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Microsoft plots the end of Visual Basic

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Re: Microsoft plots the end of Visual Basic

#21
post #6

I loved VB6. Of all the languages and IDE's I've ever used, I've never been more efficient in any other one. As long as MS doesn't break my workarounds to run that old IDE or its EXE's, I'm happy. VB.NET was a great stepping stone, but after switching to C# I never looked back. The only thing I miss is global functions that don't need a class qualifier in front of them. And I still find the Edit-and-Continue debuggin…

I used to think this too, but everything you can do in VB6 you can do in powershell, and do it better. Try/Catch, windows forms.. literally anything you can think of. You can even mix powershell and C# together in the same script. Once I realized I had a better version of everything I wanted, it became my new favorite.

> You can even mix powershell and C# together in the same script.

What feature are you referring to?

Re: Microsoft plots the end of Visual Basic

#22

I first learned how to program in VB4. I can see why as a professional programmer it lost favor, but it was a great learning language.

I learned how to program in VB4 too. My parents had no idea why I wanted it or what it was for. I used to take the textbook sized manuals with me to read/study while camping and fishing.

Re: Microsoft plots the end of Visual Basic

#23
post #6

I loved VB6. Of all the languages and IDE's I've ever used, I've never been more efficient in any other one. As long as MS doesn't break my workarounds to run that old IDE or its EXE's, I'm happy. VB.NET was a great stepping stone, but after switching to C# I never looked back. The only thing I miss is global functions that don't need a class qualifier in front of them. And I still find the Edit-and-Continue debuggin…

I used to think this too, but everything you can do in VB6 you can do in powershell, and do it better. Try/Catch, windows forms.. literally anything you can think of. You can even mix powershell and C# together in the same script. Once I realized I had a better version of everything I wanted, it became my new favorite.

The only problem is that Powershell as language is pretty bad. I wouldn’t want to write my vB6 projects in Powershell.

Re: Microsoft plots the end of Visual Basic

#24
post #16

Wonder what is going to happen to Visual Basic for Applications? I hope it pushes Microsoft to move toward a new language like Python to automate Excel.

The two are completely district languages. Kind of like comparing Java with JavaScript.

I'm sure in general Microsoft would love to scrap VB in Excel but there's too many companies that run entire areas of business on it, or the whole business itself.

It is the typical legacy/back compat problem. Python or even Powershell would be a vast improvement, but you're going against billions in sunk cost/skills/knowledge.

VB.Net was slowly losing popularity, VB in Excel isn't.

Re: Microsoft plots the end of Visual Basic

#26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I used to think this too, but everything you can do in VB6 you can do in powershell, and do it better. Try/Catch, windows forms.. literally anything you can think of. You can even mix powershell and C# together in the same script. Once I realized I had a better version of everything I wanted, it became my new favorite.

The only problem is that Powershell as language is pretty bad. I wouldn’t want to write my vB6 projects in Powershell.

It’s definitely one of the ugliest languages (syntax wise) that enjoys widespread usage, at least in Microsoft land.

Re: Microsoft plots the end of Visual Basic

#27

The end of Visual Basic.NET, that is. "Classic" Visual Basic has been ended for a long time now. (And VB.NET is much less of a loss -- it was never as popular as classic VB. Even when it first came out, it was clear that if you were a VB developer, Microsoft really wanted you to move to C#; VB.NET always felt like an afterthought, a fig leaf they could use to say they really weren't abandoning VB when they obviously…

loads of people still claim to write new apps in VB6! and good luck to them !

Re: Microsoft plots the end of Visual Basic

#28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only problem is that Powershell as language is pretty bad. I wouldn’t want to write my vB6 projects in Powershell.

It’s definitely one of the ugliest languages (syntax wise) that enjoys widespread usage, at least in Microsoft land.

The cmdlets are super useful but the language is just really weird.

Re: Microsoft plots the end of Visual Basic

#29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only problem is that Powershell as language is pretty bad. I wouldn’t want to write my vB6 projects in Powershell.

It’s definitely one of the ugliest languages (syntax wise) that enjoys widespread usage, at least in Microsoft land.

It seems that shell scripting languages tend to be quite ugly out of necessity? I mean bash is not a looker.
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