M
Mitchell S. Honnert
In some recent posts, I've seen people who seem to be waxing nostalgic with
respect to the "ease of use" of Visual Basic 6. I can't quite put my finger
on it, but they seem to be implying that VB6 was simpler to use than VB.NET,
that it was somehow easier to write programs in VB6 than in VB.NET. I have
to admit I'm astonished by this attitude. I can't see any rationality to
the idea that, on the whole, VB6 is easier than VB.NET.
I *can* see where someone who is entrenched in the VB6 language would find
the switch to VB.NET daunting. (VB.NET is, after all, a major departure
from VB6.) But what I can't see is someone making the judgment, from an
objective standpoint, that VB6 is easier than VB.NET. In other words, just
because *you* happen to be so much more familiar with the collective set of
eccentricities, peculiarities, and inconsistencies that is known as Visual
Basic 6 that you can write applications faster in VB6 than VB.NET, it
doesn't mean that VB6 is easier.
I've heard it argued that a drawback to .NET's full support of object
oriented programming is that it makes coding more difficult. "I just want
to get in there and write some code; I don't want to have to worry about all
of that OO crap." Perhaps the principle holds true for the "Hello World"
type of application, but for any non-trivial application, I just don't see
how the well-ordered, clean, and consistent implementation of OO principles
in the .NET framework couldn't be seen as an easier environment in which to
develop.
I guess I'm looking at it from the perspective of teaching someone who is
completely new to programming how to be a programmer. In this case, which
would be easier, VB6 or VB.NET? There's not doubt in my mind that VB.NET
would be easier. In my opinion, in a relatively short period of time, I
could teach someone the principles of object oriented programming and the
basic layout of the .NET Framework. But if I applied this same amount of
time to teaching someone VB6 from scratch, I'd get so bogged down in telling
them about all of the quirks, workarounds, and exceptions-to-the-rule that
I'd run out of time before I could even get through the basics. (I wouldn't
even want to call this type of knowledge transfer "teaching".)
The point is that even though there might be an initially steeper learning
curve to get past the principles of object oriented programming, once you
have the "OO epiphany" and truly grok the principles, the rest is smooth
sailing. But with VB6, you may get up and running a bit faster, but your
daily process of coding is so taken up by finding workarounds to a seemingly
endless series of quirky behaviors or things that just don't operate how you
think they would, that the overall development time is actually much longer.
So, are there people out there that really think VB6 is easier than VB.NET?
Why? Do you think it depends on the size of the project? Are there other
factors? Help me understand because I just don't get this attitude.
- Mitchell S. Honnert
respect to the "ease of use" of Visual Basic 6. I can't quite put my finger
on it, but they seem to be implying that VB6 was simpler to use than VB.NET,
that it was somehow easier to write programs in VB6 than in VB.NET. I have
to admit I'm astonished by this attitude. I can't see any rationality to
the idea that, on the whole, VB6 is easier than VB.NET.
I *can* see where someone who is entrenched in the VB6 language would find
the switch to VB.NET daunting. (VB.NET is, after all, a major departure
from VB6.) But what I can't see is someone making the judgment, from an
objective standpoint, that VB6 is easier than VB.NET. In other words, just
because *you* happen to be so much more familiar with the collective set of
eccentricities, peculiarities, and inconsistencies that is known as Visual
Basic 6 that you can write applications faster in VB6 than VB.NET, it
doesn't mean that VB6 is easier.
I've heard it argued that a drawback to .NET's full support of object
oriented programming is that it makes coding more difficult. "I just want
to get in there and write some code; I don't want to have to worry about all
of that OO crap." Perhaps the principle holds true for the "Hello World"
type of application, but for any non-trivial application, I just don't see
how the well-ordered, clean, and consistent implementation of OO principles
in the .NET framework couldn't be seen as an easier environment in which to
develop.
I guess I'm looking at it from the perspective of teaching someone who is
completely new to programming how to be a programmer. In this case, which
would be easier, VB6 or VB.NET? There's not doubt in my mind that VB.NET
would be easier. In my opinion, in a relatively short period of time, I
could teach someone the principles of object oriented programming and the
basic layout of the .NET Framework. But if I applied this same amount of
time to teaching someone VB6 from scratch, I'd get so bogged down in telling
them about all of the quirks, workarounds, and exceptions-to-the-rule that
I'd run out of time before I could even get through the basics. (I wouldn't
even want to call this type of knowledge transfer "teaching".)
The point is that even though there might be an initially steeper learning
curve to get past the principles of object oriented programming, once you
have the "OO epiphany" and truly grok the principles, the rest is smooth
sailing. But with VB6, you may get up and running a bit faster, but your
daily process of coding is so taken up by finding workarounds to a seemingly
endless series of quirky behaviors or things that just don't operate how you
think they would, that the overall development time is actually much longer.
So, are there people out there that really think VB6 is easier than VB.NET?
Why? Do you think it depends on the size of the project? Are there other
factors? Help me understand because I just don't get this attitude.
- Mitchell S. Honnert