it could, but not really. the only thing it would do is give you a good basis for gui programming. however cobol and visual basic together are almost as powerful as a gnat. the only reason there are so many virii in visual basic is because of the use of gui's and the ease of getting users to install the virus's like that. I'd take those classes just to get your degree, but i wouldnt in any sense use them after college. If you are really into gui programming look into gtk+