from Visual Basic. Just click on the Graduate button on the ribbon and Small Basic will launch a wizard that will walk you through the export process.

6. The Graduate Wizard The wizard should now translate your Small Basic program into Visual Basic and then automatically launch the Visual Basic environment for you. Fill in the location where you want your new Visual Basic program, and hit Continue

7. Running the program from Visual Basic Once you have exported your Visual Basic program, you will now see a new programming environment. Just click on the “Play” button on the toolbar, and your program should run just the same way as it ran from Small Basic Your new environment should look similar to this.

8. Learning more about Visual Basic Visual Basic is a very powerful language and environment that enables you to further your programming fun. There are lots of resources out on the internet for learning Visual Basic. http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/beginner/ is a good place to start learning about Visual Basic.

9. Let’s Summarize… Congratulations! Now you know how to: Download and install Microsoft® Visual Basic Export your Small Basic program to Visual Basic Run the exported program using Visual Basic