>>>>Hi
>>>>This isn't a problem. Rather, it's just a discussion of something I'm curious about VFP.
>>>>
>>>>As c# developers know, we can't write a method/procedure/function in c# outside of a class.
>>>>But in VFP you can.
>>>>
>>>>So, I have a co-worker who saw my VFP code that wasn't rapped in a class. He asked why?
>>>>I'm new to VFP, so I just said "because you can in VFP".
>>>>;-)
>>>
>>>A class can have it's own datasession (if you set it -- we subclass our classes to have that).
>>>
>>>So if a separate datasession is desirable (to preserve data state, or to minimize cursor naming conflicts), that can be a big advantage. Properties that belong only to the methods of the class are also useful. Having instantiation code that is particular to the object can be useful.
>>>
>>>If it's just a matter of where to store functions and procs, however, a procedure prg is just as good.
>>>
>>
>>As each method gets an imlicit this parameter passed, any method code not recurring to data on this (or own datasession) will be faster if coded as a function. At least at framework level coding (possibility to be called often or in a loop) this should be cared about, esp as vfp is not the fastest language when calling next stack level with many parameters compared to statically typed languages ;-)
>>
>>Also the gymnastics sometimes used by Java and C# to allow running code without the class being instantiated argue for function libraries in my book ;-)))
>
>Edge conditions always but by definition seldom apply. And in most cases the call will be to a method in the class foranything with a large number of calls. As with all programming whether classes or prg libraries, the goal is to segregate functionalities into separate ecologies.
>
>So after taking the above into account, the decision devolves to the major differences between the two approaches, I think along the lines I laid out.

Classes/methods also have bindevent going for them, but that is also a vfp specific thing - it moves this coder a long way to coding in classes. OTOH: As we have no extensible string class, string helpers are often better coded in functions instead of classes, as the "this" is not needed most of the times - at least as property storage.

my 0.02€

thomas