Visual Basic Recovery Plan

Programming Visual Basic 2008

When Microsoft moved Visual Basic from its version-6 roots to the new world of .NET in 2002, it endowed the language with a level of power and flexibility never before seen in a BASIC variant. But that move also brought a competitor on to the scene: C#. This new language-on-the-block is a formidable rival, especially in terms of perceived language value. Some commentators believe that C# will become so popular that Microsoft will discard its beloved Visual Basic into the ultimate bit bucket. What started out as an inside joke on C++ developers has turned into the VB community’s worst nightmare.

It’s not that C# is any better than Visual Basic; the very idea is laughable. But for some reason, people actually think that C# is more powerful. The root cause of this misperception has remained elusive, but after years of careful observation, I believe I have identified the core issue.

The Problem

The problem is one of productivity. For nearly two decades, Visual Basic programmers have written complex applications that ran the engines of industry and business, typically with little development effort, and often coming in under budget and in half the expected time. It was all thanks to that great VB feature set, and to the talents of programmers intelligent enough to select the best language. With all of that extra time and money on their hands, these developers were buying pinball machines for the office, searching for philosophical answers to life’s questions through Minesweeper, and performing other similar tasks that allowed them to maintain their competitive edge in the coding world.

Unfortunately, some of these developers lacked the professional business sense to make these off-project tasks look like real work. So when management came down the hallway, instead of seeing highly-productive software developers preparing emotionally for the next big project, they saw kids playing games on their computers. When those managers discussed the situation at the management lobster fest that night, they found that other departments had resolved the issue by replacing VB programmers with C# programmers. With C#, the development team had their faces to the screen 24/7/365, with worried looks and with a steady stream of requests for more money, more time, and more understanding. Clearly, these were real programmers with real problems to solve. For management, migrating their projects from Visual Basic to C# provided the urgency needed to hit up the company for a bigger budget.

The Solution

I am the first to admit that I didn’t take the warning signs seriously. But now that over-extended software projects have brought the economy to its knees, it’s time to act. There are clear actions that we, as Visual Basic developers, can take to restore the language to its rightful place in the minds and hearts of business leaders.

• Stop having so much fun. For instance, wear regular shoes to the office instead of roller skates. I know this is a painful decision, especially given the sense of euphoria that Visual Basic development brings to your daily routine. But it’s for the good of the VB community.
• Lower your productivity. You need to make development in Visual Basic look difficult. Try swapping out your standard English keyboard with a German-language model. Or better yet, develop prototypes of your new application in C# and then migrate these portions back to Visual Basic for the final release. This should more than double your development time.
• Lower your technical standards. Focus your less-than-rigorous efforts on the key areas of documentation, code comments, and code consistency. Unfortunately, Visual Basic includes a level of syntax standardization not fully enforced in C# applications, so your code is still going to look slick no matter how sloppy you are. But do your best. Click here to find out what Microsoft could do to assist you in this endeavor.
• Play Minesweeper: Visual Studio Edition. To the uninitiated, it looks just like Visual Studio, but it’s actually a highly addictive time waster that is guaranteed to increase IQ points.
• Sob audibly at your desk. Make it seem like developing in Visual Basic is a chore. We all know it’s not, but your boss needs some proof of your hard work that he can discuss at your next review. You’ll also make friends more easily with C# developers–if you want to, that is. They tend to be easily fooled; they already believe that C# is a superior language, so they’ll pretty much believe whatever you tell them.

Don’t expect things to change overnight. It has taken seven years of steady use for C# to exert its influence. But by engaging in a little faux misery now, you will have the inner peace of knowing that your productivity tool of choice will serve the computing needs of both major corporations and small businesses joyfully for decades to come.

For more great advice on Visual Basic development, click here to select and purchase one of Tim Patrick’s books on VB programming.