Future of VB...

[Dr_Michael]

Does anyone know which will be the future of Visual Basic? Which language is the language of future? Java, Vb, or Delphi? For example, they say that C++ will be used only for very specialized applications. Have you heard something about our favorite child VB???

Michael Vlastos
Automation Engineer
Company SouthGate Hellas SA
Development Department
Athens, Greece

[pavan_raut]

Dear friend ;
Please don't worry.
VB is always going to the best RAD tool.Recently in a survey in US VB jobs are still in great demand and VB professional are still considered as preciuos.
Developing ActiveX technology componants is anyway fastest in VB bscause VB internally manages all the COM features.If you want to VIEW this COM interfaces please SEE OLE VIEW in Visual studio Tools.

So please Dont worry.we all are sailing in the safe ship Called VB.

Pavan

[Chris Eastwood]

No programming language is ever going to 'live forever' - COBOL is probably the longest lasting language out there and even that's changed over the last 20 years. VB is still just as useful for desktop applications and prototyping as it's always been. I think that M$ are going to target it as a web-development language a lot more in the future (expect huge integration with Interdev for instance). Whether this is a good or bad thing depends on your view of internet development, and at the end of the day, do surfers really care what system the web-servers run on ?

C++ will always be around for intensive number-crunching development. The complexity of writing GUI's with C++ is really shown up when you compare development time with VB or even Delphi.

Java is still in it's infancy when it comes to writing systems. I use Java all the time at work and while the concept is great (write once, run anywhere) - it just doesn't work that well. The development tools are still immature and compared to the VB / DevStudio IE just downright suck(especially those IDE's that are written in Java, such as JBuilder). It is however, a very good tool for writing back-end Internet systems - you can get an awful lot done with JSP and Servlets - but then again, you can with ASP and VBScript / WebClasses. Also, the GUI work with java is just a joke - it runs very slowly and uses a tonne of memory, I think they should just concentrate on server side development with Java (although it is a very nice OO language).


I think VB is here to stay for probably the next 5 years at least, but don't expect it to remain a simple desktop development tool - the last 2 versions have really shown how powerful VB is (even if they have just scratched the surface of I-net work) - there's still a lot of life left there.


Chris Eastwood

CodeGuru - the website for developers
http://codeguru.developer.com/vb

[Kailash Marthi]

Just my two cents :

Don't you think VB has got into a little rut of being a GUI language, something to develop front-ends for databases ?

I am not supporting the view since I know VB can be used for almost anything. But that seems to be the perception in tech circles.

The one main drawback with VB is that it is a single platform language. Not even COBOL suffers from this and everyone knows that the world is moving towards (inching may be appropriate) binary compatibility across platforms.

RAD or no RAD, this will define the survivability of a language - how many platforms can you develop for using one language.

[Chris Eastwood]

>Don't you think VB has got into a little rut of being a GUI language,
>something to develop front-ends for databases ?

Absolutely - one of my main bugbears when I go onto a customer site and have to look through their code is that people just see it as 'paintbrush with code'. Some people don't realise quite how powerful VB is as a 'glue' type language that can be used to build both applications, and bridges between them.

>The one main drawback with VB is that it is a single platform language.
>Not even COBOL suffers from this and everyone knows that the world is
>moving towards (inching may be appropriate) binary compatibility across
>platforms.

Again, I agree completely with you. However, the 'cross-platform' holy grail type language is still a way off. Java's becoming too fragmented (even SUN are guilty in this respect) and I wouldn't expect to see a 'proper' cross-platform language for a good few years yet. I remember having to write C++ code because it was the cross-platform language of the future (as long as you use 'core' c++ and none of the platform specific routines), yet all this does is create more work and unwieldy code as you code more and more towards customers (those people who pay the bills) requirements.

>RAD or no RAD, this will define the survivability of a language - how
>many platforms can you develop for using one language.

I agree again. The only thing I have to say in VB's defense is that it works now. I can develop solutions quickly for customers within their timescales. I can show prototypes developed in an afternoon that can give them an idea of the overall product and show how it can be quickly integrated (with COM) with all their other in-house code and third-party programs. CORBA on the other hand....



Chris Eastwood

CodeGuru - the website for developers
http://codeguru.developer.com/vb

[Ravi Kiran]

>"CORBA on the other hand...."
Nice ending. I failed to Convice one of my customers that Using VB is as "In-thing" as using Corba, and the after effect of all that is ... well it is better unsaid :-)... hmm ok here it is.. he doesn't want me to be on the team...

RK

[Chris Eastwood]

Sounds like a lucky escape ;-)

Seriously though, I had to do a short demo project showing CORBA and other related technologies and in the end I thought 'why bother?' COM works now and can develop serious applications with a solid, reliable and proven foundation. CORBA still seems to be in that theoretical 'wouldn't it be nice if....' and 'but with a bit of work it can .....' stage.


Chris Eastwood

CodeGuru - the website for developers
http://codeguru.developer.com/vb

[Clearcode]

Corba works (and I have used it) when connecting a Windows front end to business objects on a UNIX box....but, it is _not_ RAD, so I wouldn't use it unless I absolutely had to.

[czimmerman]

I would never begin a message relating to the future of any technology with the words "Please don't worry..."

In our business, things change so fast that new developments take hold before you know what happened. As a consultant, I've seen many programmers in large corporations get laid off by their unsympathetic employers because they were too comfortable with what they knew.

I'll grant you, things look good for now, especially with all the existing VB code in the enterprise, and the buzz for Windows 2000 so good right now. But it depends on MS's ability to continue to monopolize the OS market, VB's success in becoming an Internet development tool (web classes don't do it for me), and the absence of two teenagers in a garage coming up with something better.

Sure, go with VB for now, but keep up with other technologies and be ready to rapidly become the expert in them if necessary.

Charlie Zimmerman
http://www.freevbcode.com