One of the interesting aspects of computers
it is designed to perform computation as its first real application to mankind.
Very fast computation that even a human
being that is very intelligent in the field of mathematics cannot compete with
the speed and accuracy of the computer provided that the program that is being
stored and run is correct and there is not errors or bugs on it. For the information of our readers of this
article the first electronic computer was ABC computer that was invented and
developed by Dr. John D. Atanasoff and
his student Clifford Berry. When we
say it first electronic computer it means it doesn’t use any mechanical part
not any moving parts all the operation that is being perform is done
electronically by switches and logic gates. This astonishing ability of the computer prove
to be useful to us we when visit a bank we can check how much money that we
have deposit or withdraw without going to the manual process of opening the
filing cabinet and checking those enormous files of papers it save us big
amount of time and we can lessen the errors on the part of the teller in the
bank for example.
In today’s article I will discuss a very
simple program called Power of a Number using Microsoft Visual Basic 6 as our
programming language. If you are new
with programming you may ask the question what the heck is Visual Basic is all
about why it is so different with other programming language that is being used
in school, industry and company. Well before I answer that question let me give
you a brief history on how Microsoft Visual Basic 6 came to life. The BASIC
(Beginners All-Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code) is a programming language
developed in Darthmouth College in Delaware, USA at 1963 by Dr. John Kemeny and
Thomas Kurtz their intention is to created a programming language that is
easier to learned and understand by students and those people that are not
technically inclined with the use computers during those years computers are
mainly used by scientist, engineers and technician alike. They want to make
programming accessible to common man that’s why they write the first compiler
of BASIC. As the language improved
dramatically over the years of use Mr. Allan Cooper the father of Visual Basic
would like to create a programming language that handles the design of the
graphical user interface of the user by not writing down a single line of code
for the design but rather putting a series of controls that a programmer can
use to draw the different objects in the form where the program is being
developed. The year 1991 Microsoft Corporation headed by Bills Gates
collaborate with Allan Cooper to launch a new type of programming language
based on BASIC they called it Visual Basic which become of the most highly
successful programming language of the world.
One of the most basic feature of Microsoft
Visual Basic that cannot be found on other programming language during its
introduction in 1991 is that the ability of the programming to draw first the
user interface without using a code for the layout and design and after that
the use of minimal amount of code to achieve its desired program result. The
obvious benefit of using this programming paradigm it cuts down the big amount
of time of system development and the programmer can focus more on solving the
real problem in programming. I hope you
have learned something on the brief history of Visual Basic now let us go down
of our problem Power of a Number.
Basically Power of a Number program it will
performed a series of computations to derive the result when the user will give
the base and the exponent value of the number. The base number is the number that we want to
raise its exponent value let say 5 is our base value when we want to raise it
to the exponent 3 the result will be 5 *
5 * 5 is equal to 125 we just
multiply our base number with itself by 3 times of the exponent value that we
have given is 3 very simple indeed.
Before we can write a single line of code
of our program we would like to design its graphical user interface this user
interface is the one that will interact to our end user of our program. We have
here three labels the first label will ask the user to enter the base value of
the number, the second label will ask the user to enter the exponent value that
we like and the third label is the lbl_result.caption it is designed to display
the result once the use click the compute button of our program. Below here it
the code in our compute button that will perform a computation to find the
power value of the number.
The first line of command is option
explicit this command will force the programmer to declare all the variables in
our program. In Microsoft Visual Basic the language can allow the programmer to
use a variable without declaring its data types in our case I use this command
so that every variable that I use I will be force to declare it before I used
it. It is a good programming practices that we must to follow always in our
programming projects or assignments .
We three variables base, exponent, value
and result we declare this four variables as integer it means we are dealing
with whole number, positive, negative numbers including zero. The exponent
variable here will act as our assignment system that will hold the value in our
control Val(txt_exponent.text) and base with a value base = Val(txt_base.txt)
take note readers the text field in Visual Basic 6 by nature the value that is
being handled is string we are using Val() function to convert string value
into integer format.
The next portion of our code we assign
result with a value of 1 this mean this is the starting point of our initial
value of 1 the purpose of result
variable in our program is that it will accumulate the value of base with
respect to the value of our exponent variable. We are using a for loop statement below to
repeat the process of multiplication of our base and result variable. After the
series of repetition of our looping statement we display the result using a
label control in this case we are using this command lbl_result.Caption = base
& " to the power " & exponent & " is " & result &
"." this command tells us to display the value of base the ampersand
symbol separate the string “to the power “ and exponent and it the result as we
call our assignment statement to display the computed value of variable result.
Option Explicit
Private Sub cmd_compute_Click()
Dim base, exponent, value, result As
Integer
exponent = Val(txt_exponent.Text)
base = Val(txt_base.Text)
result = 1
For value = 1 To exponent
result = result * base
Next value
lbl_result.Caption = base & " to
the power " & exponent & " is " & result &
"."
End Sub
This command button quick will display a
dialog box and will ask the end user whether he or she would like to quit using
our program Power of a Number if the user reply yes it will terminate the
program using the command unload me if no it will display the form once again
and clear all the values in the textbox including our label control.
Private Sub cmd_quit_Click()
Dim reply As String
reply = MsgBox("Do you want to quit
program?", vbYesNo + vbQuestion + vbDefaultButton2, "Quit
Program")
If (reply = vbYes) Then
Unload Me
Else
frm_power.Show
frm_power.lbl_result.Caption = ""
frm_power.txt_base.Text = ""
frm_power.txt_exponent.Text = " "
frm_power.txt_base.SetFocus
End
If
End Sub
Writing this program is not difficult what
is important you know the purpose and the formula we need in our program. A
good programming tip that I can give to you plan first before you write a
single line of code it will save you big amount of time and you can more focus
in solving the problem on hand more effectively and efficiently. If you have
some questions, clarifications or comments please email me I am very glad to
answer those queries or questions you have in mind.
If you have some questions please send me an email at jakerpomperada@yahoo.com and jakerpomperada@gmail.com.
Thank you very much and Happy Programming.
Sample Program Output
