Editing Visual Basic for Applications (section)

==Origins==
When personal computers were initially released in the 1970s and 1980s, they typically included a version of [[BASIC]] so that customers could write their own programs. Microsoft's first products were BASIC compilers and interpreters, and the company distributed versions of BASIC with [[MS-DOS]] (versions 1.0 through 6.0) and developed follow-on products that offered more features and capabilities ([[QuickBASIC]] and BASIC Professional Development System).

In 1989, [[Bill Gates]] sketched out Microsoft's plans to use BASIC as a universal language to embellish or alter the performance of a range of software applications on microcomputers.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Gates |first1=Bill |last2=Halvorson |first2=Michael |last3=Rygmyr |first3=David |title=Learn BASIC Now |date=1989 |publisher=Microsoft Press |location=Redmond, WA |pages=ix-x}}</ref> He also revealed that the installed base of active BASIC programmers was four million users, and that BASIC was used three times more frequently than any other language on PCs. 

When Visual Basic was released in 1991, it seemed logical to use Visual Basic as the universal programming language for Windows applications. Until that time, each Microsoft application had its own macro language or automation technique, and the tools were largely incompatible. The first Microsoft application to debut VBA was Microsoft Excel 5.0 in 1993, based on Microsoft Visual Basic 3.0. This spurred the development of numerous custom business applications, and the decision was made to release VBA in a range of products.

Windows users learned about the changes through user groups, books, and magazines. Early computer books that introduced VBA programming skills include Reed Jacobsen's ''Microsoft Excel Visual Basic for Windows 95 Step by Step'' (Microsoft Press, 1995) and [[Michael Halvorson]] and Chris Kinata's ''Microsoft Word 97 Visual Basic Step by Step'' (Microsoft Press, 1997).