Writing a useful program in Visual Basic

[Noobsa44]

If there are actual advantages, I'd certainly like to know what they are, simply because I'm under the impression it's little more then a stylistic choice.

Here is a great list of language and syntax differences: C# vs. VB.net

I think the big "advantages" in VB.net are:
* The "with" keyword.
* The "optional" keyword.
* Exception filtering
* Simpler code for event handlers (but more complex in understanding).
* VB.net allows for text or binary comparisons (but is slower in execution, so this could be a disadvantage too)
* Not case sensitive.
* Visual Studios provides a settings framework (less language specific, granted).
* Verbal Syntax
* The "My" namespace (handy, but not really part of the framework)

On C#'s advantage list (note: I don't know C# nearly as well, so I maybe missing some):
* Unsafe (unmanaged) code
* Case sensitive.
* Less universal switches such as binary/text comparison.
* Anonymous Method (I personally dislike these as they add to the confusion in exchange of less lines of code)
* Symbolic Syntax
* Single statements on multiple lines is easier to write
* Multi-line commenting.

 

[NGC_604]

Originally posted by: jman19

Originally posted by: PhatoseAlpha
I figured the anti-vb sentiment was a legacy thing, harkening back to when it was a purely interpreted language and very slow.

That is likely it...

I think a lot of the people who started with a C background look down on VB and its history...

Bingo! Most of the people who hate VB or .NET haven't even used it(.NET), or at least haven't used VB since VB6.

 

[dandragonrage]

Originally posted by: Noobsa44
* VB.net allows for text or binary comparisons (but is slower in execution, so this could be a disadvantage too)

You mean like String.Compare in C#?

I used to use VB6 a lot. I started moving to VB.net (programmed a bit in it, nothing too huge) and then a friend of mine told me to try C# and I've never looked back.

 

[Noobsa44]

You mean like String.Compare in C#?

In visual studios .net 2005, when in a solution's properties, if you go to the compile options you will see "Option Compare" which allows you to compare by either text or by binary. I believe this only affects string comparisons performed like this: "if(str1 = str2) then" That way you don't have to always do something like String.Compare or "if(str1.toLower = str2.toLower)" then if that is what is need in your application. As best I can tell, C# does not support this as C# solutions don't even have a Compile options tab.

 

[dandragonrage]

String.Compare is faster than == anyway IIRC

 

[DivideBYZero]

I can't stand the VB/C snobbery. Programming is programming. If you get the job done, what does it matter what it was coded in?

<--- REAL Basic 2006 user. Programmed in C, Pascal, REXX, Perl, MRL and all sorts of other crap to some degree in the past.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Yeah really depends what you need done. If you want a simple calculator, vb will do, if you want a complex statistics program that uses lot of processing, you'll want C or C#. If you want cross platform then C/C++ is way to go, if speed does not matter but compatability does, then java is probably better then C/C++. Oh and mono does not count, thats emulation and you get huge overhead and possibly other issues involved. C# is native on only windows unless MS releases their compiler under other OSes. So really the languages all have their pros and cons depending on situation.