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Thread: migrate from VB6 to VB.NET ??

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    Question migrate from VB6 to VB.NET ??

    Hello
    With ref to the title, I have some questions:

    1) What's the learning curve for someone with good background in VB6 ?


    3) what are the main advantages of VB.Net compared to VB6 and what will I be missing from VB6 ? from yr experience


    2) With VB.NET 2010 "ultimate" edition is it possible to make stand alone apps or they will be depending on net anyway even for the EXEs ??


    thanks

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    Re: migrate from VB6 to VB.NET ??

    Quote Originally Posted by horazio View Post
    1) What's the learning curve for someone with good background in VB6 ?
    You will find that some things seems familiar, others completely
    different. Due to .Net being a real OOPL using inheritance can hugely change the type of code you create. Saying that you can move code/logic across fairly easy, however UI elements are a re-write. Do not forget that you are not moving from VB6 to VB.Net, you are jumping over VS 2003/2005/2008! There are a lot of things created in VS2010 using feedback from previous versions, a few I still have not had time to use fully and I have been using .Net for near 10 years!

    Quote Originally Posted by horazio View Post
    3) what are the main advantages of VB.Net compared to VB6 and what will I be missing from VB6 ? from yr experience
    There are numerous threads and debates about this topic, there is no point me trying to summerise it, have a quick search!


    Quote Originally Posted by horazio View Post
    2) With VB.NET 2010 "ultimate" edition is it possible to make stand alone apps or they will be depending on net anyway even for the EXEs ??
    VB.Net is dependent on the .Net framework (every version is), which is so common and easy to download/distribute that it is not a real issue. There is imo no reason to buy the 'ultimate' version of of VS unless you have plans to use all the features. I have access to the Premium version and even that has more than I need. You can use any version of VS to create the output files (.exe files), even the free version.
    Last edited by Grimfort; Jan 10th, 2012 at 10:51 AM.

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    Super Moderator Shaggy Hiker's Avatar
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    Re: migrate from VB6 to VB.NET ??

    A good background in VB6 may help in that you will already know the syntax, but it may also hurt in that you will be expecting one thing and will get another. Overall, I think you will be better off, yet it will also cause you greater frustration initially.

    Frankly, the main advantage I found was that .NET was a vastly superior IDE. There are plenty of language advantages, especially for somebody who was into Object Oriented coding prior to VB5/6, but since you could write nearly everything in VB6, .NET was mostly a different language. It was the advantages of the IDE that made me reluctant to ever go back once I was familiar with .NET. Having said that, the Object Oriented nature of .NET was very appealing to me, and the ability to do multi-threading is something that I have used in many projects, and which was unavailable in VB6. The single biggest thing that I use in .NET, which wasn't available in VB6 is generics, such as the List (of T) which is considerably better than the dynamic arrays from earlier VB. The List wasn't introduced until VS2005, though, so when I started in .NET, it wasn't even an option.

    2) ALL programs are dependent on something. VB6 required both the VB6 runtime engine as well as certain OS versions. The runtime tended to be automatically installed with the OS, so you often didn't need to think about it, but it was still necessary, as was the fact that a VB6 program was tied to certain hardware/software requirements. .NET is no different. The .NET runtime is needed for any .NET program to run. Various versions of this framework come pre-installed on various flavors of MS OS, and other versions were pushed to yet other flavors of the OS using both auto and optional updates. Therefore, it's a real crazy quilt of what is and isn't out there. Installers take care of the rest automatically. The idea that any language will create some magic code that will just run anywhere without any other dependencies is a fantasy that is widely held. Name the language, name the program, and you will find that the fantasy has not been realized. There is ALWAYS something else needed.
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    Re: migrate from VB6 to VB.NET ??

    thanks guys

    I'm very surprised that you can compile EXEs with just the free version !
    what's the trick behind it ? it sounds to good to be true

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    Re: migrate from VB6 to VB.NET ??

    The trick is this: MS realized that they will get a greater market share if more people are writing apps than they will by selling development environments, so they are giving away a fairly full-featured environment to get people into it. Professionals and others may or may not then pay for a higher level because they want some of the higher features (though I would guess that most people rarely use the features you get above the Professional level, and probably rarely use those above the free Express level), but as long as people are writing software, MS gains in the long run. It's just business.
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    Re: migrate from VB6 to VB.NET ??

