>> While PB is very powerful, I can tell you from vast experience
>> with both products, that you will code the R:BASE app in 1/2
>> the time and implement the solution at 1/2 the cost
>> (roughly speaking) by choosing R:BASE.
Yes, to a certain degree.
We all know R:Base's current limitations and features. R:Base is in a
sense a "Jack of all trades" (Programming Language and Database Engine) when
compared to VB (Programming Language) and MS-SQL (Database Engine). This is
why R:Base has its niche.
To a certain degree, you can quickly code and implement applications faster
in R:Base than VB/SQL. However, I hope you can see that as the application
gets more and more complex, VB/SQL will begin to catch up with R:Base (in
terms of coding and implementing faster). IMHO, if you compare just the
programming languages of R:Base and VB, VB by far out performs R:Base. VB
has features (scope variables, to name one) that R:Base does not. And, in
the database engine, MS-SQL has capabilities that R:Base has trouble with
(namely, triggers).
R:Base programming language and R:Base database engine are so integrated
that you can quickly develop forms to access tables, while in VB and MS-SQL
you have to code to establish that integration.
As mentioned in previous posts, R:Base, VB, SQL, PB, C, and any other
programming languages and database engines, are tools. Each has its
capabilities and drawbacks.
It is up to us, developers, to choose the right tool for the right job.
Just because R:Base is easy to implement and code, doesn't mean you blind
yourself and not look at the other tools.
Stop "glorifying" R:Base as the End-All and Be-All of database application
development(R:Base or No Base!), because IMHO, it is not that "glorious".
I'll let the others get down to the deep down technical details.
My $0.05.
