.Net gravy train switching tracks?

[Marina]

When I left my permie job (at a large Northern retail bank) they'd made the move from VB6 to C## as an architectural decision.

They were in some special partnership with Microsoft, who had told them that their strategic direction should be with C##.

The cross-training shouldn't be much of pain. If I recall, the main problems in the training were around the OO concepts, not the syntactical differences.

Without wanting to sound like a nitpicker, is there some subtle distinction between C# and C##, or is C## a hybrid of C# and C++ ?!

(Not being sarky, honest - There's no end to all the new computer thingies popping up all the time, and I'm genuinely curious)

[chicane]

I reckon companies are looking for people fluent in C# rather than VB.NET because they're looking for ex-Java folk rather than ex-VB6 folk. Perhaps that says something about the technical ability of those respective groups.

[PAH]

No I dont think I will..... If you are to 'busy' to upskill for a few hours in your chosen work, you dont deserve to work. You have time to post in here, find time for some very simple syntax learning.

I see it as downskilling. After all if the two langages are so transposable I should be able to use the one that's more natural to me.

Isn't it a breach of my human rights, and they should provide me with translators if they expect me to communicate in a non-native language?

[chicane]

I see it as downskilling. After all if the two langages are so transposable I should be able to use the one that's more natural to me.

There's nothing stopping you from using the one that's natural to you.
If you want to get paid for using it, however, that's a completely different matter.

[51st State]

I think VB has been brought on par with C# regarding 99% of the OO stuff. I suppose it's a case of getting used to the terminology and understanding the real differences between the two languages, apart from the syntax. Oh well, will keep me busy for a while.

After all, as a contractor you either adapt or die back to permiedom, and I've no intentions of doing that until I go grey at least!

That was one of the reasons that the bank decided to make the move. MS see C# as their development language of choice going forward, and if whole departments have to retrain on OO (which VB6 wasn't) then the thinking was they may as well take on board the additional overhead of the new syntax at the same time.

One final word of warning: beware of the convertors. For example, think about the difference in the HTML that Frontpage and Office produce versus that which a developer working from scratch does.

[tay]

I reckon companies are looking for people fluent in C# rather than VB.NET because they're looking for ex-Java folk rather than ex-VB6 folk. Perhaps that says something about the technical ability of those respective groups.

Why would they want to hire ex anythings? There are enough .net developers around they they dont need ex VB or ex Java. And they know that Java dvelopers have had personality labotomies and VB6 developers are lazy gits.

[PAH]

I reckon companies are looking for people fluent in C# rather than VB.NET because they're looking for ex-Java folk rather than ex-VB6 folk. Perhaps that says something about the technical ability of those respective groups.

I think it's badge snobbery. C++ used to have a recognisable advantage over VB, but that's been eroded or hidden with .net.

I think many who were fluent in Java will have moved onto J2EEEEEEE rather than C#.

[chicane]

Why would they want to hire ex anythings? There are enough .net developers around they they dont need ex VB or ex Java.

They want ex-Java developers because they want somebody who understands and thinks OO rather than just thinking that "Class1" is a place to put your long, monolithic program. C# is strong in terms of OO features, but the developers using it are often a long way behind. The culture of C# developers is somewhat different to the culture of Java developers - at least in my opinion.

[ASB]

A couple of hours work is a very long time in my universe.

Isn't there a plug-in for Visual Studio where I can type in VB and it automatically converts to C#?

I seem to remember (having had a quick play with C# in the past) that intellisense and other VS goodies are somewhat different or lacking for C# too?

Lutz roeders .net refelctor might help. Disassembles to IL and then lets you visualize this in a language of your choice. There are some add ins which have a stab at creating a solution from an assembly but I don't know how good or bad they are.

[PAH]

One final word of warning: beware of the convertors. For example, think about the difference in the HTML that Frontpage and Office produce versus that which a developer working from scratch does.

Yeah I would only use a convertor in the real world for a quick overview, I hate using designers anyway. The VS one used to do more harm than good. Prefer to code using a keyboard than a mouse, so it's easier to keep the stuff fresh in my mind. Not that I go so far as coding everything in Notepad as some major geeks do!

I suppose the easiest way of picking up C# is to try converting a vb.net app and see what issues I get. Most of it will be the same apart from slapping a semicolon on the end, as all the .net framework stuff is identical.