    Any developer who works in a team needs the $$ copies of VS in order to use some of the debugging tools (maybe source control, I have not looked!?). If more developers exist and enter the job market simply because they got hold of a free copy then it benefits M$ overall. Also other languages have free IDEs (such as eclipse for java) as well so M$ would fall behind on pure footprint if they did not find ways to get the masses coding!

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    Re: migrate from VB6 to VB.NET ??

    Also, it is just getting harder and harder to get some VB6 apps to even run properly on newer machines. And some apps compiled on Win7 SP1 machines will not run properly on XP machines.

    who knows whats going to happen when Win8 comes out.

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    Re: migrate from VB6 to VB.NET ??

    Quote Originally Posted by wes4dbt View Post
    Also, it is just getting harder and harder to get some VB6 apps to even run properly on newer machines. And some apps compiled on Win7 SP1 machines will not run properly on XP machines.

    who knows whats going to happen when Win8 comes out.
    I think that Win8 is going to create some markets but I don't think it will replace desktop applications. The ratio will change, that's all. Having looked at the Dev Preview I can see some value in the "Metro" front-end, however will it replace intensive applications from the desktop like Quicken, Power-Point, Excel and Word? (Among many, many other things). I doubt it.

    At the developers level it doesn't look terribly hard to develop for Metro but as a developer of Enterprise level and database applications myself I can't "see" it yet. I'm more a user of stuff like photo viewers and the like. The applications I develop for my own use will, as well, remain on the desktop. I see no reason to retool all my stuff just because there's a new front-end.

    However ... we'll see how it goes. I'm just kind of sitting on the sidelines watching this one right now. To the OP, I'd say continue with learning how to rewrite your applications in VB.Net. The platform your targeting is not going to just vanish anytime soon.

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    Re: migrate from VB6 to VB.NET ??

    Quote Originally Posted by Shaggy Hiker View Post
    The trick is this: MS realized that they will get a greater market share if more people are writing apps than they will by selling development environments, so they are giving away a fairly full-featured environment to get people into it.

    Slightly off topic: Maybe it's just me but my opinion was software like Photoshop was so easily readily cracked was because it allowed students who could not afford it otherwise to learn it. Maybe that' s looking into it way to much?

    Just something i thought about one day.

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    Super Moderator Shaggy Hiker's Avatar
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    Re: migrate from VB6 to VB.NET ??

    My opinion as to why Photoshop was cracked was that it was so utterly desirable, yet utterly expensive. That created a strong incentive for piracy. The same might be true for a dev environment like VS, except that MS really WANTS anybody who wants to use it to be able to use it. They gain more from people writing software using their tools than they do from selling the tools. Let those of us who get the VS through work (rather than out of pocket) buy the higher levels, but get everyone who wants to using at least SOME viable version.
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    Re: migrate from VB6 to VB.NET ??

    So that also you think my view? software is crackable to make a more desirable user in the future?

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    Re: migrate from VB6 to VB.NET ??

    Software is crackable because it isn't possible for it to be otherwise. After all, at some point, all code (not just software, but even text messages between people), has to be decrypted for it to be useful. At some point, it can all be understood by somebody, or else it is gibberish and has no value. The goal for any kind of copy protection is not to make it impossible, but to make it sufficiently hard that it will deter those who you want to deter. In the case of software, that isn't everybody, just the majority, as those people will provide the revenue stream because they will find it easier to buy than to steal. That's a trade-off that exists in all things.
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    Re: migrate from VB6 to VB.NET ??

    Quote Originally Posted by Shaggy Hiker View Post
    Software is crackable because it isn't possible for it to be otherwise. After all, at some point, all code (not just software, but even text messages between people), has to be decrypted for it to be useful. At some point, it can all be understood by somebody, or else it is gibberish and has no value. The goal for any kind of copy protection is not to make it impossible, but to make it sufficiently hard that it will deter those who you want to deter. In the case of software, that isn't everybody, just the majority, as those people will provide the revenue stream because they will find it easier to buy than to steal. That's a trade-off that exists in all things.
    Exactly. The basic purpose of a lock is to "keep honest people honest". If someone REALLY wants to break your lock they're eventually going to find a way to do it. Fortunately most thieves aren't that motivated: when they run up against a strong lock 99.9% will move on to an easier target. That's the aim of most deterrent systems. A lock will never be 100% foolproof.

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