VB(ish) replacement

[John J. Lee]

Dave Boland <NOSPAMdboland9 at stny.rr.com> writes:
[...]
> What they seem to be looking for is:
> 1. High level language, but not necessarly VB compatible.
> 2. OOP
> 3. Reasonalble learning curve
> 4. Cross-platform
> 5. IDE and ability to graphically design windows.
> 6. Distribute programs as .exe's, so some sort of compiler needed.
> 7. Serial communications library (RS-232, 485, USB)
> 8. SNMP library
> 9. Good performance (not expected to be as fast as C/C++)
> 10. Windows are native to each O.S.
> 11. Database support of Access and MySQL
> 
> It looks like any of the three languages have most or all of what they
> need, but I don't use scripting languages enough to give a good answer.

Can't speak for Ruby, but I'm fairly sure both Perl and Python do fine
on all points but 3.

Python does fine on the remaining point.  Perl fails *badly* here:

http://www.google.com/groups?threadm=87u12z90eq.fsf%40pobox.com&selm=D87u12z90eq.fsf%2540pobox.com


I've used a fair number of programming languages.  Perl is the only
one I'd unhesitatingly call 'pathological'.  And I do speak as an
admirer of the language: before Python was around and well-supported,
it served an important purpose.  Now, though, it fills a much-needed
gap <wink>


John