PMFJI ....

I am not sure I agree with Craig either about the distinction between languages and GUIs. Technically I suppose he's correct but just about all the language compilers come with GUI tools, so why not use them?

I do agree with him about C# being a better language to learn at this point than C++ or C. Sure, there are a lot of C/C++ jobs still since so many applications have been written using them. But those apps tend to be low level stuff, not business apps with GUIs. C# for .NET might be something you want to take a hard look at if you feel an affinity for the "C" language. It is a full member of the .NET toolset, including GUI capability. Subtle differences have emerged but Microsoft has always described the choice of VB or C# as the "code behind" language in .NET apps as a "lifestyle choice." For what it's worth, a number of top FoxPro developers who have embraced .NET have chosen C#.

There is no reason to believe Sedna is not the end of the line for FoxPro. You're right, people have been saying that for a long time. What is different this time is no work is being done on a next release. Sedna is not a version upgrade, it is a set of tools intended to make VFP more interoperable with .NET. You should also know the VFP development team is all but gone, either to other parts of Microsoft or out of the company. That said, VFP 9 is a pretty darned good tool and should be viable for the next several years, particularly for custom apps where the client doesn't necessarily care what it's written in. (As far as corporate IT in the U.S., that train left the station years ago).

If you are interested in Linux as a target platform I can see why you found Whil Hentzen's comments interesting. He has been an early and enthusiastic adopter of VFP under Linux. As you might imagine, this has led to some clashes with WindowsWorld out there in Redmond. I am sure his picture is on at least one dartboard on the Microsoft campus <lol>. But he's a great guy and I have seen him be ahead of the curve before.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do. And keep coming back here. There is a tremendous body of expertise about VFP as well as some of the newer tools. And the willingness to help others, pro bono, is truly breathtaking.


>thanks craig. i didn't think of it that way (ie the program language vs. the GUI). I guess that's how they port C# (the language) to Linux and then come up with a GUI, while MS I believe is called "Visual C#".
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>are you sure about Sedna being "the end of the line" for foxpro? people have been saying foxpro is dead for a long time now and new versions have come out.
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>i'm mostly interested in programming in a cross-platform programming language. i've been thinking of moving our small company over to linux (we use it for somethings now) so that is why in the future this consideration would help.
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>as for C++, is there a reason you don't recommend learning it? I looked in the following site that tracks the popularity of progam languages and C++ is listed #4 and C is listed #2 as of August 2006. The site is:
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>http://www.tiobe.com/tpci.htm
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>Ruby is moving up to the top 10 (according to the site) which would be a consideration in learning that.
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>Thanks,
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>Paul