The place for the VB community to join our collective voice! See https://github.com/CommunityVB/Main for more info.
Finally, regarding the link to the forum post... one should look down a couple of responses... specifically the one from Paul Yuk.
VB is the most used .NET language according to the internal surveys we conduct as well as Forrester research (both looking at pro developers). Then there's the fact that VB is hands down the most downloaded and registered Express Edition (includes pro's and nonpros).
Let that sink in for a moment. This is in direct response to a naysayer's negative outlook on the future of VB because the current situation of VB (at the time) was looking bleak because people are stating that it is bleak due to it not being able to do in part with some API/Tech stacks (what I've already pointed out is not factual).
Saying that this is foretelling the future is completely looking at this wrong. What really happened is that people locked into this idea (regardless of facts) and, even to this day, continue to be told / think that VB is dead. This all reminds me of a scene from one of my favorite movies...
I remain steadfast that if you want to work with us that we'll work with you, regardless of past behavior.
I concur and can confirm that, if reports are valid/make sense/relevant/professional (nice) that things do indeed get reviewed and (in many cases) do get addressed.
I can also reiterate that working with various teams (at Microsoft) through proper channels and polite/professional/positive approaches seems to open opportunities. I've reached out to several teams for some projects that I'd like to contribute to (or not) depending on whether or not contributions would be considered. For the project(s) that will consider/welcome contributions, I'm adjusting some of the things I'd like to do (personal) that can align with community contributions to better serve VB. (Note that I was going to do these anyway, it's just the how I was going to approach these is modified slightly depending on the answers I received.) There are opportunities, but these do need to align with the overall goals of the different projects/teams. This is true whether it's a Microsoft-funded project or any other open-source project. If you aren't aware of how Linus (Linux) handles things; I think you'd be in for a very rude awakening when comparing it to - I would argue - any Microsoft open-source project.
Hello Masters,
Sometimes it's not easy to listen to an entire video like this:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WODOrUlvlkA&lc=Ugx_qvzc17-vyooGFyJ4AaABAg.9UGW2mTW0N89UQNt_cpB82
Despite being from 2017 with only 60 likes, I couldn't help but reply, I warn everyone that I don't look for negativities in relation to VB, but that a person spends so much time just belittling a programming language is really a lack of respect.
I couldn't write anything and ended up joining the discussion, sometimes I agree with @VBAndCs, that kind of video and comment is everywhere.
Since I'd like to reverse all this kind of comment against VB, I think it's completely unfair.
Because of people like this who make this kind of video, many new programmers just aren't curious to see the beauty of VB.NET
How I wish I had a plan to change all that!
It's interesting that some of the first comments I've seen regarding this blog post are negative. I'd like to respond to a couple of these:
"There's no change to VB.NET."
I think it is important to note and bears repeating... VB has always been more than "just the language". The overall experience the has always been what makes VB, well, VB. Remember, "Edit-and-Continue" was a feature intrinsic to the VB experience and was "lost" in the move from VB6 (COM) to VB7 (.NET Framework). It eventually made it's return to VB in 2005. VB is available on .NET 5 and it continues to be available (supported) in .NET 6. It is part of Roslyn; Roslyn is the foundation of C#, VB and Visual Studio.
I also want to point out that there were indeed language changes to VB... it's just that these changes resulted in no visible difference. And, yes, this is mentioned in the blog post from @KathleenDollard (that @paul1956 pointed to). This isn't the first time that this sort of change has taken place... just because that language hasn't changed doesn't mean that it's not changing and evolving.
"These are just changes in the IDE."
There are also significant changes to WinForms on .NET that have taken place to fully embrace/support VB; meaning that the experience we have as VB developers (and only as VB developers) has made the leap to the new .NET platform. There are also other improvements to this specific API that are being considered; so there are changes beyond "just the IDE". Additionally, the investment in this area is significant and only affects VB... let that sink in.
"Do any of the .NET improvements apply to VB?"
This question was posed in the Q&A and the panel was clearly prepped regarding the improvements mentioned in the blog post liked above by @paul1956. This leads me to a very common comment I encounter that goes something like "Microsoft continues to not invest in VB." This comment is simply ignorant. The amount of time, money, design, etc. that went into designing Roslyn continues to produce results for VB - there is, however, an issue regarding communication and I've already pointed out that there have been some improvements to including mentioning (where appropriate) that a feature is available for VB (as well as C#). But if these types of blog posts are met with negativity, why would anyone want to continue to expose themselves to the "nothing is ever good enough" crowd?
@DualBrain Since you have a fantastic knowledge of VB.NET, how about preparing a text in the comments What's new in Visual Basic in Visual Studio 2022 to inhibit the negative comments that start to appear?
We need to empower the news and prevent negative comments from appearing and proliferating.
In fact, I think each of us should write a positive and supportive review for VB.NET
Wanted to take a moment to share an interaction I had on Twitter regarding the negativity around not only VB, but .NET in general.
David: I don't know about you, but the way I keep in touch and find out about the latest drama in the .NET/Microsoft world is by seeing the usual suspects trying to fan the flames, and stir it up. Very successful strategy.
t_ham: Bad things happen when good people do nothing.
Me: So what is the excuse for the hate directed at "that other .NET language"... Where are all these "good people" you speak of regarding the last 20 years of (what amounts to) bulling that have all but silenced the voice of a significant portion of the .NET population.
t_ham: I don't know what you mean by "that other .NET language". Are you talking about VB? It definitely sucks that MS has been migrating away from that, especially if it's a majority of your skillset. What are you on about bullying, though?
Me: "It definitely sucks that MS has been migrating away from that"... Answered your own question about the bullying and aren't even aware. Behavior by the community has been so constant that your statement is seen as an "obvious fact". The evidence, however, is to the contrary.
Microsoft isn't the one migrating away from VB. This isn't and continues to not be the case. The investment by Microsoft with the foundation of Roslyn is pretty telling and the continued investments are visible (Source Generators, WinForms, etc.) if anyone takes a moment to look. But this guys comment speaks volumes as he doesn't even realize that he's repeating the comments that those that seek to silence others (aka bullying) not even realizing that he's repeating garbage. The comments by bullies has been so constant as these statements have become "factual"; no one even considers it bullying behavior at this point. It is so pervasive that many VB believe it. It's Dark Psychology at it's finest.
This is why it is so important that we work together to try to undo this type of thinking; no only externally but equally internally. Let's get out there and do awesome things with VB and share with others that we aren't limited by any sort of "perceived" limitations; we, as a community, can accomplish anything we want in our language.
The reality, thanks to things like .NET Standard, is that we aren't really limited. Yes, we might have to write a small amount of HTML, CSS, Javascript, XML, JSON and even a bit of C# to accomplish what we want to do where we are primarily working in VB.
The https://devblogs.microsoft.com/dotnet/whats-new-for-visual-basic-in-visual-studio-2022/ announcement has been updated slightly due to a premature announcement...
A previous version included the “Inline diagnostics” feature here in error. This feature is part of the 17.1 (Visual Studio 2022 Update 1) preview, not 17.0 (Visual Studio 2022).
I can confirm that it is in the Preview...
@DualBrain
Let's go out and do amazing things with VB and share with others that we're not limited by any kind of "perceived" limitations; we as a community can do whatever we want in our language.
We really need to find an awesome case for VB, however most of the lovely apps are on the web and with VB I think we can get to MVC 5 and the ASP.NET Core web API if I'm not mistaken.
The deciding factor for VB is definitely MAUI, this tool can really help change the popularity of VB, but I don't know if MS has plans for VB in MAUI
Where there is a will... there is a way. 😎 Thanks to VB Source Generators I'm working on what I'm currently naming "Project Insanity". Tonight I worked through a VERY, VERY, VERY ROUGH proof of concept and do think that what I want to do will be possible. It's still a long road from here to there, but if I can do it... it will be FREAKIN' AWESOME!!!! (I'm being a little ambiguous at this point as I don't want to get peoples hopes too high... but if I can make it work... I'm thinking it's pretty jaw-dropping if I may say so myself - and what a way to try to set myself up for disappointment 😜).
I've said this before, but I believe it bears repeating... Source Generators (along with some other language features along the way) are really opening the door to some very interesting concepts/ideas/possibilities. Of course this now mean that I have to really put in the time to learn the whole of the ins-and-outs of Roslyn. 🤔