# VB vs VBA vs VBS / Java vs JavaScript **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 28, 2003, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vb-vs-vba-vs-vbs-java-vs-javascript/164755 "2003-03-28T10:34:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2003, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vb-vs-vba-vs-vbs-java-vs-javascript/164755/1 "2003-03-28T10:34:14Z")
What are the differences between Visual Basic, VB for Applications and VBS? A quick Google search brought me the terse gem that “VBA is Visual Basic within other applications such as Excel and Access”, but that didn’t really seem satisfying. Are they substantially similar? I can write code in Access and Excel – but then I wonder whether if it is really VB, or VBA. Would I notice the difference in syntax, terms and so on in each? ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2003, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vb-vs-vba-vs-vbs-java-vs-javascript/164755/2 "2003-03-28T10:35:16Z")
Arse. I didn’t cut the Java bit out of the thread title. Don’t worry about that part. I have read about the differences between Java and Javascript, and was only looking for a nice summary, but I should be able to do that search for myself. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2003, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vb-vs-vba-vs-vbs-java-vs-javascript/164755/3 "2003-03-28T11:22:37Z")
VBA is substantially similar to VB, but (for example) VBA in Access is tweaked to emphasise the controls and functions that you’d typically need in a database application; it is a fair bit easier to get at the data from VBA in Access because the system can largely assume that you are talking about the loaded database, whereas in VB proper, you have to add controls to link to it. In VBA you get extra application-specific functions and methods that simply are not available in VB - In some ways this makes VBA more powerful than VB. The main drawbakc is probably that you can’t compile a true standalone executable application in VBA ---
**Author:** ![bateman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@bateman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bateman)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2003, 11:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vb-vs-vba-vs-vbs-java-vs-javascript/164755/4 "2003-03-28T11:29:51Z")
vba and vbs are basically a subset of vb - the language looks and feels the same but there is quite a lot of functionality stripped out - for example classes & arrays work differently in vbs & vba to vb proper. ---
**Author:** ![bateman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4491bb/32.png) [@bateman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bateman)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2003, 11:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vb-vs-vba-vs-vbs-java-vs-javascript/164755/5 "2003-03-28T11:31:35Z")
> [@](#): > > In VBA you get extra application-specific functions and methods that simply are not available in VB not strictly true - in vb you could create an instance of the application and then access those functions ---
**Author:** ![Eurograff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/df705f/32.png) [@Eurograff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eurograff)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2003, 12:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vb-vs-vba-vs-vbs-java-vs-javascript/164755/6 "2003-03-28T12:22:30Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Crusoe \* > \*\*Don’t worry about that part. I have read about the differences between Java and Javascript, and was only looking for a nice summary, but I should be able to do that search for myself. \*\* Differences between Java and Javascript? Basically everything. This [short summary](http://www.jsr.communitech.net/difference.htm) would be helpful. ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [March 28, 2003, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/vb-vs-vba-vs-vbs-java-vs-javascript/164755/7 "2003-03-28T12:25:46Z")
Thanks all.