Well, I'm behind on my reading, so excuse the belated commenting... Patrick Meader, Editor in Chief of VSM, made his monthly comments in the December 2003 issue of the magazine. I couldn't let this one pass me up, though...
Patrick talks about how VB will be getting a bit of a face-lift to bring it back to what it was intended to be from day one: a developer tool for non-programmers. Of course, those weren't his words, they're mine; but, let me clue you in on some of his words:
... the next version of VB [is] intended to facilitate [the] use of the tool for what Ari [Bixhorn] calls the occupational programmer.
“Ocupational programmer,” huh? So, what do you take that as? Let's continue...
... [VB] empowered nontraditional programmers ... to create applications ...
Once again, “nontraditional programmers.” Seems to be a theme. But, my last two quotes are ones that I think are important for all VB developers to realize:
VB needed to make the transition to .NET if it was to remain a relevant programming language
...and...
... [VB] was less suited to creating scalable, n-tier, and/or Internet-enabled applications ...
Now, I do believe that VB (the language) is fully capable of supporting enterprise applications. But, technically, so can COBOL - that doesn't mean that I want to do it. VB was brought up on the idea that you don't have to be a programmer to create functional solutions. You have to applaud Microsoft for the wonderful effort put into the language and its tools, past and present. However, you have to acknowledge the fact that it was built for people who are not the average developer. This is why VB developers get so much crap. I have known (and still do) some great VB developers. I do, however, think that they should take the step beyond the RAD-centric language. VB is meant for one person: the business analyst (you'll be hearing more about this title from me later). Whether you call them business analysts, occupational or nontraditional programmers, or any other name, it's all the same: they're business people that are filling the gap due to inadequate funding for real developers. This is the essence, or soul of VB.