Oh, no offense taken!
Visual Basic is the McDonalds of programming languages. Slow, bloated, and filled with empty calories.
However, since this isn't mission critical, isn't for production, and all that fun stuff-- it works just fine.
It's like using a scripting language to do the same thing-- Essentially, the equivalent of Python calling GTK libs for a GUI on Linux. It's bloated, carries around the weight of an interpreter (.NET on windows.. Blach), and some snobby programmers insist it isn't "Real Programming". (Never mind that most of THOSE people are hypocrites anyway, since they dont program in straight assembler and instead make use of higher level abstracted languages, like C, and some even lug around a whole virtual machine, like Java programmers!)
Just use the right tool for the job. If all you need is basically a calculator app, why lug around a java VM, or expend extra effort using C, and manually calling all the common controls libraries when you can just use VB, and get the crappy program you need in just an hour or so? (Likewise with a python script calling GTK or QT libs on linux.)
If I wanted this to "Run everywhere!" I would use Javascript, and make it a web app. There's nothing in that dice roller that needs something else, and it would be quite painless to port to Javascript. But, I didnt want to lug around a browser.
Javascript in a simple browser runs more places than the JVM these days (like say, my friend's ancient collection of Windows Mobile based pocket PCs, which CANT use modern JVMs, Or, in the built In Opera browser on a Wii), and is less resource hungry, but is slower. (though with modern browsers, that's questionable.)
I didnt need it to run everywhere-- I wanted it to run on a crappy windows netbook I have floating around here. It doesnt have to be fast, and it doesnt really NEED to be written in C. VB was just fine for what it is, and what it does.
But you are right-- VB DOES suck. It has all kinds of limitations and foibles, and produces software that reeks of being off the discount rack. That's fine, that's what I wanted in this case.
Learning a programming language isn't so hard. Learning the vast collection of standardized libraries used in a particular architecture? THAT'S HARD. Once you have seen about 3 kinds of calling convention, you can basically read anything. Except PERL. It's evil.