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Ask HN: Why did Visual Basic die?

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Re: Ask HN: Why did Visual Basic die?

#531
post #530

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I said the app was simple, not the stack. Along with the rise of complexity in tooling, the data has risen in complexity and quantity, as well as the importance of getting it right. Back then, a dentist, lets say, could get by with a cobbled together VB program for patient scheduling and CRM. Now patients and doctors expect a system that manages digital records in a HIPAA compliant way, can text message reminders to…

I’d like to learn how the rising complexity of tooling allows for text messaging, compliance, self-service or mailing(?). Right now this idea doesn’t sound particularly reasonable to me.

You can run a web server for self service, use a job queue on that same server to schedule actions sent to api providers for sms (Twilio) and letter mail (postgrid), integrate with insurers that provide an api if you don’t want to send papermail. All on a single machine, or virtual machine running JS, and serving JS and HTML.

Compliance is a matter of ensuring that you are following correct practices, and possible audits.

In exchange you get a program that can run on any of billions of devices in seconds without having to worry about local deployment.

If all you want is something like VB, you can opt for some of the low-code/no-code options mentioned elsewhere that are built on top of web technology.

I’m not saying that for what VB was used for, it isn’t a better solution. I’m saying that we ask our computers to do a lot more than we did 25 years ago, and tools like VB can’t do as much as the easier to write languages that have emerged in that time.

Re: Ask HN: Why did Visual Basic die?

#532
post #519

Earlier quoted context omitted.

First rule of Excel development: Don't use sheet formulas, stick to VBA and apply normal dev practices

what proportion of excel use does this? 0.000000001% or not as much as that in your view?

Don't know, but the majority of sheets I've been in contact with (trading desks)

Re: Ask HN: Why did Visual Basic die?

#533
This is fascinating to me. I am a software developer of many years and a novelist in more recent years. (See https://ronanodriscoll.com/work)

My latest book is a novel about the life of a software developer starting with BASIC on the Commodore 64 in the Eighties up to today. One of the main ideas is how (unlike previous professions), a programmer who only writes Basic can hardly last one generation. The novel is tentatively titled "BASIC Instinct: A Coding Novel". The book is to be published by Moose House press next year and I am looking to generate interest among the developer community.

I hope people who comment on this thread find this interesting. Please don't hesitate to contact me if you do, or have ideas of other online communities to share with. Thank you.

Re: Ask HN: Why did Visual Basic die?

#534
post #134

The reason is even bigger than just VB. MS at the time just decide to fully kill the "enthusiast" developer and the "single/truly small" team developer. This is mostly covered under the "RAD" umbrella. It kills VB, FoxPro, and now more evidently, Access (more like let it slowly die). .NET + Visual Studio + Sql Server are not a substitute in this market. Them are for "professional developer"/"a small cog in a big mach…

Vscode supports many enthusiast development stories.

Re: Ask HN: Why did Visual Basic die?

#535
post #185

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Access was an app you had installed on your workstation but never opened because in the backend every late 90s early 2000s desktop app was using it as its data backend. Between Excel (with no functional API to use for storage) and a "real database" (your users now need to ask IT to deploy SQLServer) was a use case of app just needs to store persistent data for a single user.

So basically the SQLite of its day?

SQLite with a somewhat usable GUI ...
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