Why are some CLR languages called "visual"? (Visual C#, Visual Basic .NET, Visual C++)

Question

I understand visual programming languages to be those languages that allow the programmer to to manipulate graphical--rather than textual--objects onscreen to build functionality.

The closest thing I see in C#, VB, etc. is RAD controls, but that is just composing UI and the very simplest functionality -- it has nothing to do with the language itself, even.

Why, then is C# called "Visual C#", Basic .NET called "Visual Basic .NET," etc.?
What is "visual," or what is the rationale or history behind the nomenclature?

Answer 1

I guess this is mainly a marketing choice.

It could, however be related to the fact that "Visual Studio" is a GUI, thus a way to "visualize" your code.

Answer 2

I suspect it all dates back to the original Visual Basic. The "visual" part of this was the UI designer...

The Ruby interface generator provided the "visual" part of Visual Basic

Answer 3

The use of the work "Visual" started to get popular with the introduction of Visual C++ version 1.0; it was the first version that ran natively inside Windows, whereas other versions ran in DOS mode even though they were able to produce Windows-runnable code. It has nothing to do with the languages, rather with the environment where the IDE runs.

Answer 4

I don't think it has to do with the languages themselves being "visual."

From the Wikipedia article:

The term Visual denotes a brand-name relationship with other Microsoft programming languages such as Visual Basic, Visual FoxPro, Visual J# and Visual C++. All of these products are packaged with a graphical IDE and support rapid application development of Windows-based applications.

Answer 5

The languages are not called "Visual". The products are "Visual".

This is from way back before .NET. "Visual" Basic was "Visual" because of the forms development GUI. "Visual" C++ was "Visual" because of MFC and the wizards for creating an MFC application.

Answer 6

I guess it's all going from some event or some product name choice. And now, it just about the brand.

I mean, like, nowadays you can't even think about some IDE called Studio and the same can be said about, for example, Visual Eclipse.