Resources for developers

Counting the statements
To measure the size of an application and to evaluate the work done, count the statements, not the lines.

Dead code detection and removal
Increase quality, decrease files and save money by removing unused, dead code.

Ecological software development
How to develop software in an ecological way? Cut development costs and save the Earth.

Error handling
Turn run-time errors to your benefit! What are the best practices for an error handling scheme for a robust VB application?

How not to optimize
Optimizing Visual Basic 6.0 code can be fun or tedious, depending on the way you look at it. Here are some pitfalls to avoid when optimizing.

Legacy code analysis
Cross-references, call trees, called-by lists, flowcharts and metrics are useful techniques for understanding existing legacy applications.

Optimize loops
Loops make programs run slowly. A few unoptimal lines can make an app run at a snail's pace. This article presents performance tricks for squeezing the max speed out of your code. The focus is on processing data arrays in loops. We restructure loops, rebuild function calls, fine-tune conditionals, choose fast operators, pre-calculate values and access arrays the proper way.

Optimize string handling in VB6 - Part I
String handling in Visual Basic is slow if done the wrong way. You can add significant performance to string operations by following a few easy tricks.

Optimize string handling in VB6 - Part II
Make your Visual Basic apps process text fast as lightning. Part II of this article dives deep into the performance of the VB6 String functions. We learn the functions to use and the ones to avoid. We also learn how to call the Windows Unicode API functions and how to build really, really huge strings without crashing our VB6 apps.

Refactoring tools
Refactoring means modifying existing source code in a structured and incremental way. This article suggests tools for refactoring.

Regular expressions - An introduction
Regular expressions are a pattern matching standard for string parsing and replacement. They are used on a wide range of platforms and programming environments. Originally missing in Visual Basic, regular expressions are now available for most VB and VBA versions.

Release checklist for programs
This article presents a code review checklist to go through before releasing a program to users.

Restructuring Visual Basic code
You can greatly improve the quality of existing code by restructuring it. By restructuring we mean arranging the code in logical modules and classes, grouping related functions and data together, and using scope rules to achieve better legibility and maintainability.

Save memory
Make your programs use less memory without sacrificing their functionality. This article shows a number of tricks to preserve RAM while your program runs.

Toolbox for project manager
Reduce development time. Increase team communication. Reuse and modify existing code. Create optimized programs. Enforce standards. Ensure covering tests. Produce complete and correct documentation. Manage maintenance efforts. The tasks a project manager faces are difficult. How do you achieve all of this? In this article we show how a project team can benefit from the use of Aivosto tools in the different phases of a development project.

User Interface bug tests
Test your Windows applications for common bugs in the User Interface (UI). This article shows 10 quick ways to find nasty bugs.

VB InStr
InStr is a powerful VB string function. It's the perfect way to search and test strings in robust Visual Basic applications. This article shows how to call InStr to perform advanced text processing tasks quickly. The article also discusses case insensitivity, vbTextCompare, Option Compare Text and InStr related bugs.

VB tips
Optimize for memory and speed. Write understandable and robust code efficiently.

Writing comments in Visual Basic code
Comments are an ideal way to document source code. We present a lightweight comment format that is easy to learn, clear to read and powerful in describing procedures and modules. It also allows automatic document generation by a source code analyzer.

10 steps to migrate existing code to VB.NET
Migrating existing VB code to Visual Basic .NET is not just a matter of loading it to the new version. It is essential to work on your code before you open it in VB.NET.

Columns
Peter Aitken's VB columns on ActiveX Documents, VBA, Data Sources, Data Sinks, VBScript and ASP, CGI and VB, and VB6's File System Objects.

Link collection
Developer sites and tool links.

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