Gambas is a Linux development environment, IDE, that uses the Basic programming language, has a wsywig form designer,  icon editor, database connector, built in file, timer, and print controls, creates installers, and compiles to Windows executables. It  is designed very close to the Visual Basic programming environment so learning Gambas will get you the knowledge you need to work in Visual Basic, if it still exists in the next couple years.  Code editor features syntax highlighting, auto complete, and all the usuals found in modern IDEs.  

I have looked at Gambas in the past but never installed or used it. I had nothing better to do today so I decided to give it a go. I installed Gambas on Kubuntu, you must install all the Gambas pieces or you may have some trouble. You will also need to install QT. I installed everything in Adept Package Manager searching gambas and qt.

I fired Gambas up and decided to write a quick text file viewer, which simply consists of a file menu, listbox, and resizable form. Now keep in mind I haven't used Visual Basic in years and only programmed in Visual Basic for a year when I did, but that didn't cause an issue,  I had a full text file viewer written in less than 15 minutes! I was amazed I remembered Basic and Visual Basic style coding at all. I guess all that beer really wasn't as bad as I had originally thought.

The documentation in Gambas is amazing! Honestly, I can't say that for most open source software. I didn't hit Google once, it was all there in help, and my memory.

There were no examples in the help, but I figure they have some on their site or there is some sitting around the net if you need them. Most programmers will pick it up within a few minutes and non-programmers can most likely have it down in a day or two once they get some examples in front of them. They do include some example programs, but they would not run so I just started from scratch. I think these examples need to be opened as root or were written on an earlier version of Gambas - I am taking a couple of guesses based on the errors I got when I open them and tried to fire them up.

All and all I was impressed with Gambas and may ever write some serious programs with it for good measure. A hell of a lot less hassle than Python and Boa Constructor. I am going to play with making Python modules work in a Gambas application, that would be ideal.  If you want to learn Visual Basic or want a simple way to write small event driving applications and use Linux or can't afford Visual Basic (and are honest enough to not pirate VB) Gambas is for you.

I mention Delphi and yes there is a Open Source Delphi called Lazarus . Lazarus is another amazing Open Source project. It is available for Linux, OS X, and Windows.