[dba-VB] Recent Discussion from MS on VB.Net and C# in VS 2010

I programmed for a number of years in the best programming language I have
ever seen. 

It had the tightest code with the smallest number of Operands. It compiled
code into very small fast executables. When you finished a code group you
just put down a period... now that is simple. The language was called
Clarion and I am sure few have heard of it but I wrote a number of excellent
applications with the product. I have not used it for many years and doubt
whether it even exists now.

Times move on... all languages fade and disappear but there are always new
great languages coming along. (Except C which is such a dumb language that
it does not even check its variable types... if you hear of a stack-overflow
rest assured someone has been programming in C again.) I think the .Net
frame work is great because it has so many flavours. If you get bored with
one flavour just pick another. I have a friend who is raving about
Eiffel.Net?? (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ms973898.aspx)

Jim

 

-----Original Message-----
From: dba-vb-bounces at databaseadvisors.com
[mailto:dba-vb-bounces at databaseadvisors.com] On Behalf Of Drew Wutka
Sent: Tuesday, March 16, 2010 9:51 AM
To: Discussion concerning Visual Basic and related programming issues.
Subject: Re: [dba-VB] Recent Discussion from MS on VB.Net and C# in VS 2010

You don't have to type the whole word!  Ctrl-Space, will autofill
anything VB will recognize....  

<soapbox>
Ya know, if I went up to the person on the street, and said, spell
'hoop', and they wrote 'Hoop', I wouldn't go, NO, 'hoop'.

The entire argument about case sensitivity really boils down to a
generation gap, between old case sensitive languages, and newer
non-sensitive ones.  It's that simple.  The true reason for case
sensitivity is a moot point.  It's no longer necessary.  What has kept
it alive, is the 'conformity' to it, not the necessity for it.  You
statement that it's part of a naming convention is counter-intuitive
when it comes to programming.  A naming convention is designed so that
code is INHERENTLY more readable from one programmer to another.  It
should NOT be a requirement to understand a naming convention to be able
to read the code in the first place!

The original reasons for case sensitive were space and time.  There were
limited spaces in a line, and for a compiler to figure out the
difference in ascii between A and a took more compiling time.  Neither
of these is an issue today, nor have they been for quite some time (in
fact, for as long as I've been programming!).  So when you were pressed
for space in an 80 character line, allowing x and X to represent two
different variables made life easier for the programmer.  And saving a
few cycles while compiling also saved time, precious time, because when
you were limited in line space, you also didn't have Ghz processors, let
alone Mhz or even Khz.

The irony, is that programming is logic at its best.  The spoken/written
languages of humanity defies logic in many ways.  'She's Phat!'
(pronounced 'fat') would sound like an insult to the uninitiated, but
for people that pay attention to trends, they would understand that Phat
means Pretty hot and tempting.  I before E, except after C, with x
number of exceptions.  Throw Papa down the stairs his shoes. (An example
of Pennsylvanian dutch).  Yet a world of 1's and 0's is logical heaven!
There was logic in the origins of case sensitivity, now we are stuck
with a habit, instead of logic.  In fact, case sensitivity flies in the
face of logic, on the simple fact that a programming language's primary
intent is to provide a bridge between machine language and human
language.

If I were to tell you 'Bob and I went to the store, and then bob and I
went to a restaurant, and that Restaurant is Denny's.' Logic would say
that I went to Denny's and a store with a guy named Bob.  However, with
the 'naming convention' that is being applied to today's C descendant, I
could be saying that I went to the store with one guy, then went to a
restaurant with another guy, and that a restaurant that I might be
pointing too is named Denny's.  With modern programming languages, we
have the ability to write code like this:

Dim int7DaysFromNow As Date = Date()+7
If SomeOtherDate>int7DaysFromNow Then RunAFunctionWithADescritpiveName

Yet constrictions of the past want to muck up the wave of the future
with long learned habits, instead of newer, and better logic.
</soapbox>

I am a Network Administrator, I am a Network Administrator, I am a
Network Administrator

Ah..... SNMP protocols and Active Directory... back to the world of
logic I go!

Drew