I agree. There is a lot more to programming than functions. There is also the ability to access the outside world. As a language for algorithms, I prefer APL. As a tool to access the rest of the world, I prefer VB.
There are two forms of VB. The early version provided for exploiting objects. That version still lives today inside most Microsoft Office products (Word, Excel, Outlook, etc). The .Net version turned a lot of us on our ear, but in the end the effort was worth it because I finally came to appreciate what objects really provided. I've managed enough Java programmers to understand that they can do everything I can do with VB.Net, but I know the VB language, tools and development environment and I haven't bothered to learn most of that for Java. When I retired, I tried writing my own APL in VB.Net. I was pleased to learn that objects gave me the ability to create functions that behave like operators (read adverbs and conjunctions). VB also does one thing very like APL, it provides for automatic type conversion. Languages like C# either blow up, or give wildly wrong answers. For several years, Microsoft has given developer copies of VB.Net away to anyone willing to register for a Microsoft passport. Occasionally, if you sign up as a beta tester for a major .Net release you can get the full professional version free when it is released. -- Paul On Sun, Dec 2, 2012 at 9:55 AM, Eldon Eller <eel...@pacbell.net> wrote: > A language you know is more useful than a language you don't know > regardless of its intrinsic virtues. > ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For information about J forums see http://www.jsoftware.com/forums.htm
