>>Absolute hogwash! He already said he has no knowledge of VB, but it doesn't stop him from talking about it. He works for a non-profit, so he thinks he is able to qualify VFP as a development tool for non-profits too. I have friends in the non-profit industry. Most use Access.
>
>Doesn't stop Walter, et.al. either. Most mom and pop's use VFP stuff:
>1. Because most VFP programmer's work cheap
>2. Because it doesn't matter how much spaghetti code is written
>3. Because anybody can do it.

Let's focus a bit on 3 - start up companies need fast dev cycle. Why is so much written by startups in Python (Google, YouTube) or other (PHP) scripting language ? The garage sitting teenager/twen probably won't use vfp (he has never heard of it, but it might fit his task) but either python, javascript, php, ruby or a similar tool with similar benefits and even more/identical negative side effects. Probably NOT java or C#, and almost certainly not with UML and Rational Rose. Code reviews ? Not in that scenario.
>
>If your code is put to rigorous coding standards and review, most VFP code wouldn't hold up, with the exception of a number of good 3rd party tools. I have had to fix a few VFP code nightmares created by some BIG consulting firms who specialize in VFP.

That is mostly a function of developer quality and partly of the frequency of such audits. I know people writing sucky code in any language - and get paid for it!

>VFP lets you make poor programming choices and then doesn't penalize you for it.
Such a penalty will come later - agreed - but:
a) later there might be enough budget to fix the issues
b) there are also cases of overengineered projects never being finished.

And the budget is much tighter in bootstrap scenarios. I am not saying mom/pop or startup scenarios (even involving some nontrivial data manipulation) are only possible in vfp/impossible in java/.Net. The business needs make fast turn around important, and things like clean separation, robustness, minimal no. of errors, sound testing coverage are less important if you don't have to pay 5 testers and 5-15 support people for each project.

Things like static typing *are* getting more beneficial/important as the project size grows - but while the pay on the corporate side is definately better, there is often more fun working in/with startups. And while I am not hurting financially, "Filthy Rich" seems to happen more often from startups<g>.

regards

thomas