Is Python like VB?

[Tom Willis]

On 18 Mar 2005 07:22:05 -0800, scattered <jcoleman at franciscan.edu> wrote:
> 
> Tim Roberts wrote:
> > "Mike Cox" <mikecoxlinux at yahoo.com> wrote:
> > >
> > >As you may or may not know, Microsoft is discontinuing Visual Basic
> in favor
> > >of VB.NET and that means I need to find a new easy programming
> language.  I
> > >heard that Python is an interpreted language similar to VB.
> >
> > This statement is a little bit silly.  VB.NET is an interpreted
> language
> > which is practically indistinguishable from the old VB.  Why on earth
> would
> > you choose to reimplement your software in a different language,
> rather
> > than just do the simple version upgrade?
> >
> 
> It is a bit OT for a python group, but calling VB.NET virtually
> indistinguishable from VB isn't fair to either language. The
> differences between them are so significant that many VB developers
> have taken to calling VB.Net "visual fred" instead (
> http://vb.mvps.org/vfred/breaks.asp ). VB.Net is both more powerful and
> less convienent than VB.
> 
> You are right that VBA isn't being discontinued yet. My own interest in
> learning python is to find a replacement for Excel VBA. I'm a
> mathematician who likes to throw quick programs together for things
> like statistical simulations. I liked the ability to get functioning
> code quickly in VBA, together with the ability to easily generate
> graphs of the results, etc., but I finally got tired of the slow speed
> and verbose syntax. I'm hoping that Python (as packaged by Enthought
> together with various numerical and graphing modules) will be an
> appropriate replacement.
> 
> -scattered
> 
> --
> http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
> 


I agree, VB.net is enough of a difference that I've found a lot of
developers who only develop in VB6 get really tripped up in it for a
while. Not to mention the framework you have access to is huge,
leanring your way around that is a chore in itself. It takes a
significant amount of effort to feel as productive in it as vb6. 
Especially if you've never been exposed to huge frameworks like VCL or
Java or the .net framework.

To imply that the transition from vb6 to vb.net is anything less than
a significant effort is misleading to say the least.

My .02 as a recovering vb6 com/dcom/asp programmer stuck on more than
a few vb.net projects.

-- 
Thomas G. Willis
http://paperbackmusic.net