On C# Versus VB Language Usage
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On C# Versus VB Language Usage
I saw Patrick Meader's Editor's Note on the acceptance of C# versus VB ("C#'s Exploding Mindshare," November 2007), and I wanted to add a few points of my own. I don't think that 41 percent of developers using C# versus 34 percent of developers using VB.NET is a large spread, especially when you take into account that the corporate mindset folks who adopted C# early on had no understanding of .NET whatsoever--a fact that remains true even today.
But I suppose that corporate mindset is to be expected; Microsoft positioned the languages this way. Microsoft encouraged developers to use C# in Web architecture, Web services, and so on from the outset. Most of the development world is now about Web development, so C#'s early adoption stands to reason.
But I don't think VB.NET is out of the running yet. On the 271st episode of the Internet audio talk show ".NET Rocks!" Don Demsak stated that as an avid C# developer, he had to eat his words when he saw the clever and elegant way VB.NET used LINQ to XML. To paraphrase one of his statements: "… VB took this thing and just went running down the street with it," and that made him want to start using VB again. Carl Franklin and Richard Campbell, the hosts of the show, agreed with him.
I think it's foolish to say that VB is losing mindshare to C# when highly respected members of the .NET community are on board with VB.NET and state that they had to eat their words as avid C# developers after seeing new VB functionality. I believe that the question of VB being replaced by C# in market share remains to be seen.
Jon Brown
Dallas, Texas
I believe Meader's conclusion that C# is more popular than VB might be due to the fact that managers believe they need programmers with OO experience to program competently in .NET. When looking for programmers with OO experience, they think C++. If this is actually true, then it's easy to see why they would make the assumption that C++ developers would prefer C#.
Galena Boss
received by e-mail
We noticed Meader's editorial about the market penetration differences between VB.NET and C#, and we think he's missing a key point; namely, Microsoft did a bad job of supporting VB6 users when it introduced .NET. We're part of those guys who are still using VB6 for our product, although we've bought all releases of VB.NET! If backward compatibility had been solved correctly, we would all be using the new product and VB.NET would be the market leader!
Anita Hoyng and Jan Ulehake
received by e-mail
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