This article provides an overview of the generics feature in Visual Basic 2005, and explains the basic concepts involved in defining and using generics and their usefulness to the Visual Basic developer.
Defining and Using Generics in Visual Basic 2005
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Eugenia Loli
Ex-programmer, ex-editor in chief at OSNews.com, now a visual artist/filmmaker.
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I kind of wondered what the syntax for generics would look like in VB. Now I know. Interesting, but I’ll stick with C#.
Isn’t the whole point of BASIC that it’s … well … BASIC? It seems VB.NET is rapidly becoming as feature complete as any other language, which must surely hurt the novice developer trying to learn programming using it.
I just don’t understand the point of Visual Basic when C# is available. Why would someone want to learn a language that isn’t “basic” in any way, that has quirky and confusing syntax, and is so ridiculously verbose. It makes no sense to me.
Not sure on this but i don’t think it’s a totally rewrite of VB6.
VB has a loyal user base that isn’t interested in the c lexicon.
http://www.igeek.com/articles/History/VisualBASIC.txt
I just don’t understand the point of Visual Basic when C# is available. Why would someone want to learn a language that isn’t “basic” in any way, that has quirky and confusing syntax, and is so ridiculously verbose. It makes no sense to me.
It’s called “personal choice”
A VB.Net programmer might as well have some bad stuff (including “quirky” and “confusing”) to say about your beloved C#. The “ridiculously verbose” for this guy could be understood as “much more readable”.
..and I forgot to mention that anachronism which is case-sensitive syntax
It’s almost gotten to the point where you can convert between VB and C# automatically, using a software tool (witness all Microsoft’s documentation where the code is available in four different languages). They’re isomorphic. One day, language choice will be up to individual developers, and Visual Studio will be able to translate on-the-fly.
OK, we’re not there yet. It may force people to use a strict formatting (which isn’t necessarily a bad thing). Hmm.
I like case sensitivity in a programming language. I define a variable/method/whatever with proper readable casing and I’m forced to continue using it. Unlike some VB source codes I saw where people were trying to permute all possible cases of character casing on a variable, all within the same method. Not exactly readable.
nlike some VB source codes I saw where people were trying to permute all possible cases of character casing on a variable
I believe that most people who program on VB use Visual Studio, so that’s not an issue since the editor fixes the casing.