# Visual Basic for Applications (VBA)

6 Hacker News commenters recommended Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) and 3 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 3 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** People like VBA for automating tasks in Office and for code that just works for years, but it is no longer developed and handles modern things like HTTPS poorly.

## Why people recommend it

- Code keeps working for decades (1 comments): "VBA code which doesn't use any arcane features would require no maintenance and can work for decades" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47804108))
- Plugs into many systems (1 comments): "VBA plugged into everything with the sysadmin doing 'version management'" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47957698))
- Easy to get things working (1 comments): "everything I tried to do in VBA just worked(TM)" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48756564))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Lua](https://hackerapproved.com/p/lua.md): 186 recommend
- [awk](https://hackerapproved.com/p/awk.md): 67 recommend
- [AutoHotkey](https://hackerapproved.com/p/autohotkey.md): 44 recommend
- [GDScript](https://hackerapproved.com/p/gdscript.md): 22 recommend
- [AppleScript](https://hackerapproved.com/p/applescript.md): 19 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Visual Basic for Applications (VBA)", https://hackerapproved.com/p/visual-basic-for-applications/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).