[Tutor] Python and Tcl/Tk

[Magnus Lycka]

At 11:07 2003-01-29 +0000, alan.gauld@bt.com wrote:
> > For Tcl it seems to be downhill to me, like Delphi and soon
> > Visual Basic.
>
>Delphi is actually growing again due to Kylix. But that will
>be short term I fear.

I think so too...

>VB, I suspect, is here for the long haul - unless Bill G leaves
>Microsoft!

I don't know... VB 1 was released in 1991, and VB 6 in 1998.
Almost one new version per year. I guess there is some kind
of VB.NET now, but it seems to me that the development of
VB has slowed down quite a bit. And BG has been known to
shift lane. Once upon a time, he spoke highly of Microsofts
Smalltalk for OS/2. That was to be the next big thing. And
of course, we have OS/2... And internet... And Java... Bill
has no holy cows. It all started with BASIC but I doubt that
he's sentimental.

Let's look at the VB versions

VB 1      1991
VB 2      1992 1 yr
VB 3      1993 1 yr
VB 4      1995 2 yrs
VB 5      1997 2 yrs
VB 6      1998 1 yr
VB 7/.NET 2002 4 yrs since previous version...

There might be a new Visual Studio in 2003, and perhaps a
new version number for VB, but I doubt that much will
change except pure Dotnet updates that must be integrated
in VB.NET.

I don't know, but I suspect VB and CSharp will aquire more and
more of each other. VB will become more CSharpish, and CSharp
will become more and more relaxed as all MS tools. Instead of
flagging errors, they try to guess what you meant. It's the
antithesis of Python's "When in doubt, refuse the temptation
to guess". Anyone who developed C++ with Visual Studio for
deployment on Solaris etc knows what I mean. (No it was not
my idea, but I was well paid, so I won't complain...)

I would imagine that C# will be the next VB, but perhaps I'm
wrong. With it's Java roots, it's rather object-oriented, and
that might be to difficult to grasp for many?

But when Office etc is fully Dotnet enabled, VBA will be replaced
by Dotnet, and you can write macros and whatever in any Dotnet
capable language. At that point I imagine VB will be given
little further attention.

After 40 years, it's about time for BASIC to retire...


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Magnus Lycka, Thinkware AB
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