Visual Basic and coyotes

Posted on by John

David S. Platt calls VB 6 developers a silent majority. He says the vast majority of VB developers did not want the power (and associated complexity) of VB.NET, but Microsoft only heard from the vocal minority who felt otherwise. And so a large number of VB programmers cling to VB 6. As Platt puts it,

But giving Visual Basic .NET to the Visual Basic 6 community was like raising a coyote as a domestic dog, then releasing him into the woods, shouting, “Hunt for your dinner as God intended, you magnificent, wild creature!” Most of them said, “Heck with that. I’m staying on my nice warm cushion by the fire while you open me a can of Alpo.”

6 thoughts on “Visual Basic and coyotes”

  1. VB 6 is a superior teaching language, too. We nearly had a boxing match in the department office a few years ago when a pro-VB 6 instructor and a pro-.Net instructor got into an argument. The VB 6 person was the programmer; the VB.Net person was a manager.

  2. I bought VB6 pro version around 1999 and have been using it ever since. Everyday I use programs I wrote with it. Still write some new code with it. Can’t say that about .NET. If you want OOP, go with C++ not VB.NET.

  3. SteveBrooklineMA

    I would be tempted, if I were an instructor, to go with C#. That would give OOP, .NET, and employ-ability (academics gasp!) to my students.

  4. John

    I could see an argument for C# or VB, but not VB.NET. C# and VB were each designed for their respective styles of programming. VB.NET, however, was designed to enable one paradigm of programming while keeping as much compatibility as possible with the language of another paradigm.

    My impression is that VB.NET served its purpose as an on ramp to .NET for VB programmers, and is now shrinking. Ten years ago you’d hear about C# and VB.NET about equally often. Now I hardly ever hear of anyone doing .NET development in VB. Of course VB.NET programmers could be a new silent majority analogous to the one Platt wrote about.

  5. Micah

    I use VB.Net at work and C# at home. They are practically the same language. The semantics and idioms of the language are the same they just don’t share a syntax. I think anyone who knows one should take a little time to learn the other because it is very low effort to switch between the two and you open up more options for yourself.

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