URLs/articles to make decision on alternative language to VB6?

[FSPH]

Hello there,

in the past I built an extensive scientific model in VB6 that is composed of various modules. For a contract I now worked on one particular module. I feel that now would be the time to embrace a new computer language.

I like the simplicity of VB6. I heard that VB.net or VB 2005 is much more elaborate. My job is to focus on science, rather than getting too much carried away in fancy programming options.

Now my question: Does anyone know a few good URLs / articles / books that may help me in deciding, for example, between C++, VB 2500, or other good options.

Thank you for your help.

[dilettante]

I've looked at this for years and all of the answers break down into a few categories:

Stay with VB6 until something better comes along.
VB.Net is great, I can't see why you'd use crummy old VB6.
C#, only weenies write Basic.
Real programmers use C or C++.
Delphi, REALBasic, etc. fringe language is the way to go.
Leave Microsoft and write assembly language on Linux.

As you can see, none of these are very helpful.

[Jim Davis]

What i think is, VB6 is simple, easy to learn and use, the problem is theres no multi threading, that may be extremely needed for time-critical math processes, or just the user dont wanna wait for hours till your process is finishing.

Look at here, and try a demo of realbasic, you might find it easy to learn (the language is just like vb6, more or less).
http://www.realsoftware.com/products/realbasic/language.php
Its pro edition is supports cross platform compiler, so you can compile your code on linux and macs also.

But the all time winner is C, that is worth the effort to learn it. For critical processes thats the only i am recommend.


Real programmers use C or C++.

I would like to extending what @dilettante told... Based on what kind of process your program will doing, you have to choose the appropriate language for it.

[leinad31]

Hello there,

in the past I built an extensive scientific model in VB6 that is composed of various modules. For a contract I now worked on one particular module. I feel that now would be the time to embrace a new computer language.

I like the simplicity of VB6. I heard that VB.net or VB 2005 is much more elaborate. My job is to focus on science, rather than getting too much carried away in fancy programming options.

Now my question: Does anyone know a few good URLs / articles / books that may help me in deciding, for example, between C++, VB 2500, or other good options.

Thank you for your help.Depends on what the requirements and planned features for the software are, as well as the schedule, budget, skill set of developers, and available resources are especially support/knowledge-base... a particular language could be touted as the "best" but if you can't easily gain access to needed info regarding use cases, sample code, or necessary language extensions/libraries are not easily available/costly then the development costs and delays pile up.

[Hack]

Moved To General Developer

[JuggaloBrotha]

What i think is, VB6 is simple, easy to learn and use, the problem is theres no multi threading, that may be extremely needed for time-critical math processes, or just the user dont wanna wait for hours till your process is finishing.To expand on this: VB 2005/2008 handle multi-threading very nicely and I hear VB 2010 will be expanding on this even more.

[NeedSomeAnswers]

I like the simplicity of VB6. I heard that VB.net or VB 2005 is much more elaborate.

I would say that this is inaccurate, VB.Net or C# are not overly elaborate, and they are not that much of a learning curve for someone who is experienced IN VB. In fact VB.Net in particular will look very familiar to you.

They are the natural progression for a VB developer, (in my opinion) looking to learn a new language.

[Kasracer]

Now my question: Does anyone know a few good URLs / articles / books that may help me in deciding, for example, between C++, VB 2500, or other good options.There are many choices but it all depends on what your needs are.

Do you need to do your development rapidly and don't care about the absolute best performance? VB.Net or C# may be your answer.

Do you need a high performance solution? Unmanaged C++ would be your best choice but it would take longer to develop.

Do you need a web solution? PHP is a great choice for Linux servers or ASP.Net (using VB.Net or C#) for a Windows server.

There are many different choices out there and all will do what you want. VB.Net/C# will do what you want with a decent development timeline. C++ will do what you want faster but will most likely take longer to develop.
To expand on this: VB 2005/2008 handle multi-threading very nicely and I hear VB 2010 will be expanding on this even more.Ha, multi-threading in .Net 4.0 is stupidly easy. Want to process a for loop that can distribute the work to all of your cores without using too many threads? Call the parallel version of a foreach and you're done. :cool: