>Hi Henry,
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>>Does it not make sense to read up on stuff. for example, I am very new to this field itself - yet I have invested in your SDT software, and have invested in a lot of the top VFP books. And I am also a person who does different things, and only recently did I come into programming. Yet I have made my investments in the related tools. Additionally, would'nt those who work for their employers want to continue to upgrade their skills. Simply sitting back does not make sense. This argument make me want to reconsider my agreement with your 1st paragraph.
>>
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>What you say makes perfect sense, however, it is recently becoming apparent to me that this is not the reality. A large percentage of programmers out there simply do not care to put in the extra effort to increase their skills. Leaders in the community like Doug have seen this phenomena before me. They go to great lengths to put together or reference resources, only to have the programmer ignore them. They don't want to put in the effort to learn something new. The fact that you take the time to improve your skills puts you in the top 10-20% (or whatever) with the other developers that care. This can produce a sense of pride, but also creates disappointment with the other 80-90% that could care less. Online communities like this one, where the vast majority continue to improve their skills, can give the illusion that most programmers want to "be the best they can be" at their job. This is not the case in the real world.

Thank you for your comments Joel. Despite programming not being my mainstream, I have taken steps to learn. This thread by itself is an education in what VFP can do and cannot. In the real world, if you don;t upgrade you skill - the potential for being replaced with someone with a wider range of skill is very high. So if someone just wants to climb the corporate ladder or evenhold on to their jobs, it onlly makes sense to be active.