Can Python replace Visual Basic? Should it?

[Clark C. Evans]

> > Face it, most VB users aren't exactly star programmers. If I were
> 
> That's a sweeping generalization, that I'd be very careful about 
> making, to say the least.

There is one thing that I would point out.  In the corporate
environment actually 'laying-in-code is really a minor part
of an individuals job.  Getting the requirements, talking to 
the users, managing expectations, building test plans, 
drawing up a design, working out impacts on other applications,
getting buy-in for the extra field you need on a common 
table, getting your data model approved, supporting the
previous version of the program, etc., all take up considerable
time.  When it comes down to it, when I was in a corporate
setting, I only got to 'code about 10 hours a week.
What GUIs do is let you 'jump into the process and continue
to work.  In other words, they are good at helping to remind
you where your context is... you just press play and see
what breaks!  

> I'll certainly admit that I've only got about 7 months worth of experience
> in "the industry", but of all the programmers I know of that had more than a
> passing interest in VB (in other words, they liked and used it enough that
> one might refer to them as "A VB Programmer(TM)"), at LEAST three (of the
> six that I'm thinking of) were extremely bright and creative hackers. From
> my perspective, I would be proud to be as good as they are!

In general, VB is a good "put-the-components-together" tool.
Quite a few, although not the majority of VB programmers that 
I know are very good at many other languages.  And ones like
me use VB to prototype a feature, and then I re-write it as 
an MSVC OCX so that it can be shared across the enterprise.

> That said though, the stereotype of VB programmers all being idiots is
> extremely common among Linux and Unix users, who, in many cases have almost
> no knowledge of the tool, and would look silly themselves if throw into a
> large project that used it ("silly" as in far from the creative geniuses
> they would seem to indicate they are).

Hear Hear!

But, alas, no Holy Wars.  I see Python as my new
"put-the-components-together" tool.  And possibly
even a "make-the-components-tool", but I that remains
to be proven to me.

Kind Regards,

Clark