From: marc@imarc_____no____spam.co.uk   
      
   "Alfie [UK]"  wrote in message   
   news:f3evp39v08qnfahmh2at6jmo9rgl7t1c70@4ax.com...   
   > On Tue, 29 Jan 2008 22:19:44 -0000, "Marc"   
   >  wrote:   
   >   
   >>I think .NET is a really good set of tools, I prefer Java though and hate   
   >>what Microsoft did by breaking Java in the early days. Still we are where   
   >>we   
   >>are, and VB6 was a good teach language, and fine for macros and the like -   
   >>but it could never compete with its rivals, i.e. Dephi whereas now VB.NET   
   >>wins hands down IMO.   
   >   
   > Sounds like you're confusing VB6 with VBA there; VBA is for macros, VB6   
   > is a RAD tool (Rapid Application Development) and tends to be used to   
   > produce client front-ends to back-end DBs and the like.   
   >   
   > VB.NET as it stands now may as well be called C#, there is little real   
   > difference, MS use C# as their core development language. The problem I   
   > have with .NET is that MS can, and will, break it at some future point,   
   > the same way they attempted with VB6, although it will be easier for   
   > them to do so by messing with the .NET framework.   
      
   Yeah, I know the difference between VB6 and VBA, I always found VB6   
   difficult to manage in large applications. Certain options like option   
   explicit being off by default meant it invited the coder to do stuff in a   
   god awful manner. This is why I'd only consider it for internal apps, small   
   functionally specific programs that need to manipulate files/update   
   databases rather than whole applications.   
   It was also based on ActiveX, which means a lot of VB6 apps break on Vista,   
   or at least you need to turn off User Account Controls. I was wondering the   
   same as you, when trying to decide where to go in the long run, Java or C#.   
   Will MS abandon .NET? I doubt it. .NET is now core to a lot of their   
   products; SQL Server and the new Silverlight are examples.   
   You're right about VB.Net being very similar to C#, except for things like   
   declarations and comments I can't see much difference, although I think VB   
   still has some throwbacks to VB6, like byref and byval. There are also some   
   static classes available in the MY object or something, not too sure what   
   though. I took the decision not to spend much time with VB.Net, as I prefer   
   C# (coming from a Java background it's very similar) and trying to move from   
   Vb6 to VB.Net just seemed confusing!   
      
   I am currently using Delphi for .Net which is quite a challenge because all   
   examples of how to use the framework are in C# or VB.Net, so I need to   
   translate it all :)   
      
   Marc   
   http://imarc.co.uk/   
      
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