<ArarghMail804NOSPAM@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote:
>
> No need to be sorry. I haven't a clue as to what features other
> versions of basic have. I only really know the MS 16-bit basics,
> BCET, which I wrote, and a little bit about VB, which I don't really
> like. :-)
Though BASIC has generally not been my primary development language,
I've been programming in a number of BASIC dialects since 1975, and
use BASIC virtually every day for one thing or another. I love BASIC.
VB was not created for people who love programming, I believe, but
as a rapid development language. The im****tant thing about VB is the
vast wealth of other tools that come with it, that make it very easy
to create and use forms, controls, databases and the like. I love
PowerBASIC for console applications, or lean-and-mean small GUI apps,
but if the user interface is more complex, it's a lot easier to
create, and especially easier to modify, VB code than PB/Win code.
The system does so much for you to make it easy, like IntelliSense.
The language itself is only a small part of the whole package. But
that stuff is about productivity, and isn't as likely to appeal to
programming purists who want smell the fumes, fell the heat, and
program right down to the bare metal. :-)
I've been developing primarily using Visual Studio 2005 for nearly
two years, and one of the things that strike me about it is that
Microsoft has leveled the playing field between the CLR (.NET Common
Language Runtime) languages. They have stripped out of VB, for
example, some of the unique string handling features that were part
of the BASIC language from way back, and made .NET methods and
properties to do the same thing, and much more. They also added many
of the nice features of C/C++, like arithmetic assignment operators
(e.g. A += 3). As far as I can see, there is nothing you can do in
C# or C++ (under the CLR), for example, that you can't do in VB, or
vice versa. You chose the language based on the syntax you prefer.
I like BASIC syntax better than the C-type languages, so I use VB.
Unless you need to create a native Windows executable that doesn't
need the .NET runtime using Visual Studio .NET, in which case you
must use C++, because the other compilers don't create native code.
For anyone interested in using Visual Studio, it's a combination of
easy and difficult. You can download the Visual Studio Express
Editions, which are not crippled in any way, and are full featured
development systems, for free from Microsoft, or buy a DVD for the
****pping charge. But the learning curve for .NET is really steep;
not something you can master in a few weeks, or months. However,
once you get used to writing Visual Studio Windows applications,
those skills merge really smoothly into programming ASP.NET web
applications. Using web controls is very much like using Windows
form controls. I believe those are the kinds of features that make
VB (or C#, etc.) more attractive for some developers.
--
Judson McClendon judmc@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
(remove zero)
Sun Valley Systems http://sunvaley.com
"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that
whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life."
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