On Thursday, 18 February 2016 18:24:55 UTC+2, Dan Strohl wrote: > I totally agree with Chris here, try it out, do some simpler things to get > your feet wet before committing to redoing hundreds of thousands of lines of > code in it. Find a few of the "deal breakers" and try to solve them in > Python (create a hello world app in python, then package it in an exe and > distribute it to some friends).. VB is a fine language, and is likely to suit > your needs as well... even if we all believe that Python is better, the > effort to convert from one to the other may not make sense. >
How long can I depend on VB? I don't really mind learning one more language if there is sufficient utility of it. Besides, I hear that Python is relatively easy to learn compared to C++ or Java. I have some smaller VB programs (single form, little math) for my own use. I could convert those first and get a feel of how it is going to be with larger programs with thousands of lines. > I would also suggest taking a few steps back and seeing if there is a > different overall architectural approach that makes sense. If you are using > a heavy weight local app, what about a web app? Some things I do can be done in a web app, but the important stuff has to be put into *.exe files for myself and others to use. > What about doing a combination approach? Have a back end running on a server > with Python, that feeds a VB app on a client for displaying and manipulating > data? (then a Java app for mobile clients or Linux ones?) > I do not know Java, and don't feel inclined to learn that. If I could use VB for years, I need not consider moving over to Python. The trouble is that I don't think we can trust VB (VB6 particularly, but even VB.net) for too long. > Also, looking at existing frameworks and expandable apps out there that you > might be able to do less work but still meet your goals with because 80% of > the work was done for you... things like django, splunk, tableau, etc... > > Dan > Thanks. > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: Python-list [mailto:python-list-bounces+d.strohl=f5....@python.org] On > > Behalf Of Chris Angelico > > Sent: Thursday, February 18, 2016 8:06 AM > > Cc: python-list@python.org > > Subject: Re: Considering migrating to Python from Visual Basic 6 for > > engineering > > applications > > > > On Fri, Feb 19, 2016 at 2:49 AM, <wrong.addres...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > Thanks. You have guided me quite well, and I am almost ready to declare > > > that I > > will use Python for the next few decades. > > > > > > > Don't declare like that - just start using it, and see what you think > > :) But I would be very much surprised if Python doesn't get added to your > > toolbelt. A good programmer should always keep a selection of tools handy - > > seldom is one tool the right one for every job. > > > > > Imagine I want to read in two (or a few) numbers from a text file, > > > display them > > in two (or more) text boxes, calculate their sums and products, may be take > > logarithms of them, and display them in other two text boxes or labels, and > > make some bar charts, scatter plots, and later draw curves and surfaces on a > > computer screen. Do I really need PyPi or other external stuff for this? Is > > Python > > well equipped for this? > > > > > > > You could do all of that with just the standard library, but then your only > > choice > > of GUI library is Tkinter, which is derived from Tcl/Tk. > > If you don't like how that looks (either in your code, or in the resulting > > GUI), > > you'll need to turn to PyPI for an alternative (eg something derived from > > GTK or > > wxWindows or Qt). I'm not sure how the graphing capabilities of Tkinter > > are, so > > you might want to grab matplotlib too - again, it'll give you a lot more > > flexibility > > than you would have if you restrict yourself to *just* the standard library. > > But I think you could do all of that - certainly most of it - with just the > > language > > and standard library. > > > > > I will have to learn GUI creating quickly after I know the basics of > > > reading and > > writing text files, and doing simple mathematical calculations. > > > > > > > Reading and writing text files is easy, as is basic mathematics. > > You'll have that down in an hour or two, most likely, and then you'll have > > time to > > play GUIs. > > > > > Later I can imagine using things like sending an SMS from a phone running > > > this > > on Android, or placing a graph in a WhatsApp message, make a call to someone > > and tell him the temperature is now too high, etc. These things might need > > external libraries, but I can learn this later on. > > > > > > > Those things will most likely require external libraries. But most of them > > are > > probably possible. > > > > ChrisA > > -- > > https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list -- https://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
