Perry, these are some fair observations. I also empathize with the difficulty in learning any new dev tool if one doesn’t have a current project to develop with it.

I think part of the problem in this on-going debate is that the different "contestants" perhaps work in different areas and have different needs. For instance here are some thoughts:

1) Type of developer: Corporate employee developers vs. shrink-wrap application developers.

2) Related to #1: Employed in a company vs. self-employed.

3) Target market. Small to medium size business vs. enterprise. e.g. 1 to, say, 500 users vs. 1000's of users in a large organization.

4) Database requirements: Enterprise requirements vs. free tables and VFP databases. Not all apps require SQL for instance, or vice versa for free tables.

5) Age of the developer: For instance, to take the two extremes - if you are just starting out then you may as well start with the latest technology. If you are "older" you might just ride out the VFP wave :)

6) Position of the developer: More senior developers might be quite happy to understand the latest dev tools without needing to actually develop in them. They are perhaps in a management position of a dev team.

7) Application type: Different tools are better/worse at different types of app.

8) Platform type: Different tools are better/worse for different platforms, e.g. PC, handheld, etc.

I am sure there are more contrasts like these. Also I would add that I have on more than one occasion learnt a new dev tool based on all the hype of the vendor only to see that tool fade away (or not become mainstream) for a variety of reasons. One must appreciate that there are no guarantees about which dev tool will be number 1 tomorrow. You can spend a lot of time learning something only to find it failing in the marketplace.



>I'm part of a team doing basically VFP maintenance work while the apps are being rewritten in Java. The is a good chance we will be able to get maintenance work on the Java apps. So we are teaching ourselves Java so we can continue our employment by the company. Everyone who's part of our team is all for learning Java.
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>I feel as you. If I was sure that when the VFP work ends at this company, I could get another VFP gig, I wouldn't bother with the Java learning. No need to waste my time with the 20-30 unpaid hours I'll have to spend to get to a comfortable level.
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>But from my seat, I think it will be extremely difficult to find VFP work in another year. I feel, as well as others I've spoken too, that the Java opportunity is a great opportunity.
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>If not for this gig, It would be difficult for me to get up to speed on other tools. I've been teaching myself some .Net. But it is kind of hard for me to learn when there's not a real app to be developed.
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>I would suppose that's the rub for some here. Trying to find out how to get paid for all the learning that they will have to do, to retool themselves.
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>PF
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