Dear Friends,

I have been reading a lot about which language is better-
VB vs C# ?

Most techies have strong view points, but they are all based on 'geeky emotions' rather than logic or even common sense.

People say they should use C# because Microsoft is using it, or because it looks complex, or they have to type less, or that C# looks like a computer language and VB does not, or that C# programmers are smarter or that C# programmers are generally C++ programmers and hence they must be good because they can understand all that ridiculous code.

Well, if writing cryptic code = smarter people, then the richest people in business would all be C++ programmers or the leaders of this world would all be ex-programmers. I am not sure if that IS the case.

How many CEOs of medium/large companies are ex-programmers (except for a few CEOs of tech companies)? How many presidents,prime ministers are ex-programmers? None.

By the way I am a programmer myself, and have been for 20 years, and probably a geek too, in many ways.

What is the point? It is simply that we, the programmers, often enjoy writing and looking at cryptic stuff. It gives us a feeling that no one else can read it, and hence we must be smarter. And in doing so we fail to look at the 'big picture'. Big picture could mean many things- What works better? How to save time? What is better for the business? Why are we developing this application? Is there a better and simpler way? And so on.

I think a 'good' development language is one, which allows us to perform the most common (needed) functions in the shortest possible time, and offers a short learning curve, and is relatively easier for another programmer to comprehend.

Based on that- VB is much better, for ALL business needs. May be or may be not for systems programming-- I do not know.

Here is a link from Microsoft. They do not say, one is better than another, but read and decide for yourself, which is easier AND better for business-- the most common use for programming languages.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q308470

I have neither programmed in VB or C# before, but one need not be a rocket scientist to realize which offers shorter development lifecycles. It is certainly VB.

I am not saying C# is 'bad', it is just that it still contains most of the 'primitive' stuff- bad syntax, confusing pointers which are probably never needed in 99% of the applications, hard to read, etc. etc. Remember, C was developed in the 1970s for controlling telephone switches, and at least to me, it still looks that way!

Thank you for reading this long note.