Claudio..

Taking VB alone, you have to carefully define what is meant by a VB developer. There are at least 3 broad classifications:

1. The hard-core VB application developer
2. The hobbyist
3. The office programmer who is uses VBA


I have no clue what the real numbers are. However, it has been said that VB is/was the most popular language in the world. I think the #'s are in the millions.

Take the average developer for example. Is it more likely than not that the programmer uses VB or some flavor thereof (VBA, VBSCript, etc...)? I think the answer is yes. How about Delphi or VFP? I think the answer is no. As for C++, I think the answer is a resounding no.

When you talk about classifications, I think you also have to distinguish between those who say they use a specfifc language as opposed to a language they regularly use in the development of applications.

In sum, I think it is fair to say that there are many more "VB" developers than VFP developers. I am not sure the same can be said for Delphi. The last number I heard for VFP was 500K world wide. That number is about 3 years old. At best, I expect that number to remain constant. More likely, the number has dropped off a bit.

As for the next big language/environment, I think it is clear that .Net will supplant VB as the most most popular windows programming environment around. If MS gets behind something, it wins...