Morgan;

I have worked as a programmer in one of three ways:

1. Independent consultant at home or on site

2. Member of a specialized team with each member responsible for an independent part of an application

3. Responsible for development of an entire project.

You are always concerned with “now” when it comes to programming. What can you do and what is the dead line? You invest your skills, time and energy into a language and hopefully you become skilled with a toolset that is of value to your company, yourself and other employers. If you spend your time with the “wrong technology” (not popular or obsolete) you could limit your employment opportunities.

I met and interviewed dozens of VB programmers and not one had any experience outside of the specific special area of an application they were responsible for. That can be dangerous for many employment opportunities.

I guess concern has to be given to many things when choosing a programming tool. Client needs, language, platform, are a few that come to mind. It is nice to know how other shops and individuals work.

The concept of two Microsoft tools for .NET development (actually four if you include VC++, and VJ#) has value and consequence. This idea of VB.NET emphasis for interface creation is both good and bad. You have to weigh the results and implications.

So we are told that VB.NET is for “less skilled developers” and C# is for skilled developers. I think someone in marketing is trying to sell VB.NET on two levels – UI IDE ease of use and skill level. Too bad the tools will not have similar IDE environments to allow us to be more productive. Gee there is another word I found in the Microsoft marketing. More productivity with VB.NET.

Well, it might just boil down to personal preference and that is that.

Tom