jwcolby
jwcolby at colbyconsulting.com
Sun Jan 2 13:18:55 CST 2011
"When major functionality is introduced in one language, it should appear in the other as well. This doesn’t mean that every feature will be in both languages and work exactly the same way; indeed, each language has its own history, spirit and feel—traits that are important to maintain." This does not sound like deprecation is in the plan. If you have studied the remaining differences you find things that may not be trivial to port to the other language. That article does not say that the languages are now identical, in fact it explicitly states that they still are not. John W. Colby www.ColbyConsulting.com On 1/2/2011 1:48 PM, Dan Waters wrote: > Hi Shamil, > > I'm not making arguments based on any hard numbers - these are logical > arguments and some predictions which I believe will come to pass if my > arguments turn out to be true. > > The statement about C# and VB.Net now being almost identical does come > directly from MS. So - all previous discussions about C# vs. VB.Net went > out the window with the release of VS 2010 and MS's alignment of the two > languages. Don't make any decisions on what path to take based on a > previous version of VS. Any arguments about one of them being functionally > better than the other is now moot. So, if someone chooses one over the > other, it's just a personal preference. When a business has a profit > motive, personal preferences, even strong ones, will be overridden > (sometimes gently - sometimes not) once the business owners realize they can > make more profit going down one path and not the other. > > In this link, read the 2nd paragraph titled 'Coevolution'. This is MS's > description of why they are making the two languages the same. > What's New in VB 2010: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ee336123.aspx > > In this link, scroll down to 'Visual Basic and C# Languages'. This says, > "In Visual Studio 2010, the Visual Basic and C# languages continue to move > toward feature parity. This enables you to choose a language based on > personal preferences because both languages are equally capable. This > section lists some of the new features in C# and Visual Basic." > Visual Studio 2010 Product Highlights: > http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd547188.aspx > > > I read through the article John referenced. That business owner had to make > a hard choice in April 2009. At that time C# and VB.Net did have some > differences. If he made the same decision about the time that the two > languages were aligned in May 2010, it would have been much easier. > > My point is that there are some real influences which point to the usage of > VB.Net becoming predominant over C#, and (I believe) the eventual > deprecation of C# (although as John says that will be at least a long time > from now). > > I know that developers want to believe that the language they know and have > invested their time in is the best one, and gives them the skill that will > make them valuable for many years. But how many VB6 or Access developers > (who loved VB6 and/or Access) have moved to .Net? > > I'm making a recommendation to Mark to choose the language that I believe > will be predominant in the future, for the reasons I've given. I'm not > saying that everyone using C# now should quickly jump ship. > > Hope that helps, > Dan