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7+ years ago, VB seemed to be the answer and VFP soon to be dead. But what I find ironic is that right now, it's VB which is dead (VB.NET is not really VB but .NET with a VB syntax) and VFP is still alive and relatively well.
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I'll indulge myself a little - taking a break from bar exam studies - and provide some food for thought....

What you say above is a recital of some of the "urban myths" that have been trotted out for quite some time. First, VB is not "dead". As circumstantial evidence of that claim, just go to any on-line job search service. Using monster.com as an example, if I type in VB 6 as a search criteria - there are over 1000 hits. If I type VFP, I get 15. If I type FoxPro, I get 151. Typing Visual FoxPro reduces that number to 80.

The fact is Emmanuel, there is more VB 6 work TODAY than has ever been the case for Fox. Indeed, the COM-Based VB has been moth-balled - but only to be replaced by .NET-Based VB. And for this reason, I don't think the world at large would agree that VB is "dead". But, assuming arguendo that VB is "Dead" - which would you rather have? A "dead" language with lots of opportunities or a "live" language with relatively few opportunties?

With regard to VFP being "alive" and "relatively well", I think dispatched with the whole "alive" issue above. As for being "relatively well" - my question is "relative to what?" Based on job stats and overall opportunities, VFP is not doing "relatively well" compared to VB. This may be tough to take - but it is the truth nonetheless...it is a pretty thin argument to claim victory over VB because there have been new versions of VFP pumped out.

With respect to the new versions - I think many have said "so what????" Sure, it is good for some that facets of the product have been tweaked. But lets face it, many of the new features are too little...too late. I don't believe that a feature that allows one to rotate labels is worth getting cranked up about...

Your post touched on one of the flawed arguments that gets touted that it was a waste of time to invest learning VB years ago. Several points. First, those who did learn VB ended up having an easier time incorporating office into their applications. Also, people who learned VB by an large, had and do have an easier time working in the .NET environment. Saying VB was a waste of time is flawed logic because it smacks of hindsight bias. Years ago, VB was the most practical way to augment Fox when you wanted to interact fully with the Windows API - or if you wanted to create components that could raise and respond to windows/com events.

The bottom line...the Fox developer who took the advise to learn VB and to expand his/her toolset back in the late 90's - is in FAR better shape today than the Fox developer who kept his/her head in the sand...

John















OK, .NET is crushing every other development tool on the Windows platform (even the excellent Delphi) and if .NET 2.0 fulfill its promises, maybe it will be the time for VFP to enter in "maintenance mode".