[Gllug] OT(ish): Advice

[Bernard Peek]

In message <200212121911.44169.anand_sudhir at yahoo.co.uk>, Sudhir Anand 
<anand_sudhir at yahoo.co.uk> writes
>On Thursday 12 December 2002 17:00, Bernard Peek wrote:
><snip>
>
>> That's true and it isn't an accident. One of the aims of Kylix and VB
>> and similar systems is to hide the complexity of the program. In some
>> ways VB and C++ are on divergent courses, with Kylix and Delphi
>> somewhere between the two.
>>
>> Under Windows VB and VC++ are being used for different types of work and
>> using different techniques. VB is intended for quick-and-dirty but
>> functional software. VC++ is used where performance is important. VB is
>> a successor to COBOL, VC++ is a successor to assembler. Different jobs
>> need different tools.
>
>Do you know where C# fits in?  Is it similar to C++?  I understand that it is
>C++ without pointer concept.  Does anyone know if there are plans for a Open
>Source compiler and IDE for C#?

I think there are multiple reasons for it. With my marketing hat on I 
see it as a brilliant way to develop a niche market. Introducing a new 
language increases uncertainty. When things are uncertain people tend to 
stay with the tried and tested, and in this case that means Microsoft.

With my developer's hat on it's less obvious. My guess is that C# fits 
between VB and C++. Microsoft wants people to move to object-oriented 
languages and C# leads that way. I'd say that it's probably intended as 
a high-level scripting language similar to PERL and PHP. You can write 
standalone apps and I'm sure a lot of people will, but I don't think 
that's the target.

There's already an open-source C# compiler and for Windows developers 
there's a free closed-source compiler available from Microsoft.



-- 
Bernard Peek
bap at shrdlu.com
www.diversebooks.com: SF & Computing book reviews and more.....

In search of cognoscenti


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