[AccessD] VBA question

Bryan Carbonnell carbonnb at sympatico.ca
Tue Apr 22 20:22:11 CDT 2003


On 22 Apr 2003 at 21:02, Susan Harkins wrote:

> I know the word is a hold over from earlier Basic versions, but I
> wouldn't use the term macro to describe a VBA procedure, whether it's
> a sub or function -- is there something else in Word and Excel? I'm
> not familiar with the structure if there is.

None that I'm aware of.

I try not to use macro, but when I use procedure to replace macro, I 
usually get back "What's a procedure?" Then as soon as I say a 
procedure is a macro I get "AH. OK, why didn't you just say that in 
the first place?"

I think there are two differences. 

1) The word Macro has a negative connotation in programming circles. 
It has the implication that it's just not real programming. I'll 
argue to the death that writing a macro in Word is programming. I 
know, I've spent many an hour cursing at code.

2) Coming from an Access background, macro has an even worse 
connotation because of the crap Access macros we have all seen and 
tried to fix.

> I know the Excel expert at Cobb continued to use the term for eons
> after VBA and the VBE showed up. I argued with him on occasion. We
> produced a VBA product together and we had a lot of trouble trying to
> use consistent language. :)

CERT still uses the word Macro in their security bulletins when 
talking about things like IL*v*Y** and M*ll*ss* viruses (virii)

Tell me those aren't programming extremes :-)

--
Bryan Carbonnell - carbonnb at sympatico.ca
Failure is not an option. It comes bundled with the software.




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