If you already know Visual Basic or Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), VBScript will be very familiar. Even if you do not know Visual Basic, once you learn VBScript, you are on your way to programming with the whole family of Visual Basic languages. Although you can learn about VBScript in just these few Web pages, they do not teach you how to program. To learn programming, take a look at Step by Step books available from Microsoft Press.

VBScript talks to host applications using Windows Script. With Windows Script, browsers and other host applications do not require special integration code for each scripting component. Windows Script enables a host to compile scripts, obtain and call entry points, and manage the namespace available to the developer. With Windows Script, language vendors can create standard language run times for scripting. Microsoft will provide run-time support for VBScript. Microsoft is working with various Internet groups to define the Windows Script standard so that scripting engines can be interchangeable. Windows Script is used in Microsoft® Internet Explorer and in Microsoft® Internet Information Service.

As a developer, you can license VBScript source implementation at no charge for use in your products. Microsoft provides binary implementations of VBScript for the 32-bit Windows® API, the 16-bit Windows API, and the Macintosh®. VBScript is integrated with World Wide Web browsers. VBScript and Windows Script can also be used as a general scripting language in other applications.