These days, I think you have to have an ability to code in several languages to be able to produce a viable product. I have been working with several languages for several years, and try to use the one that is best for the situation. I need to spend more time in dot net, but the VFP enhancement requests keep coming in. I'll be doing mostly vb dot net and using the Strataframe framework where I can. Lately here are some of the languages I've been working with:

vb.net - We are working on an application to graphically display relationships between people, places and things. The tool is called I2 and it works similarly to touchgraph. All we have to do is produce the xml pages that get translated via the java applet of the webpage. This is a very slick tool. It lets you pick a person via query, then it will display the related places (houses owned, previous arrest locations, etc), associates, things (cars, houses, bank accounts, etc.) graphically. You can drill down on each object and see the relationships to that entity. It paints a very good picture of what you are dealing with. (Do a google search on google touchgraph, then enter www.universalthred.com and look at the links)

Cold Fusion - I took a class at New Horizon's becase the MPD has an application that is written in CF. I like the language. It's a lot like PHP or VFP doing textmerge.

Flash - Another class at New Horizons so I could put some glitz in my apps.

PHP - I had to learn some of this language to be able to run an application that produces statistics on websites. AWSTATS is freeware that you configure for this, and you can customize.

Python - We use this for EZRI mapping. It's a very powerful language.

Of course most all of us had to learn html, xml, etc ml.

The bottom line, for me, is to expand the arsenal at every opportunity and have fun learning new stuff.



>It seems to me that a large part of the VFP community that has dropped VFP development or intends to soon is looking solely at .NET and nothing else. Microsoft tries to assimilate everything. Look at IronPython and other projects that they use to try to pull in open sourcers. You know, get 'em in the door, then corrupt them. Look at their move into accounting systems. That is a highly fragmented market. I wonder how long before they own that, too. Look at the desktop and office suite monopoly that lets them significantly overcharge for their products and gives them an unmatched cash horde with which they can clobber most anyone